In July, I attended the Denver Democratic Party picnic at Ruby Hill Park. The good news for Democrats is that I saw very few people I knew. Instead, overwhelmingly younger Democrats assumed leadership. As I prepare a chili dog and smother it under a generous scoop of homemade red, I find myself chased to the table by a young man who looks like he’s stepped out of a 17th-century Spanish court portrait by Diego Velazquez. I noticed that. With a neatly trimmed Van Dyke beard and shoulder-length ebony hair, all he needed was pantaloons, a sword, and a polished cuirass breastplate to pass as a time traveler.
He excitedly asked me what I thought of his chili. As a frequent chef myself, I assured him that I thought his efforts were top-notch. My table companion introduced us. This avid cook was a schoolteacher who was planning to run for the District 4 vacancy in a few weeks, replacing Selina Gonzalez Gutierrez, the same seat I held 40 years ago. It was Tim Hernandez. There was something appealing about Mr. Hernandez. Mr. Hernandez is one of those rare people you sometimes come across who appears to be wired for 220 volts while everyone else has to settle for 110 volts. Last weekend, Tim won that election against two qualified opponents.
I think House leadership on both sides of the aisle is in for some surprise. Hernandez doesn’t appear to be willing to sit back and wait for seniority to earn him credit. As he pointed out, he may be just one of 100 MPs, but he won’t settle for a participation ribbon. The Denver Democratic Party organized a candidate forum at Regis University that drew an audience of several hundred people on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Cecelia Espenosa, a recently retired immigration judge, and Rachel Galindo, a former congresswoman who served on the Greeley City Council and then briefly served in the Colorado House of Representatives, were also vying for the District 4 seat.
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Each of them led a cheering squad. Ms. Hernandez relied on her extended family in North Denver and the students in her charter school classes in Aurora. Mr. Galindo led a platoon of sign-waving Democratic Socialists, while Mr. Espenosa received support from people on the Social Security-eligible precinct committee. But, like those who attended the county picnic, the majority appeared young. Mr. Hernandez, 26, arrives at the Capitol as the youngest member of Congress. Sensible gun control and student safety are more than just risks to him. North Denver students recently ranked guns as their top concern in the classroom in a straw poll. I couldn’t help but wonder if this would be the last time any candidate in District 4 would be able to claim Hispanic roots.
When I was first elected 40 years ago, North Denver had the highest average age of voters of any congressional district in Colorado. Nevertheless, her Italian and Irish Catholic grandparents had already begun moving to make room for young Chicano and Hispanic families. These newcomers took control of the voting majority, marking nearly a decade since the North began sending Latino lawmakers to the Capitol. Gentrification, which all candidates for the vacancy decried, is starting to move demographics in a different direction. In the recently redrawn District 4, only 39% of residents are Hispanic, as the next generation of grandparents cashes in on homes that have quadrupled in value. Although the character of these neighborhoods is changing, homeowners departing with retirement funds in their pockets don’t necessarily feel like they’ve been pushed out.
It may have gone unnoticed by the focus on ethnic issues during candidate debates, but the political pendulum in North Denver has increasingly swung toward priorities of economic equity and quality of life. Hernandez has emphasized his support for increased housing density, but he needs to tread carefully in a district where Highland residents voted to eliminate R-2 zoning, which has remained unchanged since World War II. Dew. Developers were exploiting this zoning to scrape away historic bungalows and replace them with monster duplexes. But City Councilwoman Amanda Sandoval persuaded many neighbors to approve the assisted living unit (ADU) as a “granny apartment.” As a new generation of young families embraces North Denver, Tim must remain nimble.
Voters approved term limits in 1992, increasing the frequency of vacancy elections. He moved into the position for the first time as a result of a vacancy in his quarter of the current Congress. This route provides backdoor access to public office with the advantage of incumbency in later general elections. The 68 Democratic committee members elected Tim on the first ballot, giving him 39 votes. He had asked his mother to be named second. She immediately shut her mouth and started crying, “We all love Timmy so much,” she blurted out. Even the best Hollywood screenwriters could not have written something so convincing. I think Tim’s mother may have had a hand in that chili recipe. After all, what good is a family if they can’t help each other?
Miller Hudson is a public relations consultant and former Colorado state legislator.