A week after winning reelection, state Sen. Chris Hansen of Denver announced this week he is resigning to take a job in the private sector, leaving his Senate seat to be filled by appointment.
“It was not an easy decision but, ultimately, I think it was the best decision for my family,” Hansen told KUNC this week. “I don't love the timing of this, but I'm really trying to make the best of a difficult situation, and I know there are great people who can immediately step into the seat.”
Hansen is leaving his seat to take over leadership of La Plata County Electric Association, a nonprofit utility provider in Southwest Colorado. The Durango-based organization is a member-owned cooperative that provides electricity to La Plata County, Archuleta County and parts of surrounding counties.
Hansen views the new job as a way he can keep serving the public while better supporting his family. He has a background in power generation and distribution and is the founder and executive director of the Institute for Western Energy, an organization focused on sustainable energy production.
The utility provider announced Hansen’s new position as its chief officer Tuesday, one week after Election Day. Hansen won reelection by almost 85% of the vote with no Republican challenger. His district, Senate District 31, is considered a safe seat for the Democratic Party that encompasses the city and county of Denver.
Hansen’s replacement will be selected by a Democratic Party vacancy committee, meaning Denver voters will not have a say in their state Senate representation until 2026. State Rep. Steven Woodrow and Rep.-elect Sean Camacho are contenders for the seat.
“I'm supporting Sean Camacho to fill the vacancy,” Hansen said. “I think he's ready to go on day one. He and I had been working on multiple pieces of legislation together already. He's an extremely talented lawyer and a veteran and someone who I think can very capably represent the district.”
If either Camacho or Woodrow is appointed, however, a vacancy committee would also then have to choose their replacement in the state House of Representatives. Hansen said if that happens, he would support appointing Katie March, who ran for the House in 2022 and lost to former Rep. Elizabeth Epps.
It’s not clear how much influence his recommendation will have. Some Senators have criticized Hansen for not communicating clearly about his plans.
Currently, 30 % of the lawmakers in the Colorado legislature are holding their seat because they were first appointed by vacancy committees, although they have since won elections to stay in office.
Vacancy committees are made up of party insiders. Coloradans across the state say it’s undermining the democratic process. The use of the process in recent years has prompted various community leaders to speak out against it through op-eds and a steady stream of social media posts.
“At a time when party values vary so wildly, simply replacing a D for a D or an R for an R isn’t going to work. Voters need to have a say,” Trish Zornio, scientist and 2020 US Senate candidate in Colorado, wrote in a column for the Colorado Sun earlier this year. “When it comes to who is in office and why, we have to consider the impact that rising vacancy appointments are having on our political system.”
Hansen actually agrees that the vacancy committee appointment system is problematic, but he says there needs to be a closer look at the systemic reasons for so many vacancies in the first place.
Hansen told KUNC he took the new job at La Plata County Electric Association to help pay for his two sons’ college educations. State lawmakers only make about $40,000 per year.
“With the high costs of living across the state, but especially in Denver, it is difficult to sustain public service,” Hansen said. “Let's ask ourselves that question: have we created a General Assembly that has structural sustainability for the members that serve? I think the answer is absolutely not.”
Former Rep. Said Sharbini resigned last year during his first term in the House because of the financial strain the job put on his family.
Hansen also said the electric association job opportunity came too late in election season, after September 5, the date ballots are finalized by the Secretary of State’s office. If he had dropped out of the race, there would not have been a Democratic candidate on the ballot.
