Auon’tai Anderson announced Monday he’s dropping out of the school board race and setting his sights on the state House of Representatives.

Anderson, who is vice president of the Denver Public Schools Board of Education, filed for House District 8 on Monday. The seat is currently held by Rep. Leslie Herod, D-Denver, who will be term-limited in 2024.

Herod made an unsuccessful bid for Denver mayor this year, placing fifth with 10.7% of the vote in the first round of the election.

“I’m officially out of the school board race at the moment,” said Anderson, 24.

Anderson was elected to the school board in 2019.

He’s been a flashpoint ever since.

In 2021, Anderson was censured by the board after an allegation and district-ordered report found he flirted online with teenage girls.

And then this year – after two deans were wounded in a shooting at East High School in March – Board President Xóchitl Gaytán reprimanded Anderson in a five-page memorandum for disclosing in a press conference information shared in executive session.

Anderson acknowledged his outspokenness can be a liability.

“This can give Denver Public Schools a fresh start,” Anderson said.

He added: “The issues often get focused around one person.”

Last fall, Anderson declared he was running for re-election for school board.

But the East shooting changed things for him.

In the aftermath of the shooting, parent groups critical of the district have emerged, one calling for greater transparency as DPS devises its long-term safety plan and the other for the board’s resignation.

It was a conversation with a DPS parent and student who had pressed Anderson to do something on gun control that prompted the community organizer to consider a state run.

“If I could take on the issue of gun control on the school board, I’d run again,” Anderson said.

Anderson already had at least one challenger for his at-large seat on the school board. Last month, Kwame Spearman, the former CEO of Tattered Cover, announced he was running for Anderson’s seat.

Having won a three-candidate race with 51% of the vote in 2019, Anderson said he was confident of a repeat had he stayed in the school board race.

When sworn in at 21 years old, Anderson became one of the youngest elected officials in the state.

His platform for the House race is straightforward: Protecting workers rights, community safety and reproductive care.

Born to a single mother in Kansas, Anderson moved to northeast Denver as a teen and graduated from Manual High School – where he caught the political bug serving as a student body president.

“I’m running to bring my “hood (sic) to the House of Representatives,” Anderson said.

Anderson has candidate committees set up for both his school board and state House run, but under Colorado’s campaign finance laws, candidates cannot raise money for multiple offices at the same time.

Anderson has 10 days to close the school board committee, given his decision to abandon that race.

On Monday, Anderson said he hopes to transfer his remaining funds from the school board committee to his state house bid.

Anderson had raised $35,170 for the school board race through June 1, spending all but $4,293. However, according to a new state law signed last week, contribution transfers are limited to the total amount of a political party contribution. According to the Secretary of State’s office, that limit is $2,500.

He enters a state House race with another four candidates: Victor Bencomo, whose fundraising to date leads all candidates; Christi DeVoe, Lindsay Gilchrist and Sharron Pettiford, all Democrats.

The district is the most heavily-Democratic leaning one in the state House, with a 74.49% Democratic advantage, so the winner of the 2024 primary is a lock to win the seat in November. 

Colorado Politics’ Marianne Goodland contributed to this report.