Senate Minority Leader Chris Holbert announced Monday he will resign his Senate District 30 seat at the end of May. Twenty days after Colorado’s legislative session ends, the Douglas County Republican will move to Florida.

Holbert began his legislative career in 2010, when he was elected to represent House District 44. He served four years in the House before being elected to represent Senate District 30. He would have been term-limited at the end of 2022.

Holbert served two years as majority leader, in 2017 and 2018, and has been the Senate’s minority leader since the 2019 session. 

Currently, Holbert is a member of the Executive Committee of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Council. His resignation will not affect the 2022 session but will require Senate Republicans to select a new minority leader for the rest of 2022 to represent the caucus on those committees, which meet off-session.

Sen. John Cooke, R-Greeley, the assistant minority leader who is also term-limited in 2022, is a likely replacement.

Holbert told Colorado Politics he is interviewing for jobs in Florida and said it did not feel right to him to take a legislative salary for the last seven months of the year while job-hunting.

He and wife Diane are looking to relocate to the Sarasota area, where they often visit and where they have family. They haven’t yet found a home, Holbert said finding a job comes first. 

His job interests including internal government affairs perhaps for a multi-state or national organization, or running a trade association, an area in which he spent eight years prior to running for the General Assembly.

“I’m interviewing for jobs for the first time in 30 years,” Holbert said with a smile.

“We’re going to find our next adventure,” he added.