The race for one of Colorado’s most competitive state Senate seats is more than a year away, but the potential candidates are already in throw-down mode.

Former Democratic state Sen. Rachel Zenzinger told The Colorado Statesman this week that she is “seriously considering” a rematch with incumbent Republican Sen. Laura Woods for the right to represent Arvada’s Senate District 19 for a four year term.

“I’ve received quite a bit of urging,” Zenzinger said.

And Zenzinger minced no words when asked how she would rate Woods on her job performance as a lawmaker.

“I think she represents the extreme faction of her party very well,” Zenzinger said. “But in order to better represent Senate District 19, I think she needs to moderate some of her positions.”

Woods thinks Zenzinger is still sore from last year’s defeat.

“I understand since the election last November that she’s still got hurt feelings, and I can’t say I blame her,” said Woods.

Zenzinger was appointed to the seat in 2013 after then-Sen. Evie Hudak, also a Democrat, resigned to avoid a looming recall election over her positions on gun-control legislation.

Zenzinger’s appointment required that she run for the seat in 2014, although Hudak’s term wouldn’t have been up until 2016. Zenzinger lost to Woods in a tight result that helped flip control of the Senate to the Republicans by a margin of 18-17.

Woods must run again next year as part of the seat’s normal, four-year election cycle.

Zenzinger spoke with The Statesman about her intentions after she blasted Woods’s understanding of federal Common Core education standards in a June 5 letter to the Colorado Independent online news site.

Zenzinger’s letter addressed “inaccuracies” in comments Woods made during a constituent gathering in Westminster, which were reported by the Independent.

Woods told constituents the federal standards are “garbage” and that they are “debunking American exceptionalism” and that the standards re-write American history.

Zenzinger blasted Woods in her interview with The Statesman this week, reminding Woods that Common Core standards don’t even apply to history. Woods, she said, “doesn’t understand the difference between standards and curriculum.”

Woods confused the issue of Common Core – which outlines what every K-12 student should know in math and English language arts and literacy at each grade level – with last year’s decision by the national College Board to revise its Advanced Placement history curriculum, Zenzinger charged.

The board’s decision angered many conservatives, who saw the changes as a diminishment of America’s history.

Common Core standards only apply to English language arts and math “because they are areas upon which students build skill sets that are used in other subjects,” according to the Common Core website.

“It is important to note that the literacy standards in history/social studies, science and technical subjects for grades 6-12 are meant to supplement content standards in those areas, not replace them,” the website reads. “States determine how to incorporate these standards into their standards for those subjects or adopt them as content area literacy standards.”

“The standards were generated in order to make sure that our students were college and career ready and have nothing to do with American exceptionalism or the Constitution,” Zenzinger said. “The standards we set are outcomes, not curriculum.”

“Most people have a hard time understanding the intricacies of education policy, but she’s a policymaker who sat on the education committee for an entire session,” Zenzinger said.

Woods insists that Common Core standards spill over into curriculum, including history. She points to the College Board’s presence of David Coleman, who helped craft Common Core standards.

“It’s disingenuous to say that it doesn’t include history,” Woods said of Common Core. “I don’t agree that it’s just about standards. These standards are driving curriculum. The curriculum is changing to keep up with the standards.”

Woods is a staunch opponent of Common Core and is among a group of lawmakers who led unsuccessful efforts this year to pull the state out those standards.

“We’re going to come back with some like-bills or exact bills this coming session because parents and teachers are frustrated,” Woods said.

Woods also takes issue with Zenzinger’s assertion that she is too extreme for her district, one that is as equally divided between Democrats and Republicans as any political map in the state.

“I’m going door-to-door and hearing from people, Democrats and Republicans, that they’re happy with the job I did in the session,” she said. “I’ll keep doing what I’m doing.”

In the meantime, Zenzinger will take some time to decide whether a rematch is in the best interest of herself and her family.

But she sure sounds like she’s inclined to run.

“I do feel a certain sense of unfinished business,” she said. “I really loved the job and I would like to bring a greater focus to the issues that our district cares about.”

– Twitter: @VicVela1