Former Colorado House Speaker Crisanta Duran has launched a campaign for a U.S. House seat that fellow Democrat Diana DeGette has held for more than two decades.
Duran is hoping voters in the district are ready for change.
“I believe it is time to do more. It is time we build a movement that values new leaders who aren’t afraid of bold ideas,” Duran said in a video announcing the primary challenge against DeGette. “I’m laying it all on the line to empower Coloradans and build our movement, because change cannot wait.”
Prior to the announcement, some political observers had speculated Duran might challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner in 2020.
Duran is a sixth-generation Coloradan who served in Colorado’s House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019.
She was Speaker of the House during her last two years in the state Legislature.
DeGette has held the U.S. congressional seat since 1997.
She also served in the state Legislature before she ran for Congress.
Asked to comment on Duran’s campaign announcement, DeGette’s chief of staff released a statement saying the congresswoman is focused on doing her job and will “let the politics take care of itself.”
“Whether it’s fighting to make health care more affordable or protecting a women’s right to choose, Rep. DeGette spends every day working hard for the people she represents,” the statement said. “In fact, as the chair of a powerful House oversight committee, she’s leading two important Congressional hearings this week — one on the ongoing outbreak of measles here in the U.S and another on the EPA’s lax enforcement of our nation’s environmental laws.”
The congressional district includes the cities of Denver, Englewood, Glendale, Sheridan and Cherry Hills Village.
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