AVOIDS RECALL ELECTION, MAINTAINS DEMOCRAT MAJORITY
by Sharon Rondeau
(Nov. 28, 2013) — Facing a probable recall election stemming from her vote for stricter gun laws in Colorado, State Senator Evie Hudak resigned her seat on Wednesday.
Her resignation letter states that she is proud of the accomplishments of Democrats in Colorado over the past year, which include an effort to create jobs and to enforce the state’s new firearms laws.
In September, recall elections were held which resulted in replacing two other Democrat state senators, one of whom was president of the Colorado state senate. Had Hudak faced a recall and been replaced by a Republican, the GOP would have gained a majority in the upper Colorado legislative chamber.
A Democrat committee will appoint Hudak’s successor, who will face re-election next November.
Hudak’s website has not yet been updated to show that she has resigned.
As a result of the passage of the laws, Magpul Industries left Colorado, but the state’s governor, John Hickenlooper, said the benefits of the laws “clearly outweighed” any negative impact, including loss of jobs in the related plastics industry.
Magpul’s website continues to show a Colorado mailing address and states that everything it manufactures is made in the United States.
During testimony from a rape victim, Amanda Collins, who owned a firearm but was prohibited by Nevada law from carrying it on a college campus, Hudak had responded, “Statistics are not on your side.”
Colorado was considering passing a similar bill to prohibit concealed-carry on college campuses in the state.
Collins’s attacker killed one of his victims.
Hudak reportedly apologized afterward, stating that her comments were “insensitive.”
Hickenlooper is facing re-election next year. A former geologist and businessman, Hickenlooper claims that he has made Colorado “the best state in the nation to do business by supporting entrepreneurs, encouraging innovation and promoting the state’s highly-skilled workforce.”