The most important relationship to watch in Colorado over the next four months is House Speaker Crisanta Duran and Senate President Kevin Grantham. The pair have a lot they could fight over and little in common except an outsized influence over the lives of nearly 5.4 million Coloradans.

After several legislative sessions of gridlock over dividing up the state budget, funding transportation and extending social services, Duran and Grantham have more than the usual tone of optimism over bipartisanship before the opening gavel on Jan. 11.

The political reality is that both parties – and top legislators – badly need to show something to voters ahead of 2018, when legislative seats and the governor’s office will be up for election.

“I think there’s some grounds for optimism,” said Colorado College political science professor Tom Cronin, an author who chronicles state politics. “I’ve talked to a few of my friends who are lobbyists and they say there’s more moderation in the leadership circles than in the past.”

Gov. John Hickenlooper’s legacy – and a foundation to run for national office – may well depend on how he maneuvers funding transportation through partisan circles, Cronin said.

“I think this is a year he could make a name for himself by leading some breakthroughs on stuff,” he said.

Transportation is expected to be the defining test of bipartisanship. The state highway department estimates bridge and highway needs at $9 billion. Facing a tight budget. Gov. Hickenlooper has recommended the state chip in $109 million next year. The rest comes from gas taxes and vehicle fees.

“I think people are open to the conversation because there’s an understanding that the risk of doing nothing is greater than actually trying to give and take and come up with a solution,” Duran said.

Republicans have favored borrowing $3.5 billion for transportation and paying it back mostly out of existing budgets, but Democrats argue that would gut the allocation for education and other programs.

To find middle ground, the state’s first Latina House speaker, a tiger on social programs, must work with a fiscally conservative Cañon City land appraiser with a cowboy drawl and handlebar mustache.

“So far so good,” Grantham said of working with his political opposite.

Grantham and Duran came into the Legislature together in 2011, he in the Senate, she in the House.

“We’ve always been able to talk to each other and we can laugh at ourselves to some extent,” he said. “And we’re able to talk about things frankly, which helps. We’ve still got a long way to go, but she’s right to be optimistic. I’m optimistic, too.”

Common ground

Before the session, Duran and Grantham are on the same page on the state’s hospital provider fee, a place their predecessors, Rep. Dickey Lee Hullinghorst of Boulder and Sen. Bill Cadman of Colorado Springs, never reached.

Hullinghorst wanted the levy collected on hospital beds – more than $750 million – reclassified as an enterprise fund. That would remove it from the formula that triggers tax refunds under the state Constitution’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.

Grantham has made it clear he sees the maneuver as a way to circumvent the Constitution and shortchange taxpayers without their consent.

Duran got the message.

“I think the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and hoping to get a different result,” she said. “I think we’ll continue to have conversations about the hospital provider fee changing to an enterprise, but I think we also have to listen and recognize where President Grantham is coming from on that and look at different options.”

Grantham has signaled he won’t allow a lot of partisan clatter among his members or Democrats this year.

“I grew up knowing that telling people what they want to hear doesn’t get you anywhere down the road, so people can appreciate that I’ll tell them where they’re at,” Grantham told Jon Caldara last week on the “Devil’s Advocate” TV show on Colorado Public Television. “And if I don’t like their bill, they’re going to know it.

Different backgrounds

The chamber leaders bring starkly different backgrounds to their views.

Duran is the daughter of well-known labor union leader and lawyer Ernie Duran. Her mother was an advocate for affordable housing, and her grandfather was a steelmill worker in Pueblo. Her grandmother, Eva, who could not read, was her greatest influence to make the most of her opportunities, Duran said in a speech to the Democratic National Convention last summer.

Duran, an attorney, has been branded a “rising star” by state and national sources.

Grantham doesn’t show up in the media much and is thoughtful in the moment and in strategy. If the Capitol is a harbor for political showboats, Grantham is a steady ship, colleagues in both parties say.

He was chosen by Senate Republicans to serve on the state’s budget-writing committee the past two years. There compromises have to be made on tough spending issues because the state Constitution requires a balanced budget.

Grantham grew up in politics. His father, Richard Grantham, was a Republican Party chairman in Crowley County. The youngest of five, he moved to Fremont County to work in real estate and appraising. His resume also includes sports writing and onion farmer.

“I was involved in caucuses and county assemblies long before I could vote,” he said.

Grantham and Duran each said they got into politics to help people, using nearly the same words in separate interviews.

“I told her we were worlds apart, because she’s optimistically cautious and I’m cautiously optimistic,” Grantham said.