This story was first published at Colorado Newsline.
DENVER | Adrienne Benavidez, a former Colorado House representative, will replace Dafna Michaelson Jenet in the Colorado Senate, a group of Democrats from Senate District 21 decided Thursday night.
Benavidez won on the first round of voting with 52.6% of the vote, beating out six other candidates during the vacancy committee election. There were 39 of 48 vacancy committee members in attendance at the start of the meeting.
“I understand the budget. I understand bills. So I am able to step right in and do that next Tuesday,” she said. “I’m able to step in, deliberate and decide bills that will be the most beneficial for our district.”
The district includes Commerce City, parts of northwest Aurora, and Adams County, and it extends east along Interstate 70 to include Strasburg, Byers and Deer Trail.
Benavidez, an attorney, previously served in the House of Representatives for six sessions. She stepped down shortly after her reelection in 2022, prompting a vacancy committee to pick her replacement in the House. Rep. Lorena GarcĂa, the Adams County Democrat who replaced her, nominated Benavidez for the vacant Senate seat. Rep. Manny Rutinel, a Commerce City Democrat, seconded the nomination.
GarcĂa mentioned Benavidez’s decision to retire after losing the Democratic caucus election for House speaker, which went to Julie McCluskie, a Dillon Democrat who is on her fourth year in that position.
“In order to make sure that we could move forward, putting the Democratic Party first and putting families first, she needed to step down and leave space for new energy in that chamber,” GarcĂa said.
Benavidez will begin the job about one-third of the way through this year’s regular legislative session. She said the biggest issues in the district include affordability, agriculture, the environment and protecting immigrants. She also said she supports raising the revenue cap set by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights and further decoupling state tax code from federal law.
“It’s not that we need to raise revenue. We get enough revenue in,” she said. Money the state collects above the TABOR cap is refunded to taxpayers.
Voters will decide in November who serves the remaining two years of Michaelson Jenet’s term.
Michaelson Jenet resigned earlier this month to take a job as the director of the David Merage Foundation for Confronting Antisemitism.