Kenny Nguyen, a member of the Broomfield City Council, was chosen by a 36-member Democratic vacancy committee on Monday to represent House District 33.

Nguyen will replace Sen. William Lindstedt, who was appointed by Gov. Jared Polis last week to serve out the final year of the term of the late Sen. Faith Winter.

Nguyen becomes the first Vietnamese-American to serve in the state legislature. He is a Colorado native whose parents were Vietnamese refugees.

Nguyen bested two other candidates to win the election Monday night: Heidi Henkel, a fellow member of the Broomfield City Council and Stan Jezierski, a former member of the council.

On the first ballot, Nguyen won 16 votes, Henkel 12, and Jezierski 7.

Without a majority, the election went to a second ballot, and Jezierski was dropped.

Initially, Nguyen was declared the winner with 16 votes, and Henkel took 15 votes with one abstention. With 35 electors on the second ballot, that indicated no clear majority.

However, three electors had trouble submitting their votes on time, and after those votes were counted, Nguyen received 18 votes to Henke’s 16.

Nguyen becomes the 28th member of the General Assembly to gain a seat through the vacancy process. He previously worked as an executive assistant to Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera.

He told the vacancy committee he would be a leader who would bridge the gap with young people and people of color. At 31, Nguyen will be among the youngest members of the state House.

Nguyen was emotional as he talked about the state of the nation.

“We are at a breaking point,” he said, pointing to the shooting death of former Colorado Springs resident Renee Good at the hands of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis last week. “The state of our union is broken and we are divided and we face an uncertain future right now,” he said.

“I promise to serve with compassion, with dignity and with respect, to be open and to be considerate,” he said. “Your vote is an investment in our community and I believe in the power of change.”

Both Nguyen and Henkel have filed to run for the HD33 seat in the June primary, along with two other Democratic candidates, Paloma Delgadillo and James Marsh-Holschen.

With Nguyen’s election, all 100 seats in the General Assembly are now filled, and the 2026 session begins Wednesday.

Each House member represents more than 88,000 residents, with state senators representing just under 165,000 residents.

The General Assembly, which began the 2025 session with 52 women and 48 men, is now at 51 women to 49 men.