A Democratic state lawmaker in Colorado could officially face a recall election, should her opponents get enough support.
State Rep. Rochelle Galindo (D-Greeley) won her seat by 1,500 votes. She was elected in November and isn’t supposed to be up for reelection until 2020. However, a petition to recall her was approved by the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office on Thursday.
According to an online fundraising page, petitioners wrote that Galindo “fails to adequately support and represent the entire population within House District 50,” specifically citing concerns with her support of the oil and gas reforms just passed by the Colorado legislature.
“Representative Galindo prides herself on being a proponent of education but fails to understand that in Weld County, oil and gas property taxes put approximately $200 million into K-12 education,” the petitioners wrote.
Galindo voted in support of SB-191, the proposed oil and gas law expected to be signed by Democratic Governor Jared Polis. Weld County calls itself the No. 1 producer of oil and gas in the state.
According to 9NEWS’ content partner Colorado Politics, the effort to recall Galindo also has the support of a pastor in Greeley, who, according the site, called Galindo a “homosexual pervert” in a sermon. Colorado Politics reports the pastor also criticized Galindo’s support for a controversial gun control measure known as the red flag bill, as well as a sex education bill, which have both been debated during this legislative session.
Galindo’s critics now have until June 3 to collect 5,696 signatures from registered voters in her district, which covers Greeley, Evans and Garden City. If enough signatures are collected, there will be a new election.
Congressman Ken Buck, the newly-elected chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, told Next with Kyle Clark that he’ll be careful with using party money to support recalls, but he does feel Galindo isn’t representing her district according to voters’ wishes.
"She campaigned to represent the voters in her district and those voters are not being represented by Senate Bill 181," said Buck.
Polis also faces the possibility of a recall. The two groups that want to recall him need valid signatures from more than 600,000 people.
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