Chris deGruy Kennedy is a
Democratic member of the
Colorado House of Representatives. He represents house district 30, which includes the
Jefferson County communities of
Lakewood and
Edgewater. Prior to reapportionment implemented in 2023, he represented the 23rd district, which covered a portion of
Jefferson County. He was first elected to the state house in 2016, succeeding
Max Tyler.
A
Lakewood resident, Kennedy attended the
University of Colorado Boulder
The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sy ...
and was an engineer before he entered politics. He has served as Democratic chairman of Jefferson County and ran U.S. Representative
Ed Perlmutter
Edwin George Perlmutter (born May 1, 1953) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for . A member of the Democratic Party, his district is located in the northern and western suburbs of the Denver metropolitan are ...
's 2014 reelection campaign.
In his first term, Kennedy served on the House Finance Committee and the House Health, Insurance, and Environment Committee.
In the 72nd General Assembly, Kennedy was elected as the Assistant Majority Leader and serves as Chair of the State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Committee. Kennedy also serves on the Appropriations Committee. For the 74th General Assembly session, Kennedy was appointed to the position of speaker
pro tempore for the Colorado House of Representatives.
Elections
Kennedy was elected to the House of Representatives in 2016, winning with 55.88% of the vote against Republican opponent Chris Hadsall.
In 2018, Chris Kennedy defeated Republican Joan Poston with 61.75% (17,882) to Poston's 38.25% (11,075 votes).
In 2020, Kennedy defeated Republican Fred Clifford and Libertarian Doug Anderson with 60.2% of the vote. Kennedy was re-elected in 2022 with 66.6% of the vote.
Legislative career
Kennedy sponsored a bill during the 2021 session of the
Colorado General Assembly
The Colorado General Assembly is the state legislature of the State of Colorado. It is a bicameral legislature that was created by the 1876 state constitution. Its statutes are codified in the ''Colorado Revised Statutes'' (C.R.S.). The se ...
that would authorize the state's municipalities to use
ranked-choice voting in city elections even if their charters do not authorize that system of choosing public officials. The bill - HB21-1071 - would also provide for the sharing by county elections offices of
electronic voting machines
An electronic voting machine is a voting machine based on electronics.
Two main technologies exist: '' optical scanning'' and '' direct recording'' (DRE).
Optical scanning
In an optical scan voting system, or marksense, each voter's choices ...
and software necessary to tabulate ranked-choice ballots.
References
External links
Official campaign website
21st-century American legislators
Democratic Party members of the Colorado House of Representatives
Living people
People from Lakewood, Colorado
University of Colorado Boulder alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)
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