Outgoing Denver Democrat Crisanta Duran on the Past Eight Years at the Capitol
In 2010, 29-year-old Duran jumped into state politics and ran a fierce campaign against three other Democrats for the House District 5 seat vacated by Representative Joel Judd. Duran wasn't totally green when it came to politics; she had volunteered for political organizations like the Colorado Young Democrats and New Era Colorado, and she helped former state attorney general Ken Salazar in his bid for the U.S. Senate and was the political director for Mark Udall's 2008 Senate re-election campaign. Duran ultimately won her bid for the House. Since then, the sixth-generation Coloradan has been re-elected three times and was appointed the first Latina Speaker of the House in state history in 2016.
After serving in eight legislative sessions (and running up on her term limit this year), Duran is getting ready to pass the baton to both her District 5 predecessor and whoever gets elected to serve as the Democratic Party leader in the House. But not before she finishes reforming sexual-harassment policy at the Capitol and puts an end to the culture of silence that exists there.
