Both parties in the Colorado state Senate held leadership elections Thursday, keeping the same people in the top posts but with a few changes in some leadership positions.

Democratic Sen. Leroy Garcia of Pueblo was re-elected for another two-year term as Senate President. Senate Democrats added one to their 19-16 advantage from 2018, when Sen.-elect Chris Kolker won the race on Tuesday to replace Republican Sen. Jack Tate of Centennial.

The Democratic caucus is now 11 women to 9 men; the Republican caucus of 15 is 14 men and one woman, Sen.-elect Barbara Kirkmeyer of Brighton, who replaced term-limited Republican Sen. Vicki Marble of Fort Collins.

Republicans retained Sen. Chris Holbert of Parker as Minority Leader. 

The elections weren’t without a little heat within the Democratic caucus, with contested races for Majority Whip, the second seat on the Joint Budget Committee, and a last-minute decision by one senator to bow out of the race for President Pro tem of the Senate.

The contest for whip was between Sen. Jeff Bridges of Greenwood Village and Sen. Robert Rodriquez of Denver. The nod went to Bridges, who succeeds Sen. Kerry Donovan of Vail in that position.

Donovan moved up in leadership with her election to President Pro tem, a win by acclamation.

While Sen. Pete Lee of Colorado Springs also had planned to run for that position, he nominated Donovan “in the interest of caucus unity.” He explained that he and Donovan had spoken several times, and agreed to make “mutual commitments of civility …. This is the way we need to be as a caucus, supporting each other even after we disagree,” Lee said. 

Sen. Dominick Moreno of Commerce City was elected by acclamation for the first of the caucus’s two seats on JBC and will serve as chair in the 2021 session.

The selection of the second seat on JBC, however, appeared to be a little more controversial. Sen. Rachel Zenzinger of Arvada, who won re-election Tuesday night, has been on the committee for the past two years. She ended up losing the post to Sen. Chris Hansen of Denver, who served on the JBC when he was in the House. 

“We need women, and we need to trust women to lead. We manage our families, our checkbooks and our husbands, and we need to trust women to be on JBC!” said Sen. Rhonda Fields, in making the nomination for Zenzinger. “She listens and asks the hard questions when it comes to budget issues,” added Sen. Joann Ginal of Fort Collins. 

“Nothing has been as satisfying as service on the JBC,” Zenzinger said, both in the good times, when the state has money, and in the hard times of the past session, when the JBC had to cut billions from the state budget.

Moreno nominated Hansen for the second seat. “Although I love and respect each and every one of you, I’ve grown to despise leadership elections. You have to decide between friends,” and on colleagues and people with whom you have history.

“My nomination should not be interpreted that I’m trying to help or hurt one candidate or another, or tip the scales in any way. When you’re deciding between friends, it’s who you can work slightly better with,” he said.

Both candidates are exceptionally hard working and intelligent, he added, and “we are blessed to have multiple folks who want to serve on JBC.”

Hansen said he has two ideas about JBC service. The position on JBC leads the appropriations process, he said. “I will strive to make it open and transparent.”

He called budgets moral documents that state the priorities of the Democratic caucus. “We need an appropriation process that will be inclusive” and one in which everyone will have a voice. Second, Hansen said, the second person on JBC has to be something of a concierge, to help members with their bills, handling and managing fiscal notes and navigating the options available for funding.

The contested elections were done by secret ballot so how each member voted was not disclosed.

Additional seats in the Senate Republican caucus went to Sen. John Cooke of Greeley, who stayed on as Assistant Minority Leader; Sen. Jim Smallwood of Parker, chair of the Republican caucus; Sen. Paul Lundeen of Monument, who continues as Minority Whip; and Sen. Bob Rankin of Carbondale, who won a close race for his Senate District 8 seat on Tuesday, for JBC. Rankin is the JBC’s senior member and has been on the committee since 2015, when he was in the House.