State Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen of Monument has announced his resignation, effective Monday, to take on a leadership role with the American Excellence Foundation in Washington, D.C.

Lundeen told Colorado Politics the move “opens the aperture on the work I’m doing to promote economic opportunity, common sense, conservatism, and market principles.”

“It gives me the chance to move to a national platform,” he added.

Lundeen, who is a former small business owner in the financial sector, an entrepreneur, and a former journalist, holding White House credentials as a Washington correspondent for the Harriscope Broadcast Group, said he will continue to be based in Colorado. 

Harriscope Broadcast Group is now part of Warner Cable.

“Serving Colorado has been an honor and blessing,” Lundeen said in a statement. “I am grateful to the people of Senate District 9 for the opportunity to fight for policies that empower individuals, protect our communities, and promote prosperity. As I transition to a national platform, I am eager to continue advocating for personal freedom, economic opportunity, and common-sense conservative values.”

The foundation said in a statement Monday that “Lundeen is “uniquely equipped to lead AEF’s mission on delivering tangible results, empowering investors to drive meaningful impact, and amplifying conservative voices across the nation.”

“The organization utilizes a private equity mindset to optimize donor investments in supporting civic journalism and market-based solutions to influence state and federal policy,” the group said. 

Lundeen stated in the same announcement that he intends to help the foundation “bring balance to the public policy conversation.” Each year, tens of billions of dollars “are spent shaping the perceptions of Americans about the laws and policies under which they live. For decades, progressive causes have been the recipient of the lion’s share of this funding,” he said. That imbalance, he added, “tends to push people away from confidence in private-sector innovation and market- based solutions and towards progressive and collectivist programs.”

Gov. Jared Polis thanked Lundeen for his service.

“Paul has always found ways to work across the aisle and do what is best for the people he has served. We’ve often found common ground on the issues that matter most to Coloradans, like education, public safety and growing our economy,” the governor said. “Senator Lundeen has spent decades in public service, in addition to his time leading small businesses, and his presence and leadership will be missed at the Capitol.”

Lundeen has served in the Colorado Senate for seven sessions and has been the chamber’s minority leader since 2022. He previously served for four years in the Colorado House and, before that, for four years on the Colorado State Board of Education, including two years as its chairman. He would have been term-limited in 2026.

Lundeen is best known for his work in education, mainly as a champion for school choice, including as a prominent backer of last year’s Amendment 80, which would have added “school choice” to the state constitution. Critics had blasted it as a backdoor way to taxpayer funding for private school vouchers, a claim that supporters said was without merit. Voters rejected the amendment.

During his time in the General Assembly, Lundeen sponsored more than five dozen bills on education, both at the public school and higher education levels, and saw more than 40 signed into law.

He was one of the four bipartisan sponsors of last year’s major rewrite of the state’s school finance act, which goes into effect with the 2025-26 school year. He also co-sponsored the annual school finance measure for five years, including in 2025.

He played a key role in last year’s bipartisan bill to temporarily cut the state income tax rate from 4.4% to 4.25%, and he sponsored measures on human trafficking, data privacy and funding for law enforcement training. He was also part of the coalition that successfully worked with the Colorado Department of Transportation to widen the “gap” on I-25 between Denver and Colorado Springs.

Lundeen, as leader of the GOP Senate caucus in 2025, led the campaign to push an agenda to save Coloradans as much as $4,500 per household on items such as grocery bags, gas, delivery, and rental car fees. None of those bills succeeded.

His resignation will create a vacancy, which in El Paso County could mean a contentious appointment. It, however, will not be the first test of a 2025 law that would change how vacancies for state lawmakers are filled, since it doesn’t take effect until next year.

As of Monday, no one had filed to run for Lundeen’s Senate seat in 2026. However, a source told Colorado Politics former state Rep. Terri Carver, R-Colorado Springs, has been testing the waters for a bid to succeed Lundeen for the remainder of his term. She confirmed she was interested Monday.

The Senate Republican caucus will meet on Thursday to choose Lundeen’s successor as minority leader.