This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast we had the absolute pleasure of interviewing the incoming President of the Colorado State Senate, James Coleman of Denver’s Senate District 33. After serving in the Colorado House of Representatives for two terms from 2016 to 2020, Sen. Coleman was elected to the State Senate where he quickly rose through the ranks. If this were a baseball card, these are some of the stats you’d see on the back:
2023-2024 - Colorado Senate
Senate President Pro Tempore
Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee, Chair
2021-2022 - Colorado Senate
2019-2020 - Colorado House of Representatives
House Business Affairs and Labor Committee, Vice chair
We discussed the passing of the torch from Senate President (and friend of the pod) Steve Fenberg, who presided over the chamber since 2022, bipartisanship, water policy, housing affordability, recidivism, the $900 million state budget deficit, the vacancy committee process to replace legislators who resign before the end of their terms, the reprimand of Democratic State Senator Sonya Jaquez Lewis, 2025 legislative priorities, how to handle the second incoming Trump Administration, standing up against Project 2025, the incoming organized labor priority, The Worker Protection Act, and more.
Our recording even had a brief cameo by another Colorado Senator, one of the United States variety.
You’re not going to want to miss this interview, or the chance to follow President Coleman on social media, find him on Instagram, the website formerly called Twitter, Facebook, or at his website.
After our interview, we discussed the closest race in Colorado history, the State House contest in Colorado Springs’ House District 16 between Rebecca Kelte and incumbent Rep. Stephanie Vigil, the fact that the local press still hasn’t asked Congressmen-elect Gabe Evans or Jeff “Bread Sandwich” Hurd about any of Donald Trump’s insane list of cabinet nominations, and the fact that our Bluesky account not only made the “Liberal Heads Exploding Rinse/Repeat” edition of the UK tabloid’s Daily Mail, somehow, but they took our assessment of the nominee for Voice of America director as the inspiration for their headline, yay.
That’s it for us this week! If you loved listening to it as much as we loved recording it, you can thank us by subscribing to the pod wherever you listen, following us over on Nice Twitter aka Threads, or New Old Twitter AKA Bluesky, and forwarding this email or sharing this post with your friends, your enemies, and your favorite State Senate President-designate! THANK YOU so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time!
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