Early life and education
Christopher Craig Hansen was born in Lincoln,Nebraska,on June 16,1975,to Lana and Wallace Hansen. He was raised in Goodland,Kansas. He met Ulcca Shashee Joshi in 1998,married her on July 28,2001,and had two children with her. Hansen later changed his middle name to Joshi. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Hansen graduated from high school in 1993,from Kansas State University with a Bachelor of Science in nuclear engineering in 1998,from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Master of Science in technology policy in 2003,and from Linacre College,Oxford with a doctorate in economic geography in 2009. He also received a graduate diploma in civil engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand. Hansen served as president of the student body at Kansas State University from 1996 to 1997 after being elected with 57% of the vote and also served as president of the Theta Xi chapter. He started working at Cambridge Energy Research Associates in 2005. [3] [6] [4]
Colorado Legislature
Elections
Hansen ran for a seat in the Colorado House of Representatives from the 6th district in the 2016 election. His opponent Jeff Hart sent out campaign advertisements falsely accusing Hansen of being supported by the National Rifle Association of America and later apologized for it. Hansen accused Hart of being under investigation by the Denver district attorney for violating misinformation laws,but the district attorney told Hansen to retract his statement for violating misinformation laws. [7] He defeated Hart in the Democratic primary and won in the general election without opposition. [8] [9] He was reelected in the 2018 election without opposition. [10] [11]
Hansen announced on October 2,2019,that he would run to succeed Court in the state senate in the 2020 election. [12] Court received a diagnosis of Guillain–Barrésyndrome on December 31,and resigned on January 16,2020. [13] Attorney General Phil Weiser nominated Hansen to replace Court at the vacancy committee vote and Representative Janet Buckner seconded his nomination. Ninety-five of the one hundred twenty vacancy committee members voted for him against four other candidates on January 16,and he was sworn in on January 21. [3] [14] [15] [16] A vacancy committee voted to appoint Steven Woodrow to replace Hansen in the state house on February 4. [17]
Hansen defeated Maria E. Orms for the Democratic nomination and won in the general election against Republican nominee Doug Townsend. [18] [19] Hansen and Senator Robert Rodriguez were drawn into the 22nd district following reapportionment for the 2022 election. [20] Hansen was appointed CEO of the electrical cooperative La Plata Electric Association,which pays $400,000–$600,000,and will resign from the state senate before January 9,2025. [21]
Tenure
During Hansen's tenure in the state house he served as the chair of the Appropriations committee and on the Joint Budget committee. [12] During his tenure in the state senate he has served on the Appropriations,Finance,and State,Veterans,and Military Affairs committees. [22] He also replaced Senator Rachel Zenzinger on the Joint Budget committee before Zenzinger returned to the committee by replacing Dominick Moreno. [23]
Hansen filed to run in the 2023 Denver mayoral election on November 14,2022,but failed to advance to the runoff after placing sixth [24] [25] and endorsed Kelly Brough. [26] He raised $623,749.37 and spent $609,576.06 during the campaign. [27]
Resignation from State Senate
On November 12,2024,it was announced that Hansen would resign from the start of the new session to become the CEO of La Plata Electric Association. [28] On January 8,2025,it was announced that Matthew Ball,Policy Director to Mayor Mike Johnston,would fill the vacancy. [29]
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