The Colorado House of Representatives is the lower house of the Colorado General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Colorado. The House is composed of 65 members from an equal number of constituent districts, with each district having 75,000 people. Representatives are elected to two-year terms, and are limited to four consecutive terms in office, but can run again after a four-year respite.
The Colorado State Senate is the upper house of the Colorado General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Colorado. It is composed of 35 members elected from single-member districts, with each district having a population of about 123,000 as of the 2000 census. Senators are elected to four-year terms, and are limited to two consecutive terms in office. Senators who are term-limited become eligible to run again after a one-term respite.
Wilma J. Webb is an American politician who was a member of the Colorado General Assembly from 1980 to 1993. A Democrat, she represented Denver County in the Colorado House of Representatives. She sponsored dozens of bills including school reform and equality initiatives. She is best known for sponsoring legislation that adopted Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a Colorado state holiday before it became the federal Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, and for her efforts to educate the young about King's legacy.
Morgan Lenore Carroll is an American politician from Colorado and was the Chairwoman of the Colorado Democratic Party. A Democrat, Carroll represented Colorado House District 36 in the city of Aurora from 2004 to 2008, and she represented the state's 29th Senate district from 2009 to 2017. Carroll served as President of the Colorado State Senate from 2013 to 2014 and as minority leader in 2015. Carroll stepped down as minority leader in July 2015 to unsuccessfully run against incumbent Republican Mike Coffman for Colorado's 6th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. In addition to her legislative work, Carroll works for the law firm of Bachus & Schanker.
Sara Elizabeth Gagliardi was a legislator in the U.S. state of Colorado. A career nurse, Gagliardi was first elected as a Democrat in 2006 to the Colorado House of Representatives. She represented House District 27, which encompasses most of Arvada, Colorado, until her defeat in the 2010 election by Republican Libby Szabo. During her time with the House of Representatives, Gagliardi served as vice-chair for two legislative committees and successfully carried 22 bills into law, predominantly on health care, state services and education, and state fiscal issues. Following the recall attempt and subsequent resignation of Senator Evie Hudak in November 2013, Gagliardi announced her intention to be appointed to the office by the Democratic vacancy committee. The committee ultimately appointed Rachel Zenzinger.
Helen Ring Robinson (1878–1923), was an American suffragist, writer, and political office holder. She was either the first or the second woman to serve as a state senator in the United States and the first in the Colorado State Senate. She was elected in 1912 and began her service in the 19th Colorado General Assembly, when she was sworn in on January 1, 1913. She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2014.
Lucía Guzmán is an American minister and politician who served in the Colorado Senate from the 34th district as a member of the Democratic Party from 2010 to 2019. Prior to her tenure in the state senate she served on the school board in Denver and led the Colorado Council of Churches.
Jessie Danielson is an American politician from the State of Colorado. She is an elected member of the Colorado State Senate representing District 22 after being redistricted from District 20. Previously, she served in the Colorado House of Representatives representing District 24 in Jefferson County. A Democrat, Danielson was first elected in the November 4, 2014 general election.
Mary Eliza Watters Risteau was an American politician who was the first woman elected to both the Maryland House of Delegates and the Maryland State Senate.
Gloria Travis Tanner was a politician and public figure in Colorado. A Democrat, she served in the Colorado House of Representatives from 1985-1994. In 1994, she became the first African American woman to serve as a Colorado state senator. In 2000, she founded a leadership and training institute for black women in Colorado. She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2002.
Alma V. Short Lafferty was an American suffragist, clubwoman, and politician. She served two terms in the Colorado House of Representatives, from 1908 to 1912.
Louie Croft Boyd was an American nurse, hospital superintendent of nurses, nursing instructor, and writer. As a lobbyist for the newly formed Colorado State Trained Nurses Association, she advocated for legislation to regulate the licensing of nurses in Colorado. Upon passage of the bill in 1905, she applied for and became the first licensed nurse in the state. She was posthumously inducted into the Colorado Nurses Association Hall of Fame and the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2004.
Agnes Wright Spring was a journalist, writer and historian from Wyoming who wrote books focusing on Wyoming and Western history.
Ruth Small Stockton represented Jefferson County for 24 years as a Republican state representative in the Colorado General Assembly. Stockton was the Senate Majority Caucus leader (1967-1968) and the first woman to serve as the state's president pro tempore (1979-1980). She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1985.
In 1893, Colorado became the second state in the United States to grant women's suffrage and the first to do so through a voter referendum. Even while Colorado was a territory, lawmakers and other leaders tried to include women's suffrage in laws and later in the state constitution. The constitution did give women the right to vote in school board elections. The first voter referendum campaign was held in 1877. The Woman Suffrage Association of Colorado worked to encourage people to vote yes. Nationally-known suffragists, such as Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone spoke alongside Colorado's own Alida Avery around the state. Despite the efforts to influence voters, the referendum failed. Suffragists continued to grow support for women's right to vote. They exercised their right to vote in school board elections and ran for office. In 1893, another campaign for women's suffrage took place. Both Black and white suffragists worked to influence voters, gave speeches, and turned out on election day in a last-minute push. The effort was successful and women earned equal suffrage. In 1894, Colorado again made history by electing three women to the Colorado house of representatives. After gaining the right to vote, Colorado women continued to fight for suffrage in other states. Some women became members of the Congressional Union (CU) and pushed for a federal suffrage amendment. Colorado women also used their right to vote to pass reforms in the state and to support women candidates.
Rosa Lyons McKay was an American politician. She was one of the first women elected to the Arizona state legislature, serving in the 1917–1918, 1919–1920, and 1923–1924 sessions. She was inducted into the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame in 2019.
Minnie Reynolds Scalabrino was an American journalist, women's rights activist, and organizer, founding the Denver Women's Press Club and Denver Woman's Club. She advocated for equal rights, women's suffrage and temperance, something that she was devoted to for more than 30 years. She was instrumental in the passage of laws that gave women the right to vote at the state level, and then in 1920 for women throughout the United States.
Elizabeth Eyre Pellet was an American actress, suffragist, and state legislator who served in the state of Colorado. A Democrat, she represented southern Colorado counties of Dolores, Montezuma, and San Miguel in the Colorado House of Representatives, from 1948 to 1964, and as minority leader, from 1955 to 1956. She was the first woman to serve as Colorado's House minority leader.
May Tower Bigelow was an artist, lawyer, physician and state legislator serving in the Colorado House of Representatives 1919 session.
Norma Anderson is an American former state legislator from Colorado. A Republican, she represented Jefferson County in the Colorado House of Representatives from 1987 until 1998.
