Former middle school biology teacher Jessica Sandgren kicked off her campaign to challenge state Rep. Joe Salazar, D-Thornton, Wednesday night surrounded by House Republican leadership and several elected officials from Adams County.

House Minority Leader Brian DelGrosso, R-Loveland, who introduced Sandgren at her campaign launch at the Thorncreek Golf Course clubhouse, recalled that voters in traditionally Democratic Adams County have elected Republicans in recent cycles and declared that a victory by Sandgren could hand the House gavel to the GOP.

“You guys have definitely changed the dynamics for Republicans in Adams County and for us in the House,” DelGrosso said, noting that Republican JoAnn Windholz had ousted state Rep. Jenise May in 2014 by just over 100 votes.

“Rep. Windholz got us closer, but now we’re focusing not only on being closer but moving toward the majority, and Jessica Sandgren in House District 31 is that path for us taking back the majority,” he said. “And that’s why myself, the rest of House leadership and the rest of our members in the House are very excited about Jessica and her candidacy. We’re tired of what’s happening to us down there at the statehouse.”

Democrats hold a 34-31 majority in the House and have controlled the chamber since the 2012 election. Salazar won the seat in 2014 by just 221 votes over Republican nominee Jody Beckler, in one of several close elections in Adams County that year.

Assistant House Minority Leader Polly Lawrence, R-Roxborough Park, seconded DelGrosso’s remarks.

“We are going to do everything that we can to make sure she wins this seat, that we replace Joe Salazar with Jessica Sandgren,” she said.

Salazar, a civil rights attorney seeking his third term in the Legislature, hasn’t shied away from taking on weighty topics and has been a frequent target of criticism by political opponents. Last session, he was a leading sponsor of bills to reduce misconduct by the police, led the fight for a “right-to-rest” bill he’s referred to as a homeless bill of rights and sponsored a bill to ban Native American mascots from Colorado schools. This year, Salazar is leading the charge to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day in Colorado. He apologized in 2013 after remarks he made about rape during floor debate over a gun measure went viral on social media.

“I felt like this was the year because I’m tired of not being represented,” Sandgren told The Colorado Statesman. “Looking at some of those bills (Salazar) has run with the mascots and indigenous people, when there are so many issues that are really important. Focusing on the mascots in a few schools, one holiday rather than all of our education in every school, it just doesn’t seem like it’s representative of what we really need.”

Addressing the crowd of about 50, Sandgren said she would bring lessons learned from her decadelong career as a teacher to lawmaking.

“I was an at-risk student, so working with kids to inspire them to be the best that they could be is why I became a teacher,” she said. “I had to leave that career I loved because it just wasn’t working anymore. The system just isn’t working. I realized that, in order to make those changes, it would have to be outside the classroom to inspire those kids to be the best that they could be.”

Sandgren said she takes what she calls the “ABC approach” to solving problems, taking into consideration accountability, “best fit” for all involved and common sense.

“When I was in the classroom, I had to teach some really sensitive issues,” she said. “Evolution, for instance, and, as a Christian, coming into a public school classroom, that’s a touchy subject. So giving kids the information that they have and knowing where they’re coming from and making sure they have each point of view and letting them make their own decision, so they can at least have a conversation.” That, she said, “allows us to sit down and not just argue with each other, so that we can continue moving forward.”

Regarding the topic that has turned into the session’s hottest topic, whether to designate the hospital provider fee as an enterprise, Sandgren told The Statesman she wasn’t sure. She added that she wasn’t planning on signing a pledge to protect TABOR proposed by the conservative organization Americans For Prosperity, either.

“I haven’t signed anything,” she said. “I’m one of those — I like to take my time and make sure I really understand. Is it a fee? Is it a tax? I hear a lot of those things. I don’t know enough about it to give an answer on that.”

Colorado Republican Party Chairman Steve House — a former chair of the Adams County GOP — applauded Sandgren’s candidacy at her launch party.

“I love the fact that Jessica was a teacher, because education is a top priority,” House told The Statesman. “It’s what enables kids to have the American Dream. This is somebody who knows how to turn that on.”

He said that it’s been no fluke that GOP candidates have been winning races in Adams County.

“What’s really going on here is Republicans are enabled,” House said. “People here got tired of the liberal agenda and really wanted to get involved. Once they did that, we see we can win, even though we don’t have a majority of people here.”

Democrats, with 13,500 active registered voters, hold a wide lead over the Republicans’ 9,543 voters in the district, but there are even more unaffiliated voters, at 14,480, according to the most recent totals from the secretary of state’s office.

Jefferson County Commissioner Libby Szabo was also on hand to lend her support to Sandgren.

“Jessica encompasses more of what this area is than what Joe Salazar is bringing to the Legislature,” said Szabo, a former House minority leader. “He has his schtick, doesn’t he?” she said with a smile. “She sees what’s going on in the community and will run legislation to encompass that. Joe is running some of these fringe bills that nobody’s quite sure how they fit into the community he’s coming from.”

Sandgren filed for the race in June and had raised $1,595 through the end of the year, according to campaign finance reports. She had $1,445 on hand. Salazar reported $7,593 on hand at the end of December.

— ernest@coloradostatesman.com