When Pat Waak hands over the gavel to the next state Democratic Party chair, she’ll be leaving Colorado with the blues. After serving an unprecedented three terms — the longest tenure heading state Dems in more than 50 years — Waak can point to a nearly unprecedented run at the ballot box for her party with only a few setbacks.Waak said she decided to run for the top job in 2005 — challenging a sitting chair after a divisive U.S. Senate primary — because she believed her leadership “could rebuild the party from the grassroots up and involve every county in the process of winning elections in Colorado.” Three elections later, Colorado has sent two Democrats to the governor’s mansion, two Democrats to the U.S. Senate, and for most of her time in office increased the Democratic majority in the General Assembly and in Colorado’s congressional delegation. (Last year, facing a crushing Republican wave that took down Democrats across the country, the party lost control of the state House by a single member and handed over two congressional seats to Republicans but earned plaudits as one of the few states that stemmed the red tide.)

Pat Waak emotionally cheers for Barack Obama during the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August of 2008.

On Election Night 2006, Pat Waak, center, celebrates with Sen. Joan Fitz-Gerald, left, and Rep. Alice Madden, right, after Democrats elected a new governor and retained control of both chambers in the Legislature.

Waak, left, has served for three terms as state Chair and overseen hefty accomplishments for Democrats.

Congressman Ed Perlmutter, U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar and Colorado Democratic State Chair Pat Waak cheer as Colorado’s votes are cast in the roll call at the DNC in August of 2008.

But the crowning jewel of Waak’s time running the state party had to be the 2008 Democratic National Convention, returned to Denver for the first time in 100 years, and that star-studded event’s nomination of Barack Obama. A few months later, with all eyes on crucial swing state Colorado — though in the end the election didn’t turn out to be that close — the state’s nine electoral votes went to Obama, only the second time since the LBJ landslide that a Democrat has carried the state.

At the end of last year, when she announced she wouldn’t be seeking a fourth term — some were urging her to go for it — she surveyed her time in office. Among her accomplishments, she said she was proud of keeping a commitment of “communicating with our local committees, grassroots activists, core supporters and the voting public.” This included trips to every county, routine conference calls with Democrats from all around the state, and a regular drumbeat in the press and both broadcast and online media. In addition, she took part in numerous joint discussions with her counterparts in the Colorado Republican Party. “In every instance,” she said, “we maintained our honesty, civility and dignity, while presenting the truth to the Colorado voters.”

She also spoke highly of the organizational work she accomplished with the help of numerous party officers, county-level Democrats and her staff. The party stepped up its recruitment efforts, developing a “farm team” to help train candidates “in every jurisdiction and district possible in the state,” she said. The party also developed a voter file Waak touts as among the best tools Democrats have ever had for winning elections and pioneered the Faith and Politics project.

Last weekend at its February meeting in Washington, the Democratic National Committee approved a Resolution Honoring Patricia A. Waak, Three-Term Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, alongside resolutions about the war in Afghanistan and other topics of national import. The meaty resolution, full of plenty of “Whereas”s, concludes: “THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT, the Democratic National Committee expresses its sincere appreciation for Pat Waak’s selfless contributions to the Democratic Party and salutes her successful track record in electing Democratic Candidates to office during her historic three terms as Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party.” Waak told The Colorado Statesman she hadn’t known there was going to be a resolution and, taken by surprise and humbled, “almost crawled under the table” when it was introduced.

Waak also was a member of the executive committee of the Democratic National Committee and the Association of State Democratic Chairs.

Waak has had a storied career before her Colorado Democratic Party job. She was a Peace Corps volunteer in Brazil, worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development during the Carter Administration, was an official with the Center for Population and Family Health at Columbia University, a Delegate to the U.N. Conference on International Population and Development and an advocate for the National Audubon Society.

She was a deputy campaign manager on Sargent Shriver’s presidential campaign in 1976 and ran for Congress in 2002 in Colorado’s 4th District. She plans to work as a population and environmental policy consultant after leaving her party job.

— Ernest Luning

MORE PHOTOS IN THE MARCH 4 PRINT EDITION OF THE STATESMAN

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Colorado Democratic Chair Pat Waak in Denver in early 2007.

Colorado Democratic Chair Pat Waak, left, with state Sen. Linda Newell and her daughters Kate and Brittany at a rally for U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet featuring former President Bill Clinton on Oct. 18, 2010, at a Denver school.

State Chair Pat Waak looks on as DNC Chairman Howard Dean, left, provides Ethan Carter and his 2-year-old son, Thomas, with a souvenir from his stopover in Denver.

Pat Waak and Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer at a 2007 Denver fundraiser for presidential candidate Bill Richardson.

New party Chairs Bob Martinez and Pat Waak, right, chat with Channel 12 talk show host Aaron Harber in their first appearance together in April of 2005.

U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Dem State Chair Pat Waak at the JJ Dinner in 2006.

State Sen. Suzanne Williams, left, and Pat Waak at a Michael Bennet fundraiser with President Clinton.

Dem State Chair Pat Waak and Congressman Mike Coffman, R-CD 6, at a Washington, D.C. Inauguration party for President Barack Obama in 2009.