Eleven Colorado lawmakers on the ballot first reached office through appointment

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice

Every Coloradan who feels ignored at the Capitol can take comfort in this: they have not one but two people assigned to listen. Your House member splits attention among roughly 92,500 residents. Your senator, among about 171,800.

As ballots arrive across the state this week ahead of the June 30 primary election, some of those lawmakers earned their seat with less than 50 votes, and one with only 10—from a committee. 

Among the names appearing on those ballots are 11 current lawmakers who were never elected to the seats they now hold.

Some were selected by vacancy committees after lawmakers resigned. One was ultimately appointed by Gov. Jared Polis after a vacancy committee failed to submit paperwork before a statutory deadline.

It took more than 45,000 voters to send Janet Buckner back to the Capitol in November 2024. Weeks later she announced she was leaving. She resigned Jan. 9, and a Democrat vacancy committee chose her replacement—Iman Jodeh won the seat with 35 of 42 votes.

Five of the 11 face primary opposition.

Benavidez faces Alex Ryckman in Senate District 21.

Jackson faces Anne Keke in House District 41.

Nguyen faces Heidi Henkel in House District 33.

Flanell faces Troy Vanderhule in House District 14.

Zamora Wilson faces former state Rep. Terri Carver in Senate District 9.

The remaining six have no primary opponent and are already headed to the November ballot.

How they got there

Iman Jodeh (SD29)

Buckner stepped down Jan. 9, 2025, weeks after winning another term. Filling the seat fell to a Democrat vacancy committee, where 42 ballots were cast and 35 went to Jodeh.

Jamie Jackson (HD41)

Jodeh’s move to the Senate opened a House seat. A 19-member Democrat vacancy committee selected Jackson with 10 votes.

Matt Ball (SD31)

Chris Hansen left a Senate seat paying about $44,000 for a utility job paying half a million. He resigned Jan. 9, 2025, about nine weeks after being reelected, to become CEO of the La Plata Electric Association. Ball won a final-round Democrat vacancy committee vote 61-37 to replace him.

Lori Goldstein (HD29)

Shannon Bird left House District 29 on Jan. 5 to run for Congress. Her replacement, Lori Goldstein, was the only candidate before the 34-member Democrat vacancy committee. The vote was unanimous.

Lynda Zamora Wilson (SD9)

Paul Lundeen, the Senate’s top Republican, resigned June 9, 2025 to lead the American Excellence Foundation. Zamora Wilson defeated Terri Carver 63-50 before a Republican vacancy committee.

Ava Flanell (HD14)

When Rose Pugliese resigned from the House in September 2025, she pointed to two things at once: a chamber she called toxic, and children who told her they wanted her home. Republicans picked Ava Flanell to replace her—then had to vote twice, after the Secretary of State voided the first round for giving members seven days’ notice where the law requires 10. The October revote landed on Flanell again, 34-30 over Joe Woyte.

Katie Wallace (SD17)

Sonya Jaquez Lewis forged letters to fight an ethics complaint, then resigned in February 2025 before the committee could finish with her. A jury convicted her of four felonies a year later. Her seat went to Katie Wallace, picked by a 114-member Democrat vacancy committee on 67 votes.

Adrienne Benavidez (SD21)

Dafna Michaelson Jenet resigned from the Senate on Feb. 13, 2026, saying the job’s roughly $45,000 pay had become a financial hardship for her family. A Democrat vacancy committee of 38 picked Benavidez to replace her, on 20 votes.

William Lindstedt (SD25)

Faith Winter’s death left Senate District 25 vacant. A Democrat vacancy committee selected Lindstedt. After the vacancy committee failed to meet a paperwork deadline, Polis appointed Lindstedt on Dec. 30, 2025.

Kenny Nguyen (HD33)

Lindstedt’s move to the Senate created a House vacancy. Nguyen won appointment by a 19-17 Democrat committee vote.

Scott Slaugh (HD64)

Ryan Armagost resigned from the House. A 39-member Republican vacancy committee selected Slaugh with 23 votes.

Appointees can lose

A vacancy committee chose Tim Hernández for a northwest Denver House seat in 2023, picking him over Cecelia Espenoza after Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez left for the Denver City Council. 

When the seat went before actual voters in 2024, Espenoza won the rematch—53 to 46 percent in the Democrat primary.

More than a handful

These 11 lawmakers account for more than one in 10 members of Colorado’s 100-seat General Assembly. 

They aren’t outliers. A 2024 Colorado Politics analysis found almost a third of the chamber—28 of 100—had first arrived through a vacancy committee rather than at the ballot box.

Lawmakers changed Colorado’s vacancy process in 2025 through House Bill 25-1315. The law requires vacancy committee meetings to be livestreamed and creates a new election process for some future legislative vacancies. All 11 vacancies were filled before those changes went into effect.

The committees did the choosing. On June 30, five of these 11 give voters the rare chance to disagree—rare because in 25 years, appointees have lost only a handful of times.