Cole Wist | |
|---|---|
| Wist in 2018. | |
| Member of the ColoradoHouseofRepresentatives from the 37th district | |
| In office January 12, 2016 –January 4, 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Jack Tate |
| Succeeded by | Tom Sullivan |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 24 December 1962 |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Democratic (1996 – ?) Republican (? –2022) Unaffiliated (2022 –present) |
| Spouse | Susan |
| Children | Connor Abby Halle |
| Residence | Arapahoe County,Colorado |
| Alma mater | J.D.,Georgetown University Law Center,1988 B.A.,University of Denver,1985 |
| Profession | Attorney |
| Website | colewist |
Cole Wist is an attorney and former state representative from Arapahoe County,Colorado. A Republican,Wist represented Colorado House of Representatives District 37 and served as Assistant Minority Leader in the House.
Wist was born in Fort Worth,Texas, [1] but he was raised in Paonia,Colorado. He and his wife Susan have three daughters. [2]
Wist earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Denver in 1985. He also holds a J.D. Degree from Georgetown University Law Center. He works as an attorney at Ogletree,Deakins. [3]
In 1996,Wist ran for the Colorado House of Representatives as a Democrat and lost to Kay Alexander. [4]
Wist was appointed as a Republican to the State House in January 2016 after his predecessor,Jack Tate,resigned to fill a vacant State Senate seat. [5] Wist then ran for the office in the November 2016 general election and won,beating his Democratic challenger with 54.65% of the vote. [6] With Democratic assistant majority leader Alec Garnett,Wist sponsored a red flag bill in 2018. [7] This bill failed,but a similar bill was signed into law during the following session. [8] Wist ran for reelection in 2018 but lost to Democrat Tom Sullivan. [9]
Since leaving the legislature,Wist has criticized Donald Trump and the Republican Party for their handling of the Charlottesville car attack, [10] voting rights, [4] the 2021 United States Capitol attack, [4] and COVID-19 vaccine misinformation. [4] He opposed the efforts of the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners to recall his former rival Tom Sullivan in 2019. [11] During the 2020 presidential election Wist was a steering committee member of The Lincoln Project's Republicans and Independents for Biden group. [12] In January 2022 Wist announced that he was leaving the Republican Party to become unaffiliated. [4]