Colorado House minority leader, a leading business advocate, resigns

The “toxic” atmosphere that pushed two Democratic House members to leave in 2023 has crossed the aisle, leading to the resignation Monday of House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese, one of the loudest business advocates in the Legislature.

Pugliese, R-Colorado Springs, said in a letter to colleagues and later in an interview that as a single mother of two children, she had to prioritize her family and do what is best for them. Her exit comes after a week in which there was a school shooting in Colorado and the assassination of a national conservative political leader but also after the recent conclusion of a special session in which Pugliese accused Democrats of impugning her character during a confrontation on the floor.

Her resignation, which took effect at noon Monday, will require House Republicans to find a replacement to lead the caucus — likely, Assistant Minority Leader Ty Winter of Trinidad. And it will require a committee from House District 14 in El Paso County to pick someone else to represent that conservative district.

But it also will require someone to step into Pugliese’s unofficial role as lead defender of business interests in her caucus before a 2026 session in which issues like artificial-intelligence regulation and proposed rollbacks of tax breaks will be at the forefront.

What Pugliese’s exit means to business

Pugliese told The Sum & Substance that she believes Republicans, who have worked with moderate Democrats, business leaders and Gov. Jared Polis to fend off the most significant proposed regulatory increases in the past three years, can continue with their work. She pointed specifically to GOP Reps. Jarvis Caldwell of Monument and Anthony Hartsook of Parker as strong advocates in her caucus and said she believes “the interest of business will continue to be secured.”

But the bigger question may about how much Pugliese’s decision to leave the Legislature will exacerbate an atmosphere that she called toxic in her resignation letter, echoing the words of two first-year Democrats who cited the same belief when exiting in 2023. Wide disputes between Republicans and Democrats — and sometimes within the parties — have made discussions more confrontational in recent years, leading to more pitched battles at the Capitol and less efforts at compromise on major issues.

Pugliese, who said she plans to move her family back to Grand Junction, where she formerly served as a county commissioner, said she hopes that her resignation can serve to jolt leaders of both parties to try to tone down rhetoric and work more together.

“I would hope that both sides are really able to focus on what decorum means and bring it back to the chamber,” she said. “I’ve been sad at the degradation of the institution. We used to be statesmen. And I feel like I was able to accomplish that. But I don’t feel like everyone is trying to be a statesman.”

Rapid rise and significant bills

Elected in November 2022, Pugliese rose quickly in the caucus, being elected as assistant minority leader even before she was sworn in and then being chosen as minority leader in January 2024 when Rep. Mike Lynch stepped down from the post amid controversy. She oversaw a caucus that diverged not only ideologically but in the approach that they wanted to take as the minority party on whether to try to work with Democrats or to oppose them fiercely at all turns.

Some of her biggest legislative accomplishments came in working across the aisle to find consensus solutions to ongoing fights that impacted the business community. She partnered with Democratic Rep. Kyle Brown last year on a compromise bill that ended an trial-lawyer-funded ballot effort to eliminate caps on non-economic damages in lawsuits and then teamed with House Speaker Julie McCluskie in a 2024 special session to pass property-tax relief.

Along the way, Pugliese grew a reputation for being the Republican House leader who was most involved with negotiations over thorny fee and regulatory bills, helping to try to get amendments despite Republicans being very much in the minority. And while the GOP continues to be at a 43-22 deficit in the House, she helped it to win back three seats in the 2024 election and end Democrats’ supermajority in that chamber.

But tensions simmered between Pugliese and Democratic leaders at times and then exploded on the floor on Aug. 26, the final day of this year’s special session.

“My integrity … has been assaulted”

Democrats moved that day to condemn recently resigned Republican Rep. Ryan Armagost for secretly taking a photo of Democratic Rep. Yara Zokaie in April and sharing it in a GOP Signal chat in which legislators compared her outfit to that of a stripper or prostitute. The photo was shared on social media, leading Zokaie to receive rape and death threats and threats too against her young children.

On Aug. 26, Zokaie castigated the Republican caucus for its inaction before House Majority Leader Monica Duran brought the incident to light. And she specifically blamed Pugliese for not sharing with Democrats when she found out it was Armagost who snapped the photo and for keeping Armagost in place as chairman of a committee that investigates workplace harassment.

Pugliese took to the microphone and said she shared with Duran as soon as she learned that it was Armagost who took the photo and said she was sorry that “(Duran) had bills with Representative Armagost that were more important than your safety.” She then accused Democrats of impugning her character, which she said is her most important attribute in the three legal jobs she works outside of the Legislature.

“My integrity, my character, has been assaulted, and I have the right to defend myself,” Pugliese said while some Democrats criticized her from the floor. “You all can think whatever you want of me. Me and my God, we know the truth.”

Dems accused Pugliese of leadership failure

That brought an equally emphatic response from Duran denying those accusations. The Wheat Ridge Democrat said she was “very disappointed” that Pugliese “failed” to show leadership in this situation and said it was an inappropriate time for her to make the discussion about herself.

“If you want to talk about character — or lack of character or of honesty — let’s have that conversation,” Duran said. “But we will not have this conversation in the well at this moment, because everyone that’s here deserves better than this, and so do the people of Colorado.”

Pugliese acknowledged in her resignation letter, sent to friends and colleagues, that “the last day of special session was sad and disappointing to me.” She added: “The one word that is at the top of my mind is toxic.”

Pugliese said on Monday that she has thought much in recent weeks about what matters most to her — her children — and about how her legislative work has taken her away from them, which she feels she needs to rectify. She called her resignation “one of the hardest decisions I have ever to had to make” but said she had to do it.

Both minority leaders now gone

Pugliese’s departure comes just three months after Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen announced that he was stepping down to lead the Washington D.C.-based American Excellence Foundation. The twin exits means that the minority party will start the 2026 session with two people, including now-Senate Minority Leader Cleave Simpson of Alamosa, leading their caucuses for the first time during a regular session.

And 2026 is expected to be a year of massive debate, particularly over business issues.

Unable to reach a consensus during the special session on how to fix a 2024 AI-regulation law that is viewed by many as being financially untenable for technology companies, legislators instead agreed to push back its implementation date from Feb. 1 to June 30. Thus, business groups and consumer and labor advocates likely will spend much of next session debating what should and shouldn’t be done in that area.

Similarly, after legislators rolled back five business tax breaks to help close a $783 million budget shortfall in the special session, several have said they want to consider even more rollbacks to avoid further budget cuts next year. The clash with business leaders comes as the state’s economic competitiveness is slipping in major national rankings like those offered by CNBC, prompting fears of companies moving jobs to other states if the cost of doing business rises even more.

Pugliese and Lundeen together led their caucus’ charge to minimize business setbacks, and they had some success in tamping down or killing environmental-regulation increases, boosts to filing lawsuits and an effort to make it easier for workers to unionize. Now those fights will continue, but without either being a part of them in the House or Senate.