Pete Lee recall, Colorado State Senate (2019)

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2019 Pete Lee recall: Colorado State Senate
Recall status
Did not go to a vote
Table of contents
Recall supporters Recall opponents Path to the ballot
See also
External links Footnotes

An effort to recall Pete Lee, a member of the Democratic Party, from his elected position representing District 11 in the Colorado State Senate was launched in July 2019. The recall was approved for circulation on July 12, 2019, and was submitted by Scott David Fisher. Supporters had until September 10, 2019, to collect 11,304 signatures to force a recall election.

On September 10, 2019, supporters of the recall told the Colorado Secretary of State’s office that no signatures would be turned in for the recall effort.

Recall supporters criticized Lee because he supported legislation related to firearms, oil and gas, the national popular vote, and sex education during the 2019 legislative session. All four bills were signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis (D) in 2019. After the recall was announced, Sen. Lee issued a statement in response.

To read more on the recall efforts against the Colorado governor and other state legislative members in 2019, click here.

Lee was elected to the state Senate in 2018 with 62% of the vote. Prior to the 2018 election, Michael Merrifield (D) represented District 11 from 2015 to 2019.

Recall supporters

The recall petitioners began the effort in response to Lee's support of four bills. According to The Gazette, the recall was supported by the same group backing the recall against Gov. Polis. The petition listed the following legislation as the reasons for recall:

"	Senator Pete Lee, representing Senate District 11, should be recalled because he sponsored legislation to create a paid family and medical leave program to be funded by a mandatory tax on businesses and employees, disingenuously referring to it as a “fee” instead of a tax, and he voted for the passage of: 1) SB 19-042 (National Popular Vote), enacting and joining Colorado into an interstate compact to elect the president of the United States by national popular vote; 2) SB 19-181 (Comprehensive Oil and Gas Reform), reforming the regulation of the oil and gas industry in Colorado despite the voters’ defeat of Proposition 112’s drilling regulations; 3) HB 19-1032 (Comprehensive Human Sexuality Education), mandating comprehensive human sexuality education and appropriating one million dollars annually in grant funds for its dissemination; and 4) HB 19-1177 (Red Flag), creating the ability for a family or household member to petition the court for a temporary extreme risk protection order to prohibit an individual from possessing a firearm.	”
—Sen. Lee Recall Statement of Grounds

Recall opponents

Pete Lee

After the recall was announced against Sen. Lee, he said: "I am disappointed that radical activists have decided to disrespect the voters of Senate District 11 and undermine the electoral process. I was elected eight months ago by 60% of the voters. To overturn the will of the people because of a disagreement on a couple of votes is inconsistent with our democratic process. They couldn’t defeat me in the election so they’re taking the back door of a recall."

After the recall effort ended, Lee made the following statement: "With the defeat of three successive recall efforts, my hope is that we reaffirm our faith in the electoral process, respect the will of the voters and leave extraordinary measures for extraordinary circumstances. Let’s renew our commitment to working together on policies that benefit the people of Colorado."

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in Colorado

First, a recall petition must be filed with the office in which nomination petitions are filed for the office that is being recalled. Generally, this office is the Colorado Secretary of State. The petition must include a statement of no less than 200 words explaining the ground on which the official is to be recalled. This regulation is for the benefit of citizens who will sign the petition.

After the petition is approved by the Secretary of State, circulation of the petition may begin. Petitioners have 60 days to gather the proper number of signatures. The number of valid signatures required to force a special recall election is 25% of the votes cast in the last election for the official being recalled. After the proper number of signatures have been gathered the petition is submitted to the office in which it was filed to be deemed sufficient. This entails verifying the signatures. Once the petition has been deemed sufficient, the office in which it was filed will deliver the petition along with a certificate of its sufficiency to the governor who will then set a date for the recall election.

The recall petition targeting Lee was approved for circulation by the secretary of state on July 12, 2019. Supporters of the recall needed to collect 11,304 signatures by September 10, 2019, to force a recall election. Supporters announced on September 10 that they would not be submitting any signatures to the secretary of state's office for the recall.

Election history

2018

See also: Colorado State Senate elections, 2018

General election

General election for Colorado State Senate District 11

Pete Lee defeated Pat McIntire in the general election for Colorado State Senate District 11 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Pete Lee (D)	62.0	28,015
		Pat McIntire (R)	38.0	17,200

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 45,215 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Colorado State Senate District 11

Pete Lee advanced from the Democratic primary for Colorado State Senate District 11 on June 26, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Pete Lee	100.0	10,499

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 10,499
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Colorado State Senate District 11

Pat McIntire advanced from the Republican primary for Colorado State Senate District 11 on June 26, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Pat McIntire	100.0	7,580

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 7,580
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Colorado state legislative and state executive recalls in 2019

The table below highlighted each recall effort in Colorado targeting state executive and state legislative members in 2019.

2019 Colorado state legislative and state executive recalls
Name	Office	Party	Status	Signature deadline	Reached the ballot	Recalled
Jared Polis	Governor	Democratic	Official; ended	September 6, 2019		-
Pete Lee	Senate District 11	Democratic	Official; ended	September 10, 2019		-
Brittany Pettersen	Senate District 22	Democratic	Official; ended	September 16, 2019		-
Leroy Garcia	Senate District 3	Democratic	Official; ended	October 18, 2019		-
Rochelle Galindo	House District 50	Democratic	Official; ended	June 3, 2019		-
Tom Sullivan	House District 37	Democratic	Official; ended	July 12, 2019		-
Bri Buentello	House District 47	Democratic	Unofficial; ended	-		-
Jeff Bridges	Senate District 26	Democratic	Unofficial; ended	-		-
Meg Froelich	House District 3	Democratic	Unofficial; ended	-		-

Historical state legislative recalls

Ballotpedia tracked 124 recall efforts against 120 state lawmakers from 1913 to 2018. During that time, 39 recalls made the ballot and 22 state legislators were successfully recalled.

Michigan led the way with 35 state legislative recall efforts from 1913 to 2018. Of those 35 recall efforts, three were successful. Wisconsin followed with 30 state legislative recall efforts. Six of those recalls were successful.

See also

• Recall campaigns in Colorado
• Political recall efforts, 2019
• State legislative recalls

External links

• Pete Lee's office website