This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at coloradosun.com.
House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese, the top Republican in the Colorado House of Representatives, announced her resignation from the legislature effective Monday, saying she was stepping down to be more present for her kids.
“I have spent the months reflecting on my life choices, especially in relation to my children,” she said in a letter Sunday to friends and supporters. “As a single mom, I raise my two children on my own. I am all that they have. There is nothing more important in my life than them. They have made so many sacrifices for me to be able to represent you. But they also need their mom right now, and I need to keep them safe.”
Pugliese’s decision comes after she had a high-profile clash with Democrats on the House floor last month at the end of a special legislative session. She cited that situation, as well as the assassination last week of conservative political influencer Charlie Kirk, in her letter.
“This was one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make. When you are called to service, as I have been, it is difficult to walk away at a time when so many things need attention,” she said.
Pugliese is the second top Republican at the Capitol to depart in the past few months. Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, R-Monument, resigned in June to pursue a job leading a national conservative organization.
Lundeen and Pugliese are leaving as the GOP is trying to find its way back to relevance in the Colorado General Assembly. Republicans have been in the minority in both the House and Senate since 2019.
The resignation letter was first reported by Colorado Politics.
Pugliese entered politics as a Mesa County commissioner before moving to the Front Range and running in 2022 to represent House District 14 based in Colorado Springs. She was elected by fellow House Republicans to serve as the chamber’s minority leader in January 2024 after her predecessor, Republican Mike Lynch, stepped down from the position when his drunken driving arrest came to light.
Pugliese was reelected to the House for a second two-year term in 2024.
Democrats accused Pugliese over the summer of hiding from them that a Republican representative, Ryan Armagost, was responsible for taking a photo of state Rep. Yara Zokaie, D-Fort Collins, last legislative session without her knowledge or permission.
Armagost shared the photo in a Republican House caucus group chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal in April where fellow Republicans piled on with crude comments about her appearance. The photo was then circulated on social media, leading to harassment and threats against Zokaie.
Pugliese vehemently denied that she hid from Democrats that Armagost was responsible for the photo. In fact, she claimed she told Democratic leadership that Armagost took the picture.
During the legislature’s special session in August, as the chamber debated a resolution condemning Armagost, Pugliese confronted the No. 2 Democrat in the House, Majority Leader Monica Duran. (Armagost resigned days before the resolution was considered.)
“I am not a liar,” Pugliese said on the House floor, staring at Duran. “I am not. That is not fair and it’s not right — and you all know it.”
Duran, in refuting Pugliese from the House floor, said Pugliese chose an inappropriate moment for the confrontation.
“The point of this day and this moment is to acknowledge what one of your members did to a member of mine,” Duran said. “If you want to talk about your character — or your lack of character and honesty — let’s have that conversation. But I will not have that conversation here in this moment.”
Pugliese then stormed out of the House chambers before returning to vote in favor of the resolution.
In her letter to friends and supporters Sunday, Pugliese said “the last day of special session was sad and disappointing for me.”
“The lies and hypocrisies the majority spewed were beyond what I had ever expected, even in Colorado politics,” she said in the letter. “It has been degraded, and the one word that is at the top of my mind is toxic.”
Pugliese, who was once seen as a rising star in Republican politics in Colorado, said she plans to move back to Mesa County with her kids.
A Republican vacancy committee will be convened in House District 14 to select Pugliese’s replacement.
The replacement will be one of at least 25 members of the General Assembly next year who at some point were appointed to the House or Senate by or through a vacancy committee. That means 1 in 4 state lawmakers in Colorado owe their legislative careers, either in whole or in part, to the vacancy process.
House Republicans will meet as soon as this week to pick a new leader.
The legislature will next reconvene in January for its annual, 120-day lawmaking term.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
