Richard Champion is an American politician and businessman from the 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 ...

. A Republican, Champion represented the 38th district 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 ...

, based in western

Arapahoe County Arapahoe County may refer to: *Arapahoe County, Colorado *Arapahoe County, Kansas Territory Arapahoe County was a county of Kansas Territory in the United States that existed from August 25, 1855, until Kansas's admission into the Union on January ...

, from February 12, 2020 to January 13, 2021.

Career

After graduating from Arapahoe High School in 1969, Champion joined the

U.S. Army Reserves The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces. Since July 2020, ...

, serving from 1971 until 1977. In 1974, Champion graduated with a BS from the

University of Northern Colorado The University of Northern Colorado (UNC) is a public university in Greeley, Colorado. The university was founded in 1889 as the State Normal School of Colorado and has a long history in teacher education. The institution has officially changed ...

. Champion is the founder of the energy company Champion Resources Inc., which he continues to operate, and has been the director of the Denver Regional Council of Governments since 2014.

Electoral history

In 2016, Champion was elected mayor of Columbine Valley, a small suburb to the south 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 ...

, and was re-elected in 2018. Prior to being elected mayor, he was a town trustee. In February 2020, Champion was appointed to the 38th district of the

, which had been left vacant after incumbent Republican

Susan Beckman Susan Beckman is a former state representative from Arapahoe County, Colorado. A Republican, Beckman represented Colorado House of Representatives District 38, which encompasses the communities of Bow Mar, Centennial, Columbine, Columbine Val ...

resigned to take a job with the Trump administration. In a vote of the 55 members of the district's Republican vacancy committee, Champion received 38 votes to Arapahoe County Republican Party vice chair Brenda Stokes' 17. Champion ran for election to a full term in 2020 but lost to

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

challenger

David Ortiz David Américo Ortiz Arias (born November 18, 1975), nicknamed "Big Papi", is a Dominican-American former designated hitter (DH) and first baseman in Major League Baseball who played in the American League (AL) from 1997 to 2016, primarily wit ...

Personal life

Champion lives in Columbine Valley with his wife; they have three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Champion, Richard Living people Republican Party members of the Colorado House of Representatives 21st-century American politicians Year of birth missing (living people)