Winter was first elected to the state senate in 2018.[3] Earlier, Winter served in the Colorado House of Representatives from 2014 to 2019, representing Colorado House District 35.[4]
On September 8, 2023, Winter was elected assistant majority leader of the Colorado Senate.[5]
She attended the University of the Redlands in Redlands, California, where she majored in Environmental Management and minored in Biology. Prior to becoming a Colorado Legislator, Winter had the experience of being the National Program Director for EnviroCitizen, National Field Director for The White House Project, executive director for Emerge Colorado, and Program Director for Colorado Conservation Voters.[6]
Political career
From 2007 to 2014, Winter served as a member in the Westminster city council.[7] Winter was elected in 2014 and then re-elected in 2016 to represent House District 35.[8] In 2018, She decided to run against incumbent Republican Beth Martinez Humenik for the state Senate. The district was deemed as one of the most competitive seats that would determine whether Democrats will be able regain control of the state Senate.[9] Winter was termed as one of the "Fab Five" in reference to a group of Democratic women challenging or defending competitive seats seen as vital to which party would hold control of the Senate.[10] Winter ultimately won by a significant margin.[11] She was re-elected in 2022.[8]
On April 4, 2024, Colorado Politics reported that Winter was checking into an alcohol rehabilitation facility, following multiple reports that she appeared intoxicated at a Northglenn, Colorado city council meeting the previous evening. Prior to this event, she recently was also observed falling down several times at the Colorado Senate.[12] The Northglenn city council subsequently filed an ethics complaint against Winter, where individual members of the city council noted that Winter was intoxicated at meetings prior to the April 3, 2024 city council meeting. [13] As a result, the Colorado Senate convened an ethics committee to review the allegations.[14]
On July 8, 2024, in a 4-1 vote, the Colorado Senate Committee on Ethics found that Winter did not uphold the Senate's ethics standards when she appeared to be drunk at a community meeting in Northglenn earlier in 2024. The committee, with three Democratic and two Republican members, had the option to recommend censure or expulsion but instead forwarded a report to the Senate President, leaving the decision on how to proceed to him. Also, the committee warned Winter that any new allegations of ethics violations may bring sanctions and gave her the option to address the full Senate regarding her behavior.[15]
2016 legislative session
Winter served on the Appropriations Committee, the Business, Labor, Economic, and Workforce Development Committee, and the Transportation and Energy Committee. She sponsored bipartisan bill HB16-1438, which makes it an unfair employment practice if an employer fails to provide reasonable accommodations for an applicant for employment or an employee for conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth.[16]
2015 legislative session
In 2015, Winter sponsored multiple bipartisan bills, including HB15-1275 which builds programs in high schools that allow students to get real-world experience in apprenticeships,[17] and HB15-1323, which works to reduce testing burden on students and teachers by nearly 40 hours.[18]
^Colorado Independent Legislative Redistricting Commission (March 18, 2022). "Colorado Senate District 25 (2021)"(PDF). State of Colorado. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
