Colorado House District 38 candidate Michael Williams
Rep. Kathleen Conti she won’t seek a fourth and final term in the Colorado House next year, so she could run for the Arapahoe County Commission. And now the race to replace her is officially out of the blocks.
Michael Williams of Centennial announced Tuesday he’ll run as a Republican, like Conti, to represent south metro’s House District 38. The issues in his platform are conservation, energy development, veterans affairs, senior population, affordable housing and transportation.
So far he has no opposition, but we’re still a long way from Election Day. Nonetheless, 35 candidates across 65 seats had registered to run with the Secretary of State’s Office as of Tuesday.
The House is narrowly split, 34-31, going into the race. Williams aims to keep the district in the Republican caucus in the House chamber, but said he would put his community ahead of party politics.
“My views evolve, especially the more I learn and talk with people,” he said in a statement. “I am a Republican, first and foremost, but I am not opposed to reaching across the aisle and working with the other party.
“Party politics have their place, however the community’s interests are the most important. I plan to be a voice for the people, with support from the Republican Party.”
He has lived almost his entire life in the district. He graduated from Arapahoe High, received a political science undergraduate degree at Colorado State and was then accepted into the United States Navy Officer Candidate School, he said.
The Villager, a south metro newspaper, s that have shaped several 2016 races so far:
The Littleton Republican had initially filed paperwork to run for the state Senate seat being vacated by term-limited Democrat Linda Newell in 2016, but with the recent entrance of Republican county Commissioner Nancy Doty into that race, Conti says she will instead seek Doty’s place on the county board.
“I never had a real peace in my heart about running for Senate and really had some angst about it,” Conti said. “When [Doty] called and said she was going to run, I was really thrilled and she told me I had a great background and would be perfect to take her spot.”
