By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice
A second portrait of Republican President-elect Donald J. Trump will not be purchased and displayed in the Colorado capitol building, Lois Court confirmed Friday in a meeting of the Capitol Building Advisory Committee.
Each U.S. President is memorialized in the capitol’s third floor Presidential Portrait Gallery. The portrait of Democratic President Joe Biden cost $11,000, Court was told, paid for in taxpayer funds. The portraits of other Presidents have been paid for through private donations.
Only one other time in U.S. history has a president been elected to non-consecutive terms, as Trump has been.
“Will we need to do it, again?,” Court asked of purchasing a second painting depicting Trump as the 47th President. His portrait is displayed as the 45th President, and a new portrait would have nearly depleted reserved funds of the Capitol Building Advisory Committee, if it were not privately funded.
Staff noted many presidents in the display served “more than one term” and have only a single portrait. But, only one other of them was elected to non-consecutive terms.
“So we won’t need to have that money reserved and around,” said Court, a Democrat who served in the Colorado Senate through January 2020.