Mike Colona (born 1969) is an American attorney and politician who served as a member of the
Missouri House of Representatives
The Missouri House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 163 members, representing districts with an average size of 37,000 residents. House members are elected for two-year terms during general elections ...
from 2009 to 2017. Before redistricting, Colona represented the 67th district. Colona more recently represented the 80th district, which is centered on the
Tower Grove South area within the city of
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
.
[ ] Colona also served as the House
minority whip
The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and members of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as the chief spokespersons for their respective political parties holdin ...
for the 96th General Assembly.
Early life and education
Mike Colona was born in
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
in 1969. He is a 1987 graduate of
Fox High School
Fox High School is a public high school located in Arnold, Missouri that is part of the Fox School District. Approximately 2,000 students are currently enrolled. The school is named for Charles Fox, who once owned the land where the campus was ...
in
Arnold, Missouri
Arnold is the largest city in Jefferson County, Missouri, United States and is also a suburb of St. Louis. The population was 20,850, at the 2020 United States Census.
History
The first European settler in Arnold was Jean Baptiste Gamache, wh ...
.
Colona earned a
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...
degree from
Truman State University
Truman State University (TSU or Truman) is a public university in Kirksville, Missouri. It had 4,225 enrolled students in the fall of 2021 pursuing degrees in 52 undergraduate and 11 graduate programs.
The university is named for U.S. Presid ...
and a
Juris Doctor from
St. Louis University.
Career
A lawyer in private practice, he specializes in personal injury, worker's compensation and some
first amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
cases. Colona was also an adjunct professor of criminal justice at the
University of Missouri–St. Louis.
He was one of three openly-
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term ...
legislators in Jefferson City, alongside
Jolie Justus (D–
Kansas City) and
Jeanette Mott Oxford
Jeanette Mott Oxford (born July 16, 1954) is an American activist and politician from Missouri. She is a currently the Executive Director of the Missouri Association for Social Welfare, after having served as a member of the Missouri House of Rep ...
(D–St. Louis).
In August 2008, Colona defeated four other Democratic challengers in the primary to replace term-limited Representative Mike Daus. Colona won with nearly 43 percent of the vote. Colona was unopposed in the November 2008 general election. In the 2010 general election, Colona handily defeated
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
challenger Curtis Farber with 82-percent of the vote to win a second term.
Colona was a member of the
American Legislative Exchange Council
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a nonprofit organization of conservative state legislators and private sector representatives who draft and share model legislation for distribution among state governments in the United State ...
(ALEC), resigning in 2012. Doing so, he said "
LECis not the innocuous, bipartisan organization it purports to be. Their agenda is radical and wrong for Missouri."
Personal life
Colona is openly gay and both his 2008 and 2010 campaigns won the support of the
Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund
The LGBTQ Victory Fund (formerly the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund), commonly shortened to Victory Fund, is an American political action committee dedicated to increasing the number of openly LGBTQ public officials in the United States. Victory F ...
.
References
External links
Campaign website
1969 births
21st-century American politicians
Gay politicians
LGBT state legislators in Missouri
Living people
Democratic Party members of the Missouri House of Representatives
Politicians from St. Louis
Saint Louis University alumni
Truman State University alumni
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