State Rep. Elisabeth Epps, D-Denver, took to social media on Tuesday to complain that she’s been expelled from her state Capitol office.

Democratic House leaders disputed her claim, saying she was reassigned to another office on the same floor, a decision that also applied to several other lawmakers with the 2024 session set to get underway in a few days.

In a post on X on Tuesday afternoon, Epps blamed blamed House Democrats and House Speaker Julie McCluskie for expelling her from her third floor state Capitol office.

“It hurts what Dems + speaker of the house are doing to me bc I wont be silent or complicit-expelled me from judiciary cmte, now from my physical (not elected) office. yet it’s right in line with what bipartisan establishment is doing to other Black women. I’m not quitting, tho,” she wrote.

McCluskie removed Epps from the House Judiciary Committee, a plum assignment for a first-year lawmaker, last month.

In a Dec. 14 statement on the decision, McCluskie said, “Serving on a member’s top choice of committee is a privilege – not a right. I took this step to address frustrations that the Judiciary Committee needed a reset due to the level of acrimony in the personal relationships on the committee and to help deliver the progressive outcomes our caucus is looking for.”

“My decisions on where to appoint members depend on their respect of their colleagues, ability to collaborate and adherence to decorum, which was clearly violated during our special session last month,” McCluskie added.

That was a direct reference to Epps’ actions during the special session, when she spoke about a bill on a federal lunch program and pushed for an amendment to ensure no food would be purchased for the program from Israel. She then called out, “Free Palestine,” as she joined a group of pro-Palestinian protestors in the House gallery. 

Caucus leaders decide who gets what offices.

It was unusual for Epps, a first-year lawmaker, to be assigned an office in the state Capitol. New lawmakers are uniformly assigned offices in the State Services Building at 1525 Sherman St., on the north side of Colfax Avenue, across the street from the Capitol.

In 2023, four first-year House Democrats got offices in the Capitol due to special requests. That included Epps.

“We have limited space,” Rep. Mandy Lindsay, D-Aurora, one of the co-caucus chairs, said on Tuesday. 

In preparation for the 2024 session, Lindsay said she and caucus co-chair Rep. Brianna Titone, D-Arvada, made some office reassignments for several members.

“We’ve been thoughtful and methodical in how we assign offices,” she told Colorado Politics.

Offices are usually assigned by seniority and it isn’t personal, she said.

The 2024 session starts on Jan. 10.