COLORADO LEGISLATIVE STRATEGIES NEWSLETTER

Announcements

We are just five days away from kicking off the 2026 legislative session. To get ready for next week, please see below for current committee assignments, notes on vacancy appointments, and other news.
 
Vacancy Committee Appointments 
 
Senate District 24
As expected, now former House Representative William Lindstedt was appointed to fill Senator Faith Winter’s former seat in Senate District 24. This means there will be another vacancy committee convening to appoint someone to Lindstedt’s old seat in House District 33. Among those rumored to be a favorite for the appointment is former mayor pro-tem of Broomfield, Stan Jezierski.
 
House District 29
Last month, former House Representative Shannon Bird resigned from her seat in House District 29 in order to focus on her congressional run. A vacancy committee is expected to convene this weekend to appoint someone new to her district. Among those rumored to be a favorite for this appointment is Adams County School Board member Lori Goldstein. 
 
Committee Assignments
 
This week, the last of committee assignments from all four caucuses were released. Please note these are expected to slightly change in the coming days because of the upcoming vacancy committee appointments:
 
Senate Democrats Committee Assignments
House Democrats Committee Assignments
Senate Republicans Committee Assignments
House Republicans Committee Assignments
 
Other News
 
Polis Hints at Possibility of Pardoning Tina Peters
 
…yes, you read that right. In 2024, former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison for crimes related to breaching her county’s voting system in an attempt to prove voter fraud in the 2020 election. 
 
In recent months, President Trump has strongly urged Governor Polis (to put it lightly) to pardon Tina Peters and has threatened “harsh measures” if she remains in jail, such as cuts to federal funding for various programs across the state. This includes refusing to approve a disaster declaration for wildfire and flood recovery, freezing federal funding for certain human services programs and vetoing a bipartisan bill to complete an important water project in southeastern Colorado that has been decades in planning.
 
Up until yesterday, it seemed to be a pretty strong “no” from the Polis Administration – so much so, that Trump tried to pardon Peters last month, but was unsuccessful because Peters was convicted on state charges, not federal charges. However, in an interview aired last night, Polis told CBS Colorado that Peters’ sentence was “harsh” and implied he was “looking at” reconsidering a pardon, given Peters’ age. 
 
Looking at the bigger picture, many Democrats from both the moderate and progressive sides seem to have gripes with the Polis Administration lately. On one hand, releasing Peters from state custody could mean an end to the harsh measures coming from the federal level. On the other hand, this would further frustrate those who are already not pleased with the Governor. 
 
Read more – Gov. Jared Polis considers clemency for Tina Peters as he begins final year in office in Colorado
 
What’s Next
 
Next week, Colorado’s legislative session will begin on Wednesday, January 14th. The first few days of session will include speeches from legislative leadership, as well as Governor Polis’ final State of the State address where he will lay out his agenda for his last year as Governor and what he wants his legacy to be. Stay tuned for next week as we break down speeches and other news from the first few days of session.