The highest Republican within the Colorado Senate introduced Monday that he’s resigning from the legislature to take a job within the personal sector.
Senate Minority Chief Paul Lundeen, R-Monument, is resigning efficient Monday.
“Serving Colorado has been an honor and blessing,” Lundeen stated in a written assertion. “I am grateful to the people of Senate District 9 for the opportunity to fight for policies that empower individuals, protect our communities, and promote prosperity. As I transition to a national platform, I am eager to continue advocating for personal freedom, economic opportunity and common-sense conservative values.”
Lundeen stated his new job is because the president and CEO of the American Excellence Basis, a nonprofit primarily based in Washington, D.C., however that has a nationwide footprint. Lundeen stated he’ll stay in Colorado as he enters the function.
He’s term-limited and couldn’t search reelection in 2026.
Earlier than getting into the legislature in 2017 as a state consultant, Lundeen was a member of the State Board of Schooling.
In a current interview with Colorado Public Radio, when requested to substantiate how lengthy he’d been within the statehouse, he joked, “too long.”
“I’ve just completed my seventh session in the Senate. So what is that, 15 years on both sides of Colfax?” he stated.
Senate Minority Chief Paul Lundeen, R-Monument, on the primary day of the 2025 legislative session on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, on the Colorado Capitol in Denver, Colorado. (Jesse Paul, The Colorado Solar)
Republicans have been within the minority throughout Lundeen’s tenure as GOP chief. The final time the GOP managed the gavel within the Senate was 2018.
A Republican emptiness committee will likely be convened to pick out his substitute.
Lundeen’s substitute will likely be one in every of at the very least 23 members of the Common Meeting subsequent 12 months who sooner or later had been appointed to the Home or Senate by or by way of a emptiness committee. That signifies that greater than 1 in 5 state lawmakers in Colorado owe their legislative careers, both in complete or partly, to the emptiness course of.
Lundeen’s identify was within the combine as a attainable 2026 gubernatorial candidate. His new job, nonetheless, probably ends that hypothesis.
Kind of Story: Information
Primarily based on information, both noticed and verified instantly by the reporter, or reported and verified from educated sources.
