Democratic state Sen. Chris Hansen of Denver said he made the final decision to take a new job and resign from the legislature just days before the election, far too late to find a Democratic replacement to take his spot on the ballot.
“This was a really hard decision. This was not something that I went looking for, and just really felt like this was the best choice for me professionally and for my family,” he told CPR News Wednesday.
Hansen will head the La Plata Electric Association, a nonprofit electrical cooperative that serves Durango, Pagosa Springs and other communities in southwest Colorado. He said he started going through the hiring process this fall.
“Ballots are finalized on September 5th, and so all of this for me happened after ballots were finalized,” said Hansen. “It felt like the right thing to do was to finish off the election, and then as soon as I made my decision about the job, make sure that folks knew about that and that we could set up a very orderly transition.”
Hansen was reelected to a second four-year term with 84 percent of the vote. His Denver district includes Capitol Hill, Wash Park and neighborhoods to the east. He's served a total of eight years in the legislature, first in the House.
He said he plans to formally resign in early January in order to give a Democratic vacancy committee time to meet and select his replacement before the new legislative session starts. Under state law a vacancy committee can meet up to 20 days before a planned resignation.
“Whoever takes my spot will basically be there on Day One and ready to go,” he explained.
Rumors of Hansen’s departure immediately set off a contest for his replacement in the safely blue seat. Democratic state Rep. Steven Woodrow, whose current district overlaps with much of Hansen’s, is running. Other candidates include Jaime Lewis, a disability rights activist who was appointed to the RTD board, and Monica VanBuskirk, the former Chief Policy and Relationships Officer for Connect for Health Colorado.
For his part, Hansen said he’s endorsing Rep.-elect Sean Camacho who was just elected to his first term in office earlier this month. Camacho defeated outgoing Rep. Elisabeth Epps in the June Democratic primary.
Hansen said he believes Camacho could immediately shift over to the Senate and have a positive impact. And that’s not the end of his views on the process.
“The other upside of that is that if he were elected to the Senate to fill my spot, then that would allow Katie March to take on HD6.” He explained. House District 6 is Camacho’s current district. March, who previously worked for House Democrats, ran unsuccessfully for the seat in 2022. Hansen said having March and Camacho at the capitol would be a great outcome to all these musical chairs.
“I've been very supportive of both of them in their House races," he said. "I think they're both very talented.”
But it’s not clear how much weight his preferences will carry.
Three Democratic Senators told CPR News Hansen hasn’t communicated clearly with the caucus. They said they heard rumors of his potential departure in recent weeks, but officially learned of it on Tuesday through the media, and that he wasn't forthcoming with their follow-up logistical questions.
These lawmakers said they were also surprised Hansen took an active role in selecting Senate leaders when he knew he wouldn’t be serving with them. Hansen nominated two incoming freshmen Senators for positions during the recent caucus leadership meeting.
Hansen defends his decision to participate. He said he’s still a sitting member of the Senate and it was a chance to represent his district and weigh in on the new leadership, given that he hasn’t officially resigned yet.
Hansen nominated Sen.-elect Judy Amabile of Boulder to the powerful Joint Budget Committee, a role she was elected to over Sen. Janice Marchman of Loveland. However Hansen’s choice for Assistant Majority Leader, Sen.-elect Lindsey Daugherty of Arvada, lost to Sen. Lisa Cutter of Littleton.
Senate Democrats will meet later this week for their annual retreat. Hansen said he won’t attend since the work will be forward-looking to the next session. He said he’ll spend the next six weeks handing off information about the dozen or so bills he was working on, including legislation on the environmental impacts of data centers.
Hansen, chairs the state’s property tax commission and said he will chair one last meeting. During his tenure at the legislature, Hansen also served for a time on the powerful Joint Budget Committee and was often at the center of significant policy discussions, on taxes, budgeting and climate policy.
