State Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet, one of the top Democrats in the Colorado legislature, will resign her seat on Friday.
Michaelson Jenet, of Commerce City, the Senate’s president pro tem, announced her resignation plan on Tuesday. She is leaving to serve as director of the , an Englewood-based organization.
“It’s cliché, but this has been the biggest honor of my life,” Michaelson Jenet said in an interview. “I’m so grateful that I’ve had the opportunity that I did and that I had my family’s support so I could do it for so many years.”
In her announcement, Michaelson Jenet highlighted her work creating the program that provides youth mental health support and the Healthy School Meals for All program, which voters approved in 2022.
Calling herself “a proud representative and leader within Colorado’s Jewish community,” she also noted that she helped pass legislation guaranteeing that Holocaust studies are part of Colorado’s public school curriculum.
In a statement, Gov. Jared Polis’ praised Michaelson Jenet as “an incredible leader.”
“I look forward to working with her in her new capacity fighting anti-semitism,” said Polis, who is also Jewish. “I wish her the best in this next chapter and know she will continue giving back to her community and her state.”
Michaelson Jenet was first elected to the Colorado House in 2016. She was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Senate in 2023 and won election to the seat the following year.
In her new job, Michaelson Jenet said that she will take on broader efforts to make antisemitism “unacceptable again” and will continue focusing on how the Holocaust is taught.
Michaelson Jenet said the job’s appeal convinced her to leave the legislature, but so did lawmakers’ low pay, which has been weighing on her family for years.
For the past three years, Michaelson Jenet said she had been looking for part-time work to supplement her salary as a state representative and then as a senator. Members of the General Assembly, which meets for a 120-day session each year, make about , depending on when their terms started.
But working on bills and helping constituents can be a year-round effort.
“Paying the legislature a reasonable salary is going to get you better legislators,” Michaelson Jenet said. “And to that end, I’d stop calling it a part-time role. It’s not part-time. My constituents’ problems don’t stop on sine die,” the Latin phrase for the end of the regular legislative session.
In her position as the Senate’s president pro tempore, she has been the temporary replacement if President James Coleman is unavailable.
“She has been a steadfast champion for Colorado’s youth, survivors of abuse and violence, and an important voice for Colorado’s Jewish community,” Coleman said in a statement. “I will miss her partnership and friendship in the Senate, but I know that she will continue to do great things for the state of Colorado beyond the Capitol.”Michaelson Jenet’s replacement will be appointed via a vacancy committee in coming weeks. Nearly a quarter of the 100-member General Assembly’s members have been appointed at some point in their legislative careers.
