A local Democratic Party committee has chosen Matthew Ball to fill the vacancy in Senate District 31 left by former Sen. Chris Hansen.
Ball currently works as Denver Mayor Mike Johnston's director of policy. A fifth-generation Coloradan, a U.S. Army Ranger veteran and a lawyer, Ball has been instrumental in creating the city’s Road to Recovery program, helping people get treatment for mental health issues and substance use disorders, among other priorities.
During a four-hour meeting that included a candidate forum and five rounds of voting, Ball beat out six other candidates who wanted to succeed Hansen. The winning candidate had to have a majority of the vote.
The first round of voting included 105 ballots. However, by the final round of voting, nearly two hours after voting first started, only 98 ballots were cast.
One by one, five candidates were eliminated and one candidate voluntarily dropped out. In the fifth and final round of voting, Ball faced off against Rep. Steven Woodrow, who represents House District 6 and was seeking to move to the Senate.
Ball won with 62 percent of the final vote. He said he plans to bring his experience building policies for Denver to the state level.
"I've seen state laws that make great headlines but have little impact, and I've also seen state laws that work," he said during the forum. "I'm ready to leverage my experience and my background to pass laws that work on Day One."
In an earlier interview, Ball said that his mental health struggles as a veteran are important to his priorities and politics. Colorado, he said, is lagging when it comes to addressing mental health and having enough beds in treatment programs.
He said he wanted to serve, in part, because of his concerns about President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration.
“Looking at the prospect of a second Trump administration, we are going to need a lot of strength at the Statehouse to keep Colorado as strong as it is, as a bulwark against what is happening federally,” he said.
The vacancy committee included volunteer precinct organizers, Democratic state legislators and local party officers who live in the district.
In the November election, Hansen handily won reelection to his state senate seat in District 31, but then announced he would be stepping down to become the CEO of La Plata Electric Association in southwestern Colorado.
This is the third vacancy in the district in recent years.
Ball will get to work immediately — the state legislature convenes for this year's regular session on Wednesday.
Senate District 31 has been a Democratic stronghold for years. Ball will serve in the seat until the next general election, in 2026. If he chooses to run as an incumbent, he stands a strong chance of reelection.
