Colorado Politics

Center for American Women and Politics hails Crisanta Duran as a first

Colorado House Speaker Crisanta Duran represents a first for women in 2017, The Center for American Women and Politics said on Twitter Sunday.

Last January Duran went down in Colorado history as the first Latina speaker of the Colorado House. On Jan. 10 she begins her second session leading the chamber with a comfortable Democratic majority. After that, Duran faces term limits in the House but she hasn’t said what she might do next.

Duran has been high-profile on the national level, as well as the state pinnacle of politics. She spoke about her family’s story in Colorado at the 2016 Democratic National Convention and has been listed among nation’s top young officeholders.

In neighboring Wyoming, Liz Cheney became the first woman to hold a U.S. House seat previously held by her father. Her father, of course, is Dick Cheney.

The center also noted on Twitter that last year three more women of color became members of the U.S. Senate. Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Cortez Masto of Nevada and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois joined incumbent Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii to establish the most women of color to serve in the Senate at the same time.

Lisa Blunt Rochester became the first woman ever elected to Congress from the state of Delaware, leaving only Mississippi and Delaware as the only states that have never sent a woman to Congress.

The Center for American Women and Politics is a think tank at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University-New Brunswick in New Jersey. The center’s mission is “to promote greater knowledge and understanding about women’s participation in politics and government and to enhance women’s influence and leadership in public life.”

 

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