Dylan Roberts elected new majority leader in the Colorado Senate, promising to address Democrats’ divisions

Newly emboldened Democrats in the Colorado state Senate, who appear to have won a supermajority in the chamber this week, chose a new majority leader Thursday: Dylan Roberts of Frisco.

Roberts, who will be in charge of committee structure and determining when and how bills are heard in the Senate, vowed to bring the caucus together while acknowledging intraparty disagreements. 

“Our caucus has experienced real divisions,” he said. “We can’t move forward by pretending they aren’t there. People have felt unheard. Trust has been strained. Those frustrations won’t be fixed with a speech or a promise. They take time, relationships, and willingness to listen, even when conversations are uncomfortable. I want to do that work for you.”

Roberts, who served two terms in the Colorado House before being elected to the Senate in 2022, said he believes Senate Democrats agree on 95% of issues and should focus on those.

“That doesn’t mean backing away from our progressive values or compromising our principles,” said Roberts, who was reelected to another four-year term in the Senate on Tuesday. “I’m a proud Democrat, and I believe we should be ambitious. Over the next two years, we need to combine that ambition with the ability to deliver.”

Roberts replaces Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez, D-Denver, who is term-limited and won’t be returning to the Capitol next year. He beat out Democratic state Sen. Mike Weissman of Aurora for the position.

Other Senate Democrats who won caucus leadership positions on Thursday acknowledged the caucus division.

Sen. Kyle Mullica of Thornton, who unseated state Sen. Cathy Kipp of Fort Collins from her position as president pro tem, said there would be long debates and frustrations ahead. Mullica also served two terms in the Colorado House before being elected to the Senate in 2022 and winning reelection Tuesday.

“We won’t agree on every bill, but every member should have a fair opportunity to present their legislation, answer questions, and make their case,” Mullica said.

The disagreements among Democrats in the Colorado legislature deepened last fall after Roberts, Mullica and several others attended a gathering with lobbyists at a hotel in Vail organized by the nonprofit Colorado Opportunity Caucus. The event is being investigated by the state’s Independent Ethics Commission. The caucus, which Mullica and Roberts were a part of, was created by Democratic state representatives and senators who are considered to be among the party’s more moderate wing at the Colorado Capitol.

More liberal Democrats in the legislature have criticized the retreat and the Opportunity Caucus’ ties to One Main Street, another nonprofit. Both groups don’t reveal their donors and are what The Colorado Sun refers to as dark money groups.

One Main Street, which has received money from organizations with conservative ties and links to the oil and gas industry, has spent large sums to help more moderate state legislative candidates beat their more liberal opponents. 

More progressive Senate Democrats won lower-ranking leadership roles on Thursday.

State Sen. Katie Wallace of Longmont will be the assistant majority leader after beating out state Sen.-elect Monica Duran of Wheat Ridge, who was the House majority leader when she was in the lower chamber. 

State Sen. Iman Jodeh of Aurora will be the caucus’ whip. State Sen. Janice Marchman of Loveland will be the caucus chair. They ran unopposed. 

Wallace, Jodeh and Marchman are not in the Opportunity Caucus. Neither are Weissman and Kipp. 

Senate President James Coleman of Denver, who served two terms in the Colorado House before being elected to the Senate in 2020, was reelected to his post after running unopposed.

Senate Democrats elected state Sen. Judy Amabile of Boulder and state Sen.-elect Emily Sirota to serve as their representatives on the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee. Amabile served on the JBC last legislative session with Sirota, who was a House member at the time.

House Democrats will hold their leadership elections Friday.

This is a developing story that will be updated.