Senate Districts Vacancy Appointments

COLORADO LEGISLATIVE STRATEGIES NEWSLETTER

January 8, 2025

Introduction

The 2025 legislation session officially kicked off this morning and there are some new legislators coming soon after just winning a vacancy appointment. Here’s all the appointment updates:

Vacancy Appointments

Senate District 30

On Saturday, Douglas County Republicans selected John Carson to replace Kevin Van Winkle, who resigned to move to the Board of County Commissioners. Carson is a former member of the Board of Regents at the University of Colorado and has also served as president of the Douglas County School District Board of Education. Van Winkle was active in the process and nominated former Representative Kim Ransom. Former Speaker and current CU Regent Frank McNulty nominated Carson. Priscilla Rahn was also nominated and had Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky speak on her behalf. 

After some issues getting the right number of ballots to match the number of attendees there were 136 ballots cast, meaning 69 votes were needed to win. Carson received 71, Ransom 48, and Rahn 17. Carson will now finish the final two years of Van Winkle’s term and will be up for election in 2026. Carson will be sworn in on Friday.

Senate District 29

On Monday night, Arapahoe County Democrats selected Representative Iman Jodeh to replace Janet Buckner, who resigned to spend more time with family soon after winning a new four-year team. The contest was not close between Jodeh and Myra Wheeler, with Jodeh winning 35 out of 43 votes in the first round. Jodeh will be up for election in 2026.

Jodeh’s move to the Senate creates a new vacancy in House District 41, where another vacancy committee will select her replacement. Aurora School Board President Anne Keke has already announced she intends to run for the appointment. The vacancy committee will meet to appoint a new Representative on January 22.

Senate District 31

On Tuesday night, Denver Democrats selected Matthew Ball to replace Chris Hansen, who resigned to take a new job with La Plata Electric soon after winning a new four-year term. Ball currently works as Denver Mayor Mike Johnson’s policy director and has helped lead the city’s efforts to direct people with mental health and substance abuse issues toward treatment rather than the criminal justice system. He is also an Army veteran.

Unlike the first two appointments that saw a winner on the first ballot, this contest had seven candidates that drew it out to five rounds of voting. In the end Ball prevailed over Representative Steven Woodrow 61 to 37. Ball and Woodrow both hovered around 30 votes in the initial rounds but as candidates were eliminated, or dropped out in the case of newly elected Representative Sean Camacho, the majority ultimately swung to Ball. Like the other new appointees to the Senate, Ball will be sworn in on Friday and will be up for election in 2026. 

Conclusion

Watch out for CLS Newsletters every Friday during the session keeping you informed about all the good, bad, and ugly going on under the Gold Dome. 119 days to go!