State Rep. Tracy Kraft-Tharp, the Democratic ace in the statehouse, said she plans to run for the Jefferson County Commission next year.

“I’ll bring to Jeffco county government the same work ethic that has helped me be successful in the state legislature: being accessible, bringing people together and getting things done,” Kraft-Tharp said in her campaign announcement Wednesday evening.

She will take on District 1 incumbent Republican Libby Szabo, who served three terms representing House District 27 in the legislature before being appointed to a vacancy on the three-member County Commission in 2015.

Kraft-Tharp was elected to represent House District 29 in 2012, and she has won re-election three times by comfortable margins.

“I’m proud of passing nearly 90% of my bills in the legislature,” said the 22-year resident of Arvada. I take on the issues that need to be tackled. I do the hard work to find common ground and build consensus. As a result, nearly every one of my bills has had Republican cosponsors. You follow this simple path and you can really get things done. You can move the ball forward.”

She served her entire eight years on House Business Affairs and Labor Committee, including the chairing the committee the last four years. She has also is chairwoman of the Audit Committee and on the Transportation Committee and Finance Committee.

Kraft-Tharp is the former director of Adolescent Services and the Battered Women’s Shelter at the nonprofit Family Tree in Lakewood. She served on the Jeffco Public Schools Accountability Committee, Arvada’s Capital Construction Recommendations Committee and the Arvada Human Services Committee.

More than 20 organizations have named her their legislator of the year, including the Colorado Bankers Association, the National Association of Social Workers and the Independent Electrical Workers Association.

In 2018 she was recognized nationally by the conservative Tax Foundation for her work in simplifying Colorado’s sales and use tax system. Kraft-Tharp was also named a Sales Tax Simplification Champion by the Simplify Colorado Coalition.