Kevin Priola is an American politician who serves in the Colorado Senate from the 13th district as a member of the Democratic Party. Prior to decennial redistricting he also represented the 25th district. Prior to his tenure in the state senate he served in the Colorado House of Representatives from the 30th and 56th districts from 2009 to 2017. Until 2022, he served as a member of the Republican Party. Priola was born in

Brighton, Colorado Brighton is a home rule municipality city located in Adams and Weld counties, Colorado, United States. Brighton is the county seat of Adams County and a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Front Ra ...

, and educated at 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 ...

where he joined the College Republicans. He joined the Republican Party at age seventeen and was elected to the state house from the 30th district in the 2008 election. During his tenure in the state house he served as a whip, but resigned in 2014 following an unsuccessful attempt to remove him. He was elected to the state senate in the 2016 election. He switched parties to the Democratic Party on August 22, 2022, citing Republican attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election. Priola was redistricted into the 13th district.

Early life

Kevin Priola was born in

. He attended the

from 1992 to 1996, and graduated with 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 in finance and accounting and a minor in economics. He became a

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 ...

at age seventeen and was a member of the College Republicans. He married Michelle, with whom he had four children.

Career

Priola ran for the Republican nomination for a seat in the Colorado House of Representatives in the 30th district in the 2008 election and won in the general election against Democratic nominee Dave Rose. He defeated Democratic nominee Laura Huerta in the 2010 election. He defeated Democratic nominee Rose and Libertarian nominee Will Hiltscher in the 2012 election. He defeated Democratic nominee Vicki A. Snider and Libertarian nominee Chris Baerns in the 2014 election. Priola ran for a seat in the Colorado Senate from the 25th district and defeated Democratic nominee Jenise May in the 2016 election. He defeated Democratic nominee Paula Dickerson in the 2020 election. He over-performed

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

by over 10% in the 2020 election in his district. He served as a whip during his tenure in the state house, but resigned from his position in 2014, the day after Representative Chris Holbert unsuccessfully attempted to have him removed from the position due to Priola not supporting a Republican amendment to legislation. During his tenure in the state senate he served on the Business, Labor and Technology, and Education committees. He was considered as a possible running mate for Walker Stapleton in the 2018 gubernatorial election, but

Lang Sias Langhorne Cowles Sias (born 1959) is an American politician who represented House District 27 in the Colorado House of Representatives. A vacancy committee appointed Sias to the office after his predecessor resigned, and he was sworn into office ...

was selected instead.

Political positions

Priola is considered a

moderate Moderate is an ideological category which designates a rejection of radical or extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religion. A moderate is considered someone occupying any mainstream position avoiding extreme views. In American ...

in his district, and has worked with Democrats in sponsoring or supporting bipartisan bills. He voted in favor of legislation to allow municipalities to require affordable housing which had been prohibited since a ruling by the

Colorado Supreme Court The Colorado Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Colorado. Located in Denver, the Court consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. Powers and duties Appellate jurisdiction Discretionary appeals The Court ...

in 2000. He was the only Republican in the state senate to vote in favor of legislation to prevent landlords from using or disclosing the citizenship or immigration status of their tenants. He sponsored legislation to exempt teachers from the Colorado Open Records Act in order to prevent

doxing Doxing or doxxing is the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information about an individual or organization, usually via the internet. Historically, the term has been used interchangeably to refer to both the aggregation of this in ...

being conducted against teachers. Priola was the only Republican to vote in favor of legislation to prohibit employers from retaliating against their workers for reporting health and safety concerns or violations. He co-sponsored legislation to repeal the death penalty, and at one point was the only Republican supporter of the bill, stating that he opposes capital punishment due to his

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

beliefs and how it disproportionately targets black people. He voted in favor of reducing the sentence of felony murder from life in prison without parole to a maximum of forty-eight years. He and Senator Brittany Pettersen created legislation to allow for

supervised injection site Supervised injection sites (SIS) are medically supervised facilities designed to provide a hygienic environment in which people are able to consume illicit recreational drugs intravenously and prevent deaths due to drug overdoses. The legality ...

s to combat the

opioid epidemic The opioid epidemic, also referred to as the opioid crisis, is the rapid increase in the overuse, misuse/abuse, and overdose deaths attributed either in part or in whole to the class of drugs opiates/opioids since the 1990s. It includes the sign ...

. Patrick Neville, the Republican Minority Leader in the state house, threatened to have recall attempts made against Democratic members of the Colorado General Assembly who supported the legislation, but not against Priola. Priola sponsored legislation to prohibit the selling or marketing of flavored products by cigarette, tobacco, or nicotine retailers. Priola sponsored legislation in 2014 that would prohibit abortions, except to prevent the death of the mother, and make it a class three felony. He received an F rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America. He voted in favor of legislation to allow transgender and nonbinary people to change their names and gender on identifications without surgery or judicial requirements, and voted in favor of legislation to prohibit gay conversion therapy. He cosponsored legislation to make

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

prevention drugs available without the need of a prescription. He has also supported anti-

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 ...

religious-exemption legislation. After the January 6 United States Capitol attack, he called for President Trump to be removed from office through either the Twenty-fifth Amendment or impeachment. Priola was the only Republican to vote in favor of a resolution calling for the passage of voting rights legislation at the federal level while fifteen Republican members of the state senate voted in favor of unsuccessful amendments to the resolution thanking the Capitol attackers and decertifying the 2020 presidential election. On August 22, 2022, Priola announced he was leaving the Republican Party and joining the Democratic Party, citing Republicans' attempts to overturn the 2020 election and

denial of climate change Climate change denial, or global warming denial, is denial, dismissal, or doubt that contradicts the scientific consensus on climate change, including the extent to which it is caused by humans, its effects on nature and human society, or the ...

. Priola's wife, Michelle, is a plaintiff on Anderson v. Griswold.

Electoral history

References

External links

Campaign website

Legislative website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Priola, Kevin Living people University of Colorado Boulder alumni Members of the Colorado House of Representatives Colorado Democrats Colorado Republicans College Republicans 21st-century American politicians Colorado state senators 1973 births Democratic Party Colorado state senators