House Democrats Choose Jennifer Bacon to be Speaker of the House

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November 6, 2026
House Democrats Choose Jennifer Bacon to be Speaker of the House
DENVER, CO –
Speaker-designate Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, today released the following statement after House Democrats selected her to be the next Speaker of the Colorado House:
“I’m deeply honored to continue serving my district and the great people of Colorado, and to demonstrate that we all rise together. Colorado voters have made it clear that they trust Democrats to lead our state because we deliver on our promises. I’m ready to continue our progress as the next Speaker of the Colorado House.
“For years as an advocate, educator, school board member and now your Speaker-designate, I have always put our communities at the forefront of every decision. It’s up to us to safeguard Colorado from the Trump Administration, and I intend to redouble our efforts to protect our rights.
“Democrats stand united in fostering a Colorado where students receive a high-quality education, families can afford to fill their fridge and the air we all breathe is clean.”
House Democrats will have 49 members in the 76th General Assembly. This week, Democrats secured supermajorities in both the House and Senate. With historic wins, the democratic caucus in the House is the largest in 90 years. This is also one of the most diverse ever elected in Colorado, with more than two-thirds of the caucus women.
Speaker-designate Bacon was elected to the General Assembly in 2020 and represents House District 7, which includes Denver’s far northeast neighborhoods of Green Valley Ranch and Montbello. In 2022, she was elected Assistant Majority Leader, making her part of the first all-woman leadership team. Speaker-designate Bacon is a long-serving member of the House Education and Judiciary Committees and is a member and former chair of the Black Democratic Legislative Caucus of Colorado.
During her time in the legislature, Speaker-designate Bacon has led the way in expanding educational access and opportunity for young people, reforming our criminal justice system, modernizing labor and workplace protections, protecting consumers and improving our air quality.
Speaker-designate Bacon has sponsored bills to
combat discrimination
in K-12 schools and create
new career pathways
for students after graduation.  She was also a proud sponsor of the
new school finance formula
, which created a modernized, student-centered method to distribute resources. She is a tireless champion for workers, sponsoring the
equal pay for equal work
law and the
2025
and
2026
Worker Protection Act.
Bacon has championed many criminal justice reform laws, including helping justice-involved Coloradans
re-enter the workforce
to reduce recidivism, creating the
right to visitation
for Coloradans who are incarcerated,
codifying Miranda Rights
in Colorado law and
creating school programs
to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline and provide essential intervention and prevention for at-risk youth. She also
expanded
the effective Extreme Risk Protection Order law to include teachers and save Colorado lives.
Speaker-designate Bacon safeguarded
Coloradans’ right to vote
, helped combat
intimidation at the polls
and established an
equity study
to dive deeper into the impacts of slavery on Black Coloradans.  In addition, Speaker-designate Bacon has passed bills to combat pollution and protect Colorado’s environment, including
free transit
during ozone season and the
2024 legislative package
to improve air quality.
Speaker-designate Bacon earned a JD from the College of William & Mary in Virginia, a Master’s in Education from Florida International University, and a Bachelor’s in Business Management from Tulane University. She was a math teacher, school administrator, lawyer, and community organizer before joining the legislature. Speaker-designate Bacon was elected to the Denver School Board in 2017, and was named vice president of the board in 2019.
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