The political turmoil and transformation of 2022 revealed the movers and shakers of Colorado’s political realm.
Colorado Politics identified 10 of the individuals and groups who had the biggest wins and made the most impact on state politics this year:
Gov. Jared Polis
Polis was reelected for his second term as governor in November, winning his race by a resounding 19.3 percentage points over his Republican opponent, Heidi Ganahl. That was the biggest margin of victory of any of Colorado’s statewide races this year, contributing to a historically successful election for Democrats in the state.
Polis also achieved one of his long-awaited campaign promises this year, signing the implementation of his free universal preschool program into law. The policy earned him a lot of national press this year, solidifying his status as Colorado’s most visible leader and a mainstay on shortlists identifying potential presidential candidates for 2024.
Morgan Carroll, chair of the Colorado Democratic Party
Carroll led Colorado’s Democratic Party through an unprecedentedly successful election, with Democrats winning every statewide office, increasing their majority in the state Senate by two and in the state House by five, winning five of eight congressional seats and nearly unseating Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert in the 3rd Congressional District. In Colorado, neither party has even come close to accomplishing such overwhelming victories in more than 50 years.
Following these historic wins, Carroll announced she will not seek another term as chair of the Colorado Democratic Party when the party elects its new leaders in April. Carroll, who has led the party for six years, said she is ready to pass the torch to a new chair after she met all of the party’s goals set when she was first elected.
U.S. Rep.-elect Yadira Caraveo
Caraveo won Colorado’s newly created 8th Congressional District in the November election in a pivotal race that helped to determine the party split of the U.S. House of Representatives. This was one of the most competitive congressional seats in the state, with the district’s population evenly divided politically and nearly $18 million in outside money poured into the race. Caraveo, a Demorat, beat out Republican state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer by only 0.7 percentage points.
This victory means Caraveo will be the first Latina and the first physician to represent Colorado in Congress. She also earned key support from Colorado’s Latino population — who voted for her 3-to-1 over Kirkmeyer — and helped to activate a largely untapped group of voters who typically lack political participation and representation.
U.S. Rep.-elect Brittany Pettersen
Colorado’s other new Congresswoman, Pettersen, won the 7th Congressional District in November. Pettersen earned a comfortable 15 percentage points over her Republican opponent, Erik Aadland. While the district leans Democratic, Pettersen had the challenge of taking over for Democrat U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, who has held the seat since 2007 but didn’t run for reelection.
In addition to her U.S. House victory, Pettersen made waves in the Colorado legislature this year as a state senator. She was one of the prime sponsors of the session-defining House Bill 1326, a sweeping measure to address the state's runaway fentanyl crisis. Pettersen also sponsored successful bills granting state lawmakers paid family leave, banning colleges from withholding diplomas over student debt and expanding protections against surprise health insurance bills.
Keeping Colorado Local
The issue committee Keeping Colorado Local defeated two of three ballot measures seeking to expand the sale and delivery of alcohol, which they said would run small liquor stores out of business. Voters rejected the measures aiming to allow third-party alcohol delivery and eliminate the limit on liquor stores operated by one entity. The third, which allows the sale of wine in grocery stores, passed by just over one percentage point — the closest margin of any statewide ballot measure.
The group achieved this victory at a significant disadvantage — in the face of multinational corporations, such as DoorDash and Instacart, pouring over $26 million into the campaigns backing the ballot measures. In comparison, Keeping Colorado Local raised only $900,000.
Jon Caldara
During an election where conservative candidates and initiatives were largely rejected by Colorado voters, Caldara, president of the Independence Institute and a columnist for Colorado Politics, persuaded Coloradans for a second time to reduce the state income tax rate. His ballot measure, which would lower the state income tax rate from 4.55% to 4.4%, passed by over 30 percentage points and was the first ballot question the Associated Press called in favor of on election night. Caldara teamed up with state Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, to champion the measure.
This landslide success advances Caldara’s Path to Zero plan, which aims to gradually phase out Colorado’s income tax rate to zero. In 2020, Colorado voters passed also passed Caldara’s ballot measure, which he also partnered with Sonnenberg on, to lower the tax rate from 4.63% to 4.55%.
Healthier Colorado
The Denver nonprofit Healthier Colorado was behind some of the state’s biggest legislation this year. The group was one of the core financial donors behind two successful ballot initiatives: Proposition 123 to dedicate taxable income for affordable housing and Proposition FF to provide free meals for public school students. In addition, 26 of the 32 bills Healthier Colorado lobbied in support of in the state legislature were signed into law, including implementing universal preschool, automatically sealing some criminal records and several changes to the behavioral health care system.
Healthier Colorado’s influence is expected to only increase into the New Year with the Democratic supermajority in the state legislature and political leaders saying they plan to prioritize addressing issues, including affordable housing, health care and education.
House Speaker-designee Julie McCluskie
After Democratic candidates dominated the November election and brought the state House to a 46-19 Democratic supermajority, McCluskie was nominated by her caucus to serve as House speaker for the next legislative session. McCluskie beat out two other Democratic hopefuls for the most powerful position in the House, contributing to the caucus electing all women for the top three leadership positions for the first time in state history.
Before being nominated as speaker, McCluskie spent the year at the helm of the most powerful committee in the state legislature — the Joint Budget Committee, responsible for the state’s annual budget — and she sponsored 67 successful bills, the most of any Colorado lawmaker in 2022.
Senate President Steve Fenberg
Fenberg was selected as Senate president twice this year: First, in February when he was unanimously elected to replace departing Sen. Leroy Garcia, and again in November, when his caucus nominated him to continue holding the most prestigious position in the legislature. Fenberg’s Democratic caucus also saw great success in the election, gaining two seats following months of threats that a “red wave” would seize control of the state Senate for the Republicans.
In addition to his position as Senate president, Fenberg passed 100% of the bills he introduced during the year’s legislative session. He was one of only 10 state lawmakers to achieve this feat and had the third most bills among them at 21.
Rep. Marc Catlin
Catlin spent the 2022 legislative session as the only Republican to hold leadership in a state House committee — a title he will maintain next year, despite Republicans losing seats in the legislature. Catlin was tapped to be vice chair of the agriculture committee next session, making him the only GOP member to hold the position as vice chair any committee for three years running. Adding to his legislative power, Catlin was also elected as minority whip during last-minute leadership reshuffling last month.
During the 2022 session, Catlin was among the most bipartisan lawmakers in the state Capitol, with 100% of the bills he sponsored receiving sponsorship from both parties. Catlin was one of only three lawmakers to accomplish this feat and he sponsored the second most bills among them at 22.
