December 21, 2022 10:56 AM UTC

Right-Sizing Rising Star: Lorena Garcia Files For HD-35

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• by: Colorado Pols

Hannah Metzger of the Colorado Springs Gazette’s political blog reports on a changing of the guard in Adams County, as Democratic stalwart Rep. Adrienne Benavidez resigns from her House District 35 seat:

Though she didn’t mention her reason for resigning in the letter, Benavidez spoke on the increasing number of Latino lawmakers in the legislature. If she was chosen to be House Speaker, the House leadership would have been entirely women of color for the first time.

“With my fellow Latino legislators, we have grown our caucus to 14 members, the largest in Colorado history,” Benavidez said. “I am proud of our work to engage Latinos across our state and ensure the needs and concerns of our Latino communities are addressed. This outreach and advocacy will continue under their watchful eyes, and I look forward to seeing their continued impact.”

A vacancy committee will convene to select a replacement to finish Benavidez’s term, representing House District 35 through 2024.

Democratic hopefuls have already begun clamoring to fill Benavidez’s spot, with 2020 state Senate candidate Lorena Garcia announcing Tuesday that she’s officially submitted her name for consideration.

Word that 2020 U.S. Senate (Gazette needs to correct this) candidate Lorena Garcia would jump in the ring for Benavidez’s state House seat was greeted enthusiastically yesterday, and Garcia is a favorite for the appointment barring a big name we haven’t yet heard. Although Garcia wasn’t ultimately competitive in the 2020 U.S. Senate race, she generally acquitted herself well on the campaign trail and was praised for debunking from the left some of the inaccurate mythology surrounding fellow losing primary candidate Andrew Romanoff.

Lorena Garcia was far from the first nor the last (here’s looking at you, Joe O’Dea) candidate whose initial reach exceeded their grasp, making a first run for a lofty office that requires, or at least should require, public service experience. Even Barack Obama, who enjoyed a relatively meteoric rise to the nation’s highest office, did his time in the Illinois Senate first. It was a mistake borne of genuine enthusiasm for public service in Garcia’s case unlike wealth and hubris in O’Dea’s, and as a result entirely forgivable. Colorado’s HD-35 is a much more suitable entry-level office, and Garcia still has a bright future.

The moral of the story: a bright future involves being realistic.