Colorado House Democrats held fast to most of their current leadership slate in a caucus election held Monday, even as continued vote tabulations show that they may end up losing their supermajority in that legislative chamber.
Party members unanimously re-elected Rep. Julie McCluskie of Dillon to serve as House speaker, Rep. Monica Duran of Wheat Ridge to serve as majority leader and Rep. Jennifer Bacon to serve as assistant majority leader for the 2025 and 2026 legislative sessions. House Republicans, who met Friday, similarly retained their top leaders, re-electing Rep. Rose Pugliese of Colorado Springs as minority leader and Rep. Ty Winter of Trinidad as assistant minority leader.
McCluskie vowed in her speech to keep working on many of the same issues that Democrats prioritized over the past two years, including strengthening the economy, protecting the climate and guarding the rights of individual Coloradans.
“I stand before you as someone who is fully committed to your individual success, to the success of this caucus and to the people of this state,” McCluskie said during a meeting that was held virtually. “As public servants we have proven ourselves to be the party of the people that is getting stuff done.”
Key House races trending toward Republicans
Exactly how big that party will be in the House remains to be seen, however. But it will not hold a margin as large as the 46-19 edge it held over the past two years.
On Friday, three-term Rep. Mary Young of Greeley conceded defeat in House District 50 to Ryan Gonzalez, a Republican who barely lost to her two years ago. And then on Saturday, two Republicans who had trailed for days in voting finally took leads in their swing-district races as more ballots came in from El Paso and Weld counties.
Former state Rep. Dan Woog speaks to the Colorado Chamber of Commerce in July.
Former GOP Rep. Dan Woog, seeking to win back an Erie-area seat he lost in 2022, took a 207-vote lead over Democrat Jillaire McMillan in House District 19 out of 55,449 votes tallied. McMillan was a late ballot substitution for first-term Rep. Jennifer Parenti, who decided this summer that she did not want to seek a second term.
And Republican Rebecca Keltie took a 21-vote lead over Democratic Rep. Steph Vigil out of 41,007 votes counted in House District 16, which is located in north-central Colorado Springs. Both races are separated by less than half a percentage point, leaving them within the margin of error for an automatic recount if the current percentages hold up.
What a House supermajority means
If Republicans hold the lead in both of those races, it will reduce the Democratic majority to a 43-22 margin — still a huge gap, but one vote short of Dems holding a two-thirds supermajority in the House. Only with a supermajority can a majority party override gubernatorial vetoes, put constitutional amendments onto the ballot and change floor rules without needing any consent from the minority party.
The potential flipping of those three Front Range districts also represents the first time since the 2014 election — after which Democrats held just a 34-31 advantage — that Republicans have been able to pick up seats. Pugliese noted after being re-elected as minority leader that she had overseen the largest investment in targeted races of any GOP official in her position, pushing the message that Republicans want to make Colorado more affordable and protect taxpayer dollars.
“This is just the beginning,” Pugliese said. “Our caucus is ready, united and driven to be the voice of real change for the hardworking taxpayers and families throughout all of Colorado.”
Rising star opts against making challenge
Colorado state Rep. Andy Boesenecker speaks to the Colorado Chamber of Commerce Health Policy Council in March 2023.
It appeared that Democrats were seriously considering a change to assistant majority leader — the No. 3 position in the caucus and potential House Speaker heir apparent, as McCluskie and Duran are term-limited. Rep. Andy Boesenecker, a progressive Fort Collins Democrat who has run high-profile housing and health-care bills in recent years, was campaigning to take the job from Bacon, a fellow progressive and author of several major air-quality bills.
However, Colorado Politics reported Monday that Boesenecker decided to withdraw from the race after roughly 200 members of the Black community protested the move, noting that Bacon was the highest-ranking Black leader in the House. Senate Democrats on Friday also elected Sen. James Coleman of Denver, who is Black, to be that chamber’s president.
Boesenecker also opted against running for his position as majority co-whip, with his colleagues choosing Rep. Matthew Martinez of Monte Vista to join Rep. Iman Jodeh of Aurora as the other member of that two-person team. Meanwhile, they re-elected Rep. Mandy Lindsay of Aurora as co-caucus chair, pairing her with Rep. Junie Joseph of Boulder.
Party schisms and other leadership elections
The intra-caucus division that Colorado Senate Democrats highlighted frequently in their leadership elections last week drew less mention Monday, even though there were open and chamber-disrupting fights among House Democrats the past two years. But Duran seemed to imply that the results of the June primary, in which progressive firebrands Elisabeth Epps and Tim Hernandez lost seats to more mainstream Democrats, addressed that issue significantly.
Colorado House Majority Leader Monica Duran speaks to her caucus during a virtual meeting Monday.
“I know over the last two years we often came up short on that team dynamic,” the re-elected majority leader said. “Certainly, a lot of our primary voters noticed it as well. They sent us a message to do better.”
The only contested race in either House caucus, then, involved the position of minority caucus chair, where Rep. Anthony Hartsook of Parker won the role over the previous chair, Rep. Mary Bradfield of Fountain. GOP representatives also chose Rep. Ryan Armagost of Berthoud as minority whip, a position responsible for counting and rounding up votes.
House Republicans re-appointed Rep. Rick Taggart of Grand Junction as their lone member of the Joint Budget Committee, the powerful six-member committee that puts together the $40 billion state budget. McCluskie has yet to announce her appointments for the caucus’ two JBC seats, but she is widely expected to keep on that committee its existing Democrats — moderate Rep. Shannon Bird of Westminster and liberal Rep. Emily Sirota of Denver.
The 120-day 2025 legislative session is scheduled to commence on Jan. 8.