Carlos Lopez (Colorado)

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Carlos Lopez

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 3, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

University of Northern Colorado, 2001

Other

Denver Career College, 2004

Personal

Birthplace

Raton, N.M.

Profession

General manager

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

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Personal Facebook

Carlos Lopez (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Colorado State Senate to represent District 35. He lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Lopez completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Carlos Lopez was born in Raton, New Mexico. He obtained a bachelor's degree from the University of Northern Colorado in 2001. He also obtained a degree from the Denver Career College (formerly The Denver Paralegal Institute) in 2004. His professional experience includes working as the general manager of Lopez Enterprises and founding the Youth Club of Trinidad, Inc. As of 2020, Lopez was a member of the Arkansas River Power Authority and the Trinidad State Junior College's Human Service Advisory Board. He previously served as a member of the Trinidad City Council and as an executive board member of the Colorado Municipal League.

Elections

2020

See also: Colorado State Senate elections, 2020

General election

General election for Colorado State Senate District 35

Cleave Simpson Jr. defeated Carlos Lopez in the general election for Colorado State Senate District 35 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cleave Simpson Jr. (R)	60.1	43,970
		Carlos Lopez (D)	39.9	29,163

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 73,133
= 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 35

Carlos Lopez advanced from the Democratic primary for Colorado State Senate District 35 on June 30, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Carlos Lopez	100.0	15,609

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 15,609
= 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 35

Cleave Simpson Jr. advanced from the Republican primary for Colorado State Senate District 35 on June 30, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cleave Simpson Jr.	100.0	17,504

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 17,504
= 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.

Endorsements

To view Lopez's endorsements in the 2020 election, please click here.

Campaign themes

2020

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released February 6, 2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Carlos Lopez completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Lopez's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

My name is Carlos R. Lopez and I am proud to be a candidate for Colorado State Senate District #35. I was raised in Colorado my entire life. I attended School District #1 in Trinidad, started my college career at Trinidad State Junior College and finished my undergrad degree at the University of Northern Colorado. I am running because I am concerned that the State Government too often ignores the voices of Southern and Rural Colorado and I want to make sure that your concerns are voiced loud and clear at the State Capitol and turned into tangible legislation that helps us. We need a fighter and I am ready to enter the ring.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• We need to have better funding for our K-12 public school districts.
• We need to have better access and care to our rural health care providers.
• We need to provide better resources to our community and junior colleges that provide innovative trades programs for 21st century blue collar careers.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I have great concerns about protecting our natural resources from climate change and outside developers.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I look up to my parents. Luis and Susie Lopez demonstrated that with hard work, honesty and education anything is possible.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

Profiles In Courage by John F. Kennedy

The Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Honesty, hard work and integrity.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I know that my calm demeanor will help me be proactive and not reactive to issues that arise. I feel that I am a thinker who tries to solve problems and not make them. Lastly, I like to think that I am a good listener.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

The core responsibilities for elected officials are being objective and not subjective. In this regard one must put aside their personal feelings and work in an empathetic manner to do right by the people whom they represent. This applies to budgets and policies that will affect their district.

What legacy would you like to leave?

The legacy I hope to leave is that our youth have better opportunities for educational options that provide good paying jobs and don't incur a large debt.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

The first historical event I remember was the explosion of the Challenger Space Ship in 1986. I was seven years old.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My very first job was at 11 years old working for my family at the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site just east of Trinidad, CO. There we served food for the U.S. Army troops who were there for training exercises on regular "Rotations" during the Persian Gulf War. My family did this for many years before this. I would run the register or wipe tables in our small single wide trailer that served as our dining area. The contract my family had with the U.S. Military started an early respect for our service members of our country.

What is your favorite book? Why?

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain.

I worked many years in restaurants during my college years. I find his writing style was comical yet oddly relatable when it comes to restaurant workers.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Robin Hood

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

On the Road Again by Willie Nelson

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

I would like to be in better communication with the people who I have encountered along my journey.

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it", Ferris Bueller.

Every state besides Nebraska has two legislative chambers. What do you consider the most important differences between the legislative chambers in your state?

I know that having two chambers allows for more scrutiny of potential legislation for approval or disapproval by the representatives elected by their district's constituents.

Do you believe that it’s beneficial for state legislators to have previous experience in government or politics?

I do feel it is beneficial as it allows experience of working with other elected officials, working with annually appropriated budgets and growing thicker skin when dealing with unhappy constituents.

What do you perceive to be your state’s greatest challenges over the next decade?

I feel that there are several large challenges. Our state needs to work towards better K-12 funding for our public school districts. We need to provide resources so our kids don't continue to fall behind other states in the Union.

We need to protect our water resources so that way generations to come have access to clean and plentiful amounts of water for all consumption needs.

Colorado has a serious opioid issue that needs to be addressed as an addiction issue an not a criminal issue. More funding for mental/ behavior health needs to be provided to assist our police departments and sheriff offices to combat these issues.

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between the governor and the state legislature?

The ideal relationship between a governor and state legislature is one that works for the greater good of the people. Legislators work very hard to bring forward good legislation after long hours of debate and scrutiny. These laws made for the people by the people need to be seriously considered for signing into law.

Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.

I feel that having good relationships with other legislators is key to passing positive bills that help our citizens. Without good relationships, our society as a whole will suffer from greater problems and solutions will slip through our hands.

What process do you favor for redistricting?

Colorado citizens voted for Amendments Y and Z recently. These amendments will impact districts in Colorado after the 2020 Census data is collected and analyzed. I favor this as it was voted on by the citizens of Colorado.

If you are not a current legislator, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?

I would like to be a part of the Education Committee, the Committee that oversees Natural Resources and lastly... the Committee of Transportation.

Is there a particular legislator, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

John Lewis

Are you interested in running for a different political office (for example, the U.S. Congress or governor) in the future?

Governor of Colorado

Both sitting legislators and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful?

A story from a family in the San Luis Valley stands out. They have water rights for their property and feel they are being muscled out by other water right holding individuals. They're options are not getting better and are forcing their hands to leave their family farm. This is a terrible reality many like them are facing and it breaks my heart.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

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Footnotes

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Current members of the Colorado State Senate

Leadership

Senate President:James Coleman

Majority Leader:Robert Rodriguez

Minority Leader:Cleave Simpson

Senators

District 1

Byron Pelton (R)

District 2

Lisa Frizell (R)

District 3

Nick Hinrichsen (D)

District 4

Mark Baisley (R)

District 5

Marc Catlin (R)

District 6

Cleave Simpson (R)

District 7

Janice Rich (R)

District 8

Dylan Roberts (D)

District 9

Lynda Zamora Wilson (R)

District 10

Larry Liston (R)

District 11

Thomas Exum (D)

District 12

Marc Snyder (D)

District 13

Scott Bright (R)

District 14

Cathy Kipp (D)

District 15

Janice Marchman (D)

District 16

Chris Kolker (D)

District 17

Katie Wallace (D)

District 18

Judy Amabile (D)

District 19

Lindsey Daugherty (D)

District 20

Lisa Cutter (D)

District 21

Dafna Jenet (D)

District 22

Jessie Danielson (D)

District 23

Barbara Kirkmeyer (R)

District 24

Kyle Mullica (D)

District 25

Faith Winter (D)

District 26

Jeff Bridges (D)

District 27

Tom Sullivan (D)

District 28

Mike Weissman (D)

District 29

Iman Jodeh (D)

District 30

John Carson (R)

District 31

Matt Ball (D)

District 32

Robert Rodriguez (D)

District 33

James Coleman (D)

District 34

Julie Gonzales (D)

District 35

Rodney Pelton (R)

Democratic Party (23)

Republican Party (12)