A political squabble in Adams County, known for rough-and-tough Democratic politics, threatens the party’s chance to hold on to a crucial state Senate seat.
Outgoing Sen. Lois Tochtrop has refused to endorse fellow Democrat and former state Rep. Judy Solano for her seat, saying Solano should have backed her two years ago on an inner-party, “inside baseball” leadership vote.
“There are factions up here, the old guard, the new guard, that kind of thing,” said Tochtrop, the longest-serving member of the legislature and a known maverick who has bucked her party on issues such as smoking bans and guns.
Tochtrop said she’s staying neutral in the race. Solano will face Republican Beth Martinez Humenik.
Solano, 65, said she worked well with Tochtrop when they served together, has plenty of other Democratic endorsements and has been campaigning hard.
“I’m pretty confident I’m fine,” Solano said.
But it’s not a seat Democrats can afford to lose, considering they have only an 18-17 majority in the Senate. That’s why both parties are expected to invest heavily in the race, which is much less a sure thing for Democrats than it was in previous years.
Tochtrop noted that Senate District 24 picked up more Republican voters after it was redrawn following the 2010 census, which she said state Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, was only to happy to point out.
“He looked at me with glee in his eyes like Brophy can do,” Tochtrop recalled. “He said, ‘Oh, my gosh, Lois, we are champing at the bit for your seat. If you were running, we wouldn’t bother, but you’re term-limited.’ ”
The problem, Brophy said, was finding a good Republican candidate.
In Martinez Humenik, the party believes it has done just that. She’s a seven-year veteran of the Thornton City Council and her race has been flagged as one of the “14 in ’14” legislative races to watch nationally by a Republican group that recruits diverse candidates.
“I am determined to win this seat,”Martinez Humenik said. “It is a winnable seat.”
She said she has been frustrated with the legislature because she believes lawmakers propose bills without considering impact.
“When unfunded mandates come down, communities don’t have the resources available to fund them,” she said.
The 57-year-old, a substitute teacher at charter schools, ran for the state House in 2012, losing to Democrat Joe Salazar, who took 60 percent of the vote.
But Martinez Humenik pointed out that in her re-election bid for the Thornton City Council in 2011, she won with 63.7 percent of the vote.
Solano, who taught fifth- and sixth-graders at Erie Elementary for 29 years, served eight years in the state House, leaving after 2012 because of term limits. Her husband, Manny, is running for the Adams County Commission.
Solano said a chunk of the district she represented when she served in the House is in the Senate district, and “a lot of people know me.” She noted she won her House race in the GOP wave year in 2010 when she was targeted.
“I’m out there every day,” she said. “I’m a workhorse.”
Senate district 24
Voter breakdown
Democrat: 34.27%
Unaffiliated: 34.01%
Republican: 31.06%
Candidates
Democrat: former state Rep. Judy Solano of Brighton
Republican: Thornton Councilwoman Beth Martinez Humenik
Communities in the district:
Northglenn, Thornton, Westminster
Source: Secretary of State
