A vacancy committee on Thursday night chose a former House legislator to replace former Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet, who resigned on Feb. 13 to become the director of the David and Laura Merage Foundation for Combating Antisemitism.

Adrienne Benavidez — picked by a Senate District 21 vacancy panel — had served three terms in the House, rising to the position of Speaker pro tem. After she lost the race for House Speaker following the 2022 general election, she stepped down from the legislature before the beginning of the 2023 session.

A vacancy committee chose Rep. Lorena Garcia to replace her.

There were seven candidates who vied for Michaelson Jenet’s Senate seat. The vacancy committee had 38 members; Benavidez won the vacancy with 52% of the vote.

News reports said Benavidez was nominated by Garcia.

“The hardworking people of Senate District 21 deserve representation that will advocate for their needs and concerns. I hope to make them proud,” Benavidez said in a statement.

With her election, vacancy committees have now selected 26 members, including one lawmaker who has won two vacancy elections, to fill 27 seats in the legislature.

There are no more vacancies, at least for now, in the Colorado General Assembly.

Lawmakers passed a bill in the 2025 session to change the vacancy process following concerns raised about the high number of lawmakers who gain seats through it.

House Bill 1315 established new processes for filling vacancies and they were applied for the first time to the Senate District 21 vacancy.

The new outlined the following changes:

• If a lawmaker resigns during the session or by July 31 in an even-numbered year, the new vacancy committee process will be initiated, and the selected candidate will then run in the customarily scheduled general election in November.

• If a lawmaker resigns after July 31 in an even-numbered year, the vacancy would be filled first by the vacancy committee. Then, a vacancy election would be held in the following odd-year November election.

• If a lawmaker resigns during the session or by July 31 in an odd-numbered year, the new vacancy committee process would fill the seat until a vacancy election can occur in November of that year.

• If a lawmaker resigns after July 31 in an odd-numbered year, a new vacancy committee would be formed to fill the seat until the next general election in the following even-numbered year.

In the odd-numbered year election, only voters from the same political party as the resigned lawmaker, or unaffiliated voters, would be allowed to vote.

The process of becoming a candidate would also change, requiring candidates to obtain signatures from either 30% of the vacancy committee or 200 voters from the same party.

Regarding campaign finance, the new law established contribution limits for candidates running in special elections or vacancies. It requires that contributions disclosures be filed on Mondays each week while the vacancy process is underway.

Rep. Bob Marshall, D-Highlands Ranch, who sponsored a competing bill in the 2025 session, told Colorado Politics in 2024 that a constituent wanted to be in the legislature but didn’t want to run for election.

“’I want a vacancy appointment!’” the constituent said, according to Marshall.

“People are starting to think it’s the norm,” Marshall said. “It’s not.”