Jennifer Bacon elected Colorado House speaker
State Rep. Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, was chosen by fellow Democrats on Friday to be the next speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives.
She will be the first Black woman to serve as House speaker.
“As speaker, I will prioritize us articulating our values of coming together to bring the vision forward, and the agenda forward, that our constituents have asked for,” Bacon told her colleagues before being elected.
Bacon beat out state Rep. Andrew Boesenecker, D-Fort Collins, for the job and replaces outgoing House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon, who is term-limited and leaves office early next year.
Bacon, who was previously the House’s assistant majority leader, will oversee a 49-member House Democratic supermajority when the legislature reconvenes early next year. Democrats also secured a supermajority in the Senate in this week’s election, thanks to the blue wave that swept across Colorado and the nation on Tuesday, giving Democrats what appears to be their first bicameral supermajority in the history of Colorado’s legislature.
Bacon, in her speech to fellow Democratic state representatives, acknowledged there are ideological divisions in the House Democratic caucus. But she told her colleagues that they can be bridged.
“We can get our house in order — we can fix all those things that we know we need to fix — so we can get to the good work that our voters told us to do,” Bacon said.
Rep. Javier Mabrey, D-Denver, was elected House majority leader, beating out state Rep. Meghan Lukens, D-Steamboat Springs, for the No. 2 Democratic position in the chamber.
The Bacon-Mabrey leadership combination means the House will be led by two of its most liberal members.
McCluskie and her majority leader, Democrat Monica Duran, were considered more moderate. Duran was elected to the state Senate on Tuesday.
State Rep. Jenny Wilford, D-Northglenn, was elected assistant House majority leader over state Rep. Regina English, D-Colorado Springs.
House Democrats elected state Reps. Michael Carter and Matthew Martinez to serve as their caucus’ c0-whips and picked state Reps. Chad Clifford and Jamie Jackson to serve as the caucus’ co-chairs.
The depleted, 16-member House Republican caucus on Friday reelected House Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell of Colorado Springs to his post. Caldwell overcame a challenge from Republican state Rep. Ken DeGraaf of Colorado Springs.
The rest of the House GOP’s leadership team — Assistant House Minority Leader Ty Winter of Trinidad, House Minority Whip Carlos Barron of Fort Lupton and House Minority Caucus Chair Anthony Hartsook — was also reelected to their posts.
