John B. Cooke III is an American politician who served in the Colorado Senate from the 13th district as a member of the Republican Party. He also served as the Minority Leader in the state senate from May 2022 to January 2023. Prior to his tenure in the state legislature, he served as sheriff of

Weld County, Colorado Weld County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 328,981. The county seat is Greeley. Weld County comprises the Greeley, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Denver ...

. Cooke was born in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the juri ...

, and educated at Arvada West High School and 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 ...

. He served in the Army National Guard with the 220th Military Police Brigade before joining law enforcement. He worked as a police officer in

Breckenridge, Colorado The Town of Breckenridge is the home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Summit County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 5,078 at the 2020 United States Census. Breckenridge is the pr ...

before becoming the

undersheriff An undersheriff (or under-sheriff) is an office derived from ancient English custom that remains in, among other places, England and Wales and the United States, though performing different functions. United States In American law enforcement, ...

, and then being elected as sheriff. He was elected to the state senate in the 2014 election and reelected in 2018. During his tenure in the state senate he has served as the Majority Whip, Assistant Minority Leader, and Minority Leader.

Early life

John B. Cooke III was born in

, and his family lived there for five years. He graduated from Arvada West High School, and graduated from the

with a degree in sociology. He served in the Army National Guard with the 220th Military Police Brigade for six years. He graduated from the

FBI National Academy The FBI National Academy is a program of the FBI Academy for active U.S. law enforcement personnel and also for international law enforcement personnel who seek to enhance their credentials in their field and to raise law enforcement standards, kno ...

and attended the Law Enforcement Executive Development Seminar. He and his wife had two children.

Career

Sheriff

Cooke worked for the Breckenridge Police Department after graduating from college. Cooke served as

, until his election as sheriff which he served as from 2002 to 2014. During his tenure as sheriff he placed Weld County's sex-offender registry online. The

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

sued Weld County after Cooke and District Attorney

Ken Buck Kenneth Robert Buck (born February 16, 1959) is an American lawyer and politician who has represented Colorado's 4th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives since 2015. From March 30, 2019, to March 27, 2021, Buck s ...

seized the income tax records of a preparer who served thousands of Latino residents in Greeley. Cooke and Buck stated that the records were taken as they claimed that around 1,300 illegal immigrants filed tax returns using false or stolen identities. Weld County spent over $100,000 on defense during the case. District Judge James Hiatt ruled in favor of the ACLU stating that the search conducted by Buck and Cooke was illegal as the federal law made the records confidential.

Colorado Senate

Senator Scott Renfroe ran for the Republican nomination in

Colorado's 4th congressional district Colorado's 4th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Colorado. Located in the eastern part of the state, the district encompasses most of the rural Eastern Plains as well as the larger Colorado Front Range citie ...

for the 2014 election. Cooke won the Republican nomination and defeated Democratic nominee Joe Perez in the general election. Cooke won reelection after defeating Democratic nominee Phil Kelley and Libertarian nominee Eric E. Joss in the 2018 election. Cooke was selected to serve as Majority Whip in 2016, and selected to serve as Assistant Minority Leader in 2018. Minority Leader Chris Holbert resigned from the state senate and Cooke was selected to replace him beginning on May 16, 2022, while Senator

Bob Gardner Robert S. Gardner (born c. 1954) is a legislator in the U.S. state of Colorado. A United States Air Force veteran and attorney, Gardner was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives as a Republican in 2006. From 2006 to 2012, he represe ...

replaced him as Assistant Minority Leader.

Political positions

Crime

Cooke supported a resolution by Buck which asked for support from the Greeley city council for Buck's request for an

ICE Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaqu ...

office in Greeley. Cooke stated that "if the federal government wants to establish an ICE office here, they'll establish an ICE office here". When Governor Bill Ritter planned to release 3,500 prisoners early to save $45 million, as a part of a plan to reduce the state budget by $320 million, Cooke proposed cutting social programs instead. Cooke opposed gun control legislation proposed by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

. He also refused to enforced gun control legislation passed in Colorado. Cooke proposed legislation in the state senate which would repeal Colorado's fifteen-round limit on ammunition magazines.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, John 21st-century American politicians Republican Party Colorado state senators Living people People from San Juan, Puerto Rico University of Northern Colorado alumni Year of birth missing (living people)