This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at coloradosun.com.
A Democratic vacancy committee Tuesday night selected state Rep. William Lindstedt to serve out the term of state Sen. Faith Winter, who died last month in a car crash.
Lindstedt, of Broomfield, beat out one other candidate — Tom Klenow, a University of Colorado information technology administrator — for the job.
Winter would have completed her term in January 2027. Lindstedt was already running next year to replace Winter, who was term-limited, in Senate District 25 and will now have the advantage of incumbency. (Winter endorsed Lindstedt’s 2026 bid before she died.)
The district spans parts of Broomfield, Northglenn and Westminster.
“These are not the circumstances I anticipated pursuing a seat in the state Senate, and I know this loss has been devastating for our community and for many of us very personally,” Lindstedt said before the vote. “At the same time, with the legislative session rapidly approaching, the work of serving our community in the state Senate has to continue.”
Lindstedt said his priorities in his new role will be protecting the environment, defending K-12 education funding and ensuring that Medicaid spending is sufficient enough so that families can access health care when they need it.
Lindstedt entered the legislature in 2022 with the help of a vacancy committee. He was selected to fill the spot of state Rep. Matt Gray on the primary ballot that year after Gray announced he wouldn’t seek reelection.
Another vacancy committee now must be convened to select a Democrat to serve out Lindstedt’s term.
Including Lindstedt’s replacement, the number of state lawmakers who will serve at the Colorado Capitol next year who at some point were appointed to the House or Senate by or through a vacancy committee has grown to 27. That’s more than 1 in 4 members of the General Assembly who will owe their legislative careers, either in whole or in part, to the vacancy process.
There were 57 members of the vacancy committee in Senate District 25 that picked Lindstedt to replace Winter on Tuesday evening. The vote was 56 for Lindstedt and one for Klenow.
Winter, 45, was legally drunk when she died Nov. 26 in a crash that she caused on Interstate 25 south of Denver, authorities say. She is survived by her 16-year-old son, Tobin, and 14-year-old daughter, Sienna. She’s also survived by Gray, the former state representative, who was her fiancé.
