Joseph A. Salazar (born 1971/72) is a former Democratic member of the
Colorado House of Representatives
The Colorado House of Representatives is the lower house of the Colorado General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Colorado. The House is composed of 65 members from an equal number of constituent districts, with each distr ...
, serving from 2013 to early 2019. Salazar previously worked as an attorney with Smith, Shelton, Ragona and Salazar, LLC. He focused on employment law, civil rights, and constitutional law.
Currently, he is the director of Colorado Rising, an anti-fracking
pressure group
Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the develop ...
.
Salazar ran for
Colorado Attorney General
The Attorney General of the State of Colorado is the chief legal officer for the U.S. state of Colorado and the head of the Colorado Department of Law, a principal department of the Colorado state government. It is an elected position with a four- ...
in the 2018 election but lost in the primary to fellow Democrat
Phil Weiser
Philip Jacob Weiser is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the 39th Colorado Attorney General, since 2019. He is the Hatfield Professor of Law and Telecommunications, Executive Director and Founder of the Silicon Flatirons Center ...
.
In January 2021, Salazar expressed interest in challenging incumbent Democratic senator
Michael Bennet
Michael Farrand Bennet (born November 28, 1964) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Colorado, a seat he has held since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, he was appointed t ...
in the Democratic primary for the
2022 U.S. Senate election in Colorado.
State Senate candidacy
In November 2021, Salazar filed papers to run for
Colorado's 24th Senate district
Colorado's 24th Senate district is one of 35 districts in the Colorado Senate. It has been represented by Democratic Party (United States), Democrat Kyle Mullica since 2023. Prior to redistricting the district was represented by Democrat Faith Win ...
. At the time of Salazar's announcement, the district was represented by
Faith Winter
Faith Winter (born May 7, 1980) is a Colorado Democratic Party, Democratic Party legislator in the U.S. State of Colorado. She represents Colorado's 25th Senate district, District 25 in the Colorado State Senate. Her district covers portions of ...
, but her residence will be in
Senate District 25 due to redistricting, leaving the new district open. The district will include
Thornton and
Federal Heights and parts of unincorporated
Adams County to the northeast of these two municipalities.
Salazar did not appear on the
Democratic primary
This is a list of Democratic Party presidential primaries.
1912
This was the first time that candidates were chosen through primaries. New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson ran to become the nominee, and faced the opposition of Speaker of the Unit ...
ballot.
References
External links
*
Legislative website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salazar, Joe
Living people
Democratic Party members of the Colorado House of Representatives
Native American state legislators
People from Thornton, Colorado
21st-century American politicians
Year of birth missing (living people)