Linda Newell is a former legislator in the U.S. state of

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. Elected to the Colorado State Senate as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

in 2008, Newell represented Senate District 26, which encompasses southern suburbs of

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, including

Littleton, Colorado Littleton is a home rule municipality city located in Arapahoe, Douglas, and Jefferson counties, Colorado, United States. Littleton is the county seat of Arapahoe County and is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistica ...

. She did not seek re-election in 2016, and her term ended in January, 2017.Ballotpedia
Retiring incumbents
Viewed: 2016-01-13.

Biography

Born in Oregon, Newell earned a bachelor's degree from the

University of California at Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...

. She holds a certification as a Senior Professional in Human Resources is a Registered Organization Development Professional, and has worked as a business consultant in the fields of human resources, corporate education and workforce development. Most recently, she served as Senior Director of Learning and Development at StarTek. She is now a contract senior consultant with EPI, a human performance consulting firm. Newell has also served on the Denver Metro Regional Workforce Development Council and the Governor's Taskforce on Workforce Development and has been a member of the National Business Executives, the Women's Professional Network, the American Society of Training and Development, the Society for Human Resource Management, and The Organizational Development Institute. Newell has also volunteered with a number of non-profit organizations, including the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

, the Special Olympics, the

March of Dimes March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. The organization was founded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, to comba ...

, Season for Non-Violence, Stalking Rescue, AXIS Intervention and Training Institute, and The Conflict Center, in addition to having served as an Education Foundation Chairperson for a chapter of the

American Association of University Women The American Association of University Women (AAUW), officially founded in 1881, is a non-profit organization that advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. The organization has a nationwide network of 170,000 ...

and the Performing Arts Chair for the Lakewood Arts Council. Newell is also a single mother of two daughters, Kate and Brittany, and currently resides in

. As a single mother, Newell struggled in the past to pay down personal debt stemming from the Savings and Loan Crisis and to provide

health insurance Health insurance or medical insurance (also known as medical aid in South Africa) is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among ma ...

coverage for her family. Since being elected Newell has maintained an active role in her daughters' educations: Brittany is studying music performance at Arapahoe Community College and Kate is working towards her undergraduate degree in Diversity/Divinity at Regis University with plans to be an interfaith minister.

Legislative career

2008 election

The retirement of Sen. Steve Ward, upon his campaign for Congress, left an open seat in the historically Republican district. Newell began her campaign in July 2008, and had no opposition in the August Democratic primary. Newell focused on grassroots campaigning, with supporters knocking on over 30,000 doors and making over 10,000 phone calls to prospective voters, focusing on the city of

Centennial {{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation) A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years. Notable events Notable centennial events at a ...

. During her campaign, Newell focused on economic and education issues and called for increased resources for victims of

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...

. She faced Republican Rep. Lauri Clapp in the November 2008 general election. Clapp, who had been term-limited out of the state house in 2006, was criticized by Newell for missing multiple candidate forums; in mid-October, Newell called for her opponent to make a public appearance. Clapp's candidacy was endorsed by the ''

Denver Post ''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in Denver, Colorado. As of June 2022, it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 ...

'', but as of mid-October, Newell had also out-raised her opponent, taking in $33,000 to Clapp's $30,000. Newell's race was the closest of Colorado's legislative races. Two days after the election, Newell led Clapp by 69 votes out of 59,000 cast. With the race undecided as provisional ballots were counted, Newell attended member orientation at the state capitol, and both candidates caucused with their respective parties before the race was settled. A final count, completed two weeks after the election, gave Newell a margin of 195 votes, a margin of victory large enough to avoid an automatic recount. Newell's victory increased the Democrats' Senate majority by one seat over the previous legislative session. Looking towards representing a "swing" district, Newell began her Senate term by scheduling town hall meetings and a "listening tour" within her district.

2009 legislative session

For the 2009 session of the Colorado General Assembly, Newell was named to seats on the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the Senate Local Government and Energy Committee. She was also appointed to the Colorado Workforce Development Council. During the 2009 session, Newell sponsored legislation recommended by the Child Welfare Action Group to require that social services case workers be trained in child welfare.

References

External links

Campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newell, Linda Colorado state senators University of California, Irvine alumni Living people 1957 births Women state legislators in Colorado 21st-century American legislators 21st-century American women politicians