Rhonda Marshall Fields is a Democratic politician from Colorado. She represents
District 28
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
in the
Colorado Senate
The Colorado Senate is the upper house of the Colorado General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Colorado. It is composed of 35 members elected from single-member districts, with each district having a population of about 123, ...
. During the 2020 reapportionment process, Buckner's residence moved from senate district 29 to senate district 28. Earlier, she represented
District 29
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
Fields entered politics after her work as a victims' rights advocate in the wake of the murders of her son, Javad Fields, and his fiancée, Vivian Wolfe.
The two
Colorado State University
Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...
graduates were murdered on June 20, 2005, less than a week before Javad Fields planned to testify as a key witness in the murder of his best friend. In 2007 Gov.
Bill Ritter
August William Ritter Jr. (born September 6, 1956) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 41st Governor of Colorado from 2007 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the district attorney for Denver before his ele ...
appointed Rhonda Fields to the Colorado Commission on Criminal Juvenile Justice, where she worked on public safety and criminal justice issues. Fields also testified before the Colorado legislature on two successful bills, one strengthening the state's Witness Protection Programs, as well as the Javad Marshall Fields & Vivian Wolfe Witness Protection Act that is designed to develop better risk-assessment tools to elevate the safety and security of witnesses in criminal trials.
Fields serves on numerous boards, including the Safe 2 Tell Advisory Board and Voices of Victims. Her professional affiliations include Women in Government, the National Federation of Women Legislators, the Colorado Black Caucus, the National Council of Negro Women, the Urban League of Denver, the
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
, Black Women for Political Action and
Alpha Kappa Alpha
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen stud ...
, a sorority of African-American college-educated women.
In 2011,
5280 Magazine
''5280'' is an American monthly magazine focused on Denver, Colorado and published by 5280 Publishing, Inc.Colorado Democratic Party, the 2011 Leadership for Healthy Communities Award from the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is an American philanthropic organization. It is the largest one focused solely on health. Based in Princeton, New Jersey, the foundation focuses on access to health care, public health, health equity, ...
, the
Wilma Webb
Wilma J. Webb (born 1944) is an American politician who was a member of the Colorado General Assembly from 1980 to 1993. A Democrat, she represented Denver County in the Colorado House of Representatives. She sponsored dozens of bills including ...
2011 Co-Legislator of the Year presented by African American Voices, the 2011 Black Women for Political Action Award, the 2010 Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award and the Colorado Black Chamber of Commerce President's Courage Award.
Fields is the founder of th Fields Wolfe Memorial Fund a nonprofit, started in memory of her son Javad Fields and his fiancée, Vivian Wolfe. She has one adult daughter and four grandchildren. She is retired from United Airlines after 28 years of dedicated employment. Fields holds a Master's Degree from the University of Northern Colorado.
Political campaigns
Rhonda Fields was elected to the Colorado State House three times, in 2010, 2012, and 2014. In 2016, she was elected to the
Colorado Senate
The Colorado Senate is the upper house of the Colorado General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Colorado. It is composed of 35 members elected from single-member districts, with each district having a population of about 123, ...
.
2010 election
In 2010, State Rep. Karen Middleton withdrew from her re-election campaign in order to accept an out-of-state position. A Democratic vacancy committee then met to select a replacement candidate to appear on the November 2010 General Election ballot. Rhonda Fields was one of three candidates. She entered with the support of then-State House Speaker Terrance Carroll, incumbent Karen Middleton and she was nominated by the committee on the first ballot. She went on to win the District 42 seat, defeating Republican Sally Mounier.
2012 election
In 2012, Fields was re-elected.
2024 election
On July 19, 2023, Fields, term-limited at the end of her current term, announced that she was running for the office of
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 ...
commissioner
A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something).
In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...
, District 5. The position will be open because its incumbent is also term-limited.
Legislative career
Fields successfully sponsored nine bills and two joint resolutions in her first legislative session. To combat
childhood obesity
Childhood obesity is a condition where excess body fat negatively affects a child's health or well-being. As methods to determine body fat directly are difficult, the diagnosis of obesity is often based on BMI. Due to the rising prevalence of ...
, she sponsored legislation to require 30 minutes of physical activity a day in Colorado schools. She also led legislation to authorize the Public Utilities Commission to create a tiered electricity rate for customers with medical conditions.
Committee assignments
In the State House, Fields was assigned to the following committees:
* Local Government—Chair
* Economic Opportunity Poverty Reduction Task Force—Vice-Chair
* Education
* Health, Insurance & Environment
Gun control
In 2023, Fields supported legislation that would ban assault weapons.