Colorado voters elect women to three statewide executive offices

On Tuesday, Colorado voters elected women to three of the state’s five statewide executive offices and decided ballot measures on education, taxes, and child care. Women will hold three of the state’s five statewide executive offices, and for the first time, a Black woman will represent Colorado in Congress.

The Women’s Foundation of Colorado reported that 84 percent of women and gender-expansive voters surveyed said the cost of living is rising faster than their income, with that share even higher for Black and LGBTQ+ women. Seventy-six percent made hard financial choices in the past year, 69 percent faced barriers to health care, and nearly nine in ten worry about their personal safety. On nearly every material measure, from money and jobs to caregiving, women told surveyors they fare worse than men. Those were the stakes on November 3.

A Record Night for Women Governors

The national results made history on multiple fronts. Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman elected governor in American history in Georgia, while Deb Haaland of New Mexico became the first Native American woman to lead a state. Gina Hinojosa is set to become Texas’s first Latina governor, while Amy Acton, Amy Klobuchar, and Marsha Blackburn will make history as the first female leaders of Ohio, Minnesota, and Tennessee respectively. A record 85 women ran for governor this year. Peggy Flanagan will be the first Native American woman in the U.S. Senate, and a minimum of 100 women are projected to serve simultaneously in the House Democratic caucus for the first time in history.

Where Colorado's ballot measures stand as of 10 p.m. on Election Night

These leaders come from different parties and different places. What they share is a seat at the table where decisions about women’s lives get made.

Colorado Writes Its Own History

Here at home, Amanda Gonzalez will become the first Latina to hold statewide executive office in Colorado and the first openly LGBTQ Coloradan to serve as Secretary of State. Jena Griswold will serve as attorney general and Lesley Dahlkemper as lieutenant governor. Melat Kiros will be the first Black woman to represent Colorado in Congress.

Colorado elected the nation’s first women state legislators in 1894, and today the state legislature remains one of only three in the country with a majority of women. When leaders reflect the people they serve, the Women’s Foundation notes, policy follows — as seen in past wins on paid family leave, child care, and health care. Still, Colorado has yet to elect a woman governor or U.S. senator.

What Voters Decided on the Ballot

The Womanifesto, the foundation’s nonpartisan ballot guide, weighed every measure by asking how it would impact women, girls, and families. The electorate approved Proposition NN, preserving TABOR refunds for public K-12 schools — a major victory for education funding and for the teachers and parents, predominantly women, who sustain schools. They rejected Amendment 84, protecting Colorado’s secure, signature-verified mail ballots from new barriers, and also rejected Amendment 81, which would have required law enforcement cooperation with ICE.

Ongoing coverage of elections across Colorado

Amendment 87, which would replace the flat income tax with graduated rates, held a narrow lead, while Proposition 136, which would have blocked it, trailed. Should these outcomes remain unchanged, Colorado will gain a more equitable tax system that directs resources toward child care, health care, and education.

Local measures on child care also passed across mountain communities, where tourism economies depend on workers who need care for their own children. Archuleta County voters backed Ballot Issue 1A by better than two to one, raising the visitor lodging tax with a share going toward workforce child care. Boulder County supported its measure with about 58 percent, raising roughly $30 million annually to lower costs for families, increase educator pay, and add infant and toddler slots. Clear Creek County held a narrow lead for its lodging tax measure directing at least 20 percent to child care for seasonal tourism workers. Summit County approved Referred Measure 1A with about 75 percent support, extending the Strong Future fund indefinitely with no tax increase — a fund that has already added 100 child care slots, awarded $15 million in tuition credits, and invested $4.4 million in retaining teachers.

CBS Colorado 2026 Midterm Election Night Coverage

The Questions Still Open

Not every result is settled. Propositions 134 and 135 remain too close to call — measures affecting transgender Coloradans. Whatever the final count, the Women’s Foundation of Colorado’s commitment does not change. In an October 21 op-ed in The Denver Post, foundation President and CEO Renee Ferrufino wrote that a government that can define one child off the team based on identity can do it to any child.

Each time the government has asserted the power to define and regulate womanhood, every woman has faced greater danger. Black women paid that price for years, until Colorado passed the CROWN Act in 2020. As Renee put it, “there is no one correct way to look like, play like, or be a girl or woman.” Every girl counts and deserves to play, and that includes transgender girls. And government should stay out of the private relationship families have with their doctors. The electorate also passed Proposition 133, even as the foundation criticized its trafficking-related clauses, echoing worries from the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault that mandatory life imprisonment could penalize victims coerced into illegal acts by their traffickers.

Latest headlines | Colorado voters to decide governor, Senate and House races

From the Ballot to the Capitol

The election is over, but the work begins in January when the foundation presses at the Capitol for the priorities Colorado women named: affordability, child care, health care, and safety. The organization will also make small grants to partner organizations involved in the ballot measure campaigns.

On Thursday, December 10, the Women’s Foundation of Colorado will release “She Counts: Women’s Well-Being in Every Colorado County,” a first-of-its-kind report bringing together the factors that shape women’s lives — economic security, caregiving, health and safety, and power and influence — in one place for every county in the state. Until now, there has been no way to see how women are faring county by county.

Too often, the decisions that shape women’s lives get made without the full picture. She Counts consolidates in a single location the elements that influence women’s lives: economic security, caregiving, health and safety, and power and influence. The foundation now urges every Colorado elected official, regardless of level of government or party affiliation, to open She Counts. Find your county and your community. Apply your findings to craft the legislation you draft, the budgets you approve, and the inquiries you pose. Colorado women have told us what they need. Now, She Counts will show how women are faring, county by county. The foundation will be watching for leaders who act on this information, and is ready to help.

Following the release, the Women’s Foundation of Colorado will additionally conduct briefings for elected officials and their staff regarding what She Counts reveals about their respective communities. Elected officials wishing to participate should contact Alison Friedman Phillips, Director of Policy & Advocacy, at [email protected]. Here is how you can help: Give to power the foundation’s advocacy and grantmaking. Colorado women told us what they need. Now we make sure our leaders deliver.

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