Senate Majority Leader Sen. Steve Fenberg of Boulder is poised to be the next Senate president after winning the support of his Democratic colleagues Wednesday.

Fenberg’s selection means he will stand for the election by the entire Senate later this month. 

If he wins the overall election, the Boulder Democrat will succeed Senate President Leroy Garcia, D-Pueblo, who announced last week he would step down on Feb. 23 to take a position with the U.S. Department of Defense in Washington, D.C.

Although Sen. Kerry Donovan, a Vail Democrat who currently is the Senate president pro tem, also put her name in for the post initially, Fenberg was the only candidate when the Senate Democrats met in the Old Supreme Court chamber Wednesday morning. He was elected by acclamation.

Donovan did not attend the Wednesday election due to a death in the family, according to caucus chair Sen. Julie Gonzales of Denver.

The full Senate election, expected to be a pro forma event, is scheduled for Feb. 23. That’s Garcia’s last day.

Fenberg, 38, was first elected to represent Senate District 18 in 2016 and won reelection to his second and final term in 2020. He is a small business owner. As majority leader, he led the efforts that allowed Democrats to take control of the state Senate in the 2018 elections. 

Fenberg was nominated by Sen. Janet Buckner of Aurora. As he accepted the nomination, he thanked Garcia for being “an incredible leader” and for mentoring him.

“I really love this job,” Fenberg said of his majority leader position, adding he had to think long and hard about whether he wanted to be president.

He said his No. 1 priority is the well-being of his caucus.

He said he has “learned an immense amount” from serving as majority leader, and that he is confident he can help the caucus from a slightly different vantage point. He pledged to be pragmatic and solutions-oriented, to build bridges across the aisle and with the chambers, as well as with the governor’s office. He vowed not not to take himself too seriously.

He also promised to work on modernizing the Senate, a pledge also made by Garcia.

“Leadership isn’t about a title, prestige or power. It’s about knowing what your role is and when it’s the right time to step into that role,” he said.  

After the election, Fenberg told reporters his leadership style is different from Garcia’s, but he will continue with the same agenda. He pledged to maintain the same relationship with Senate Minority Leader Chris Holbert, R-Douglas County.

“I work with him very closely,” Fenberg said. “We sponsor bills together. We talk every day. We have learned not to agree on everything but we’ve learned how to navigate with one other” when conflict arises.”

Fenberg had initially planned not to be at the Capitol Wednesday morning to join with his community on the re-opening of the Table Mesa King Soopers, where a gunman last year took the lives of 10 people, including a Boulder police officer. 

Fenberg’s replacement as Senate majority leader, which does not require a vote of the full Senate, is Sen. Dominick Moreno of Commerce City. Moreno serves as vice-chair of the Joint Budget Committee but will step down from that post when he starts his new position. He was nominated by Sen. Brittany Petersen of Lakewood and also elected by acclamation. Pettersen and Moreno briefly both toyed with running for Congressional District 7 in 2018 until U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter decided to run for another term instead of running for governor.

Filling Moreno’s position on the budget committee is Sen. Rachel Zenzinger of Arvada, who served on the committee from 2017-2020. Given that the JBC is midway into crafting the 2022-23 budget, Zenzinger’s selection solves the problem of the big learning curve a new member would require to get up to speed on the state budget process. She was nominated by Moreno and also elected by acclamation.

The decision to send Zenzinger back to the JBC does not come without a bit of Capitol intrigue. She lost her seat on the committee in November 2020 to Sen. Chris Hansen of Denver. Moreno had nominated Hansen to replace Zenzinger in November 2020. Moreno explained at the time he nominated Hansen because they worked together more easily.

Zenzinger is seen as one of the more independent-minded members of the caucus. She was the lone Democrat in the entire General Assembly to vote “no” on the 2021 bill creating the Colorado Option.

Zenzinger and Moreno are set to take on their new roles on Feb. 24. Fenberg will become Senate President upon adjournment of the Senate on Feb. 23.