Colorado Sen. Faith Winter will be remembered on Dec. 5 at 2 p.m. in a funeral service on the state Capitol’s west steps. A celebration of life reception will follow.

Winter died on Wednesday, Nov. 26, in a three-vehicle accident on I-25 near East Dry Creek Road. The accident is still under investigation by the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, which said it has no further details on the cause of her death. A report is also expected from the Arapahoe County Coroner.

Gov. Jared Polis ordered flags to be flown at half-staff until her funeral. Winter was the first lawmaker to die in office since House Minority Leader Hugh McKean, R-Loveland, in 2022.

Winter, 45, was born May 7, 1980, in Littleton. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Management in 2002 from the University of Redlands in California.

She was previously married to Mark Snook of Superior, with whom she had two children, Tobin, 16, and Sienna, 14, both of whom survive her. Snook paid tribute to Winter, stating in a Facebook post on Nov. 27, “The world is a whole lot less bright this morning.”

Winter was engaged to former state Rep. Matt Gray at the time of her death. In addition to her children, she is survived by Gray and his two children, her father Mike, sister Dawn and four pets, Queso, Olive, Peanut and Pickles. Her mother preceded her in death.

A fund has been set up to cover burial and funeral costs, as well as college costs, for Winter’s two children. 

Winter joined public office for the first time in 2007, when she was elected to the Westminster City Council. In 2014, she ran for the first time for the Colorado House, in District 35, where she served two terms.

In 2017, Winter accused fellow Democratic lawmaker Steve Lebsock of sexual harassment. That charge was coupled with 10 additional allegations of sexual misconduct by Lebsock, filed by four other women in addition to Winter. In 2018, after a series of investigations, Lebsock was expelled. He was the first lawmaker to be expelled since 1915.

In 2018, Winter was elected to her first term in the state Senate and re-elected in 2022.

An outpouring of grief for Winter has dominated social media and the news in the past week.

In addition to official statements from the governor, Senate President James Coleman, Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez, Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie and Majority Leader Monica Duran, tributes have poured in from those she served and those who worked with her on legislation on transportation, the environment, and family and women’s issues.

The Colorado Department of Transportation, in an email on Nov. 28, said Winter “worked tirelessly to connect Coloradans through transportation. She pushed all of us to be better stewards of our environment and air quality, to think bigger about what options like transit could do for citizens across our state, and she sought accountability to deliver results for Coloradans.”

In her last year, Winter chaired the Senate Transportation & Energy Committee and served as vice chair of the joint Transportation Legislative Review Committee. 

Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver, said on Bluesky that Winter was “an incredibly empathetic leader who lived her values out loud every day. My heart breaks for her family and community. There is so much to say, and yet there simply are no words.”

Rep. Yara Zokaie, D-Fort Collins, wrote that Winter was the one who first got her involved in local politics. “She’s made an everlasting impact on me, but an even greater impact for every Coloradan, and she did it all without seeking credit.”

Sara Loflin of ProgressNow Colorado said Winter “did more to meaningfully improve the lives of Coloradans than almost anyone in our state’s history.” 

Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera said she spent years working side-by-side with Winter, “sharing long days on the campaign trail, and joking that together we made the perfect pair — she was Winter and I was Spring. Faith dedicated her career to lifting working families, strengthening communities, and fighting for a more equitable Colorado. She was tireless, principled, and brave.”

Sen. John Hickenlooper, in a post on Bluesky, said he and his wife, Robin, were heartbroken by her death. She was “a true public servant. She helped create Colorado’s paid family leave program and led the effort to invest in our roads and communities,” he said.

Rebecca Saltzman, president of the board of Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), said she knew Winter from their days working together on the Young Officials Elected Network. She called Winter’s death “devastating” and said that she was a fierce advocate for transit, the environment, and families.

Among her most significant work included the following:

The Family and Medical Leave Act was approved by voters under Proposition 118 in 2020. Winter sponsored legislation to create the program in 2017 and 2018, both of which failed in committee. Her third attempt, for a study on the potential program, was signed into law in 2019, followed the next year by the ballot measure, which passed with 57.75% of the vote.

Winter was the sponsor of Senate Bill 23-172, the Protecting Opportunities and Workers’ Rights (POWR) Act, which sought to make it easier for workers to claim discrimination, including lowering the burden of proof. Polis signed the bill into law amid criticism from the business community that the law would tip the scales in favor of employees.

Her most significant legislation may have been Senate Bill 21-260, which dealt with the sustainability of the state’s transportation system. The measure would fund up to $5 billion for transportation projects over the next decade, primarily paid for with fees on electric vehicles and EV batteries, retail delivery, transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft, and fuel consumption.

Winter struggled with a variety of health issues in her final years. She suffered from an autoimmune disorder and serious heart problems and underwent surgery for a traumatic brain injury, the result of a bicycle accident in 2023. She was rebuked by the state Senate in 2024 in the wake of an ethics violation after she appeared intoxicated at a Thornton Town Council meeting.