Morning Keynote – State Representative Leslie Herod

Representative Leslie Herod represents House District 8 in Northeast Denver, in State House of Representatives. Capturing over 38,000 votes in 2016, Representative Herod received the highest number of votes for any state house candidate running in a contested race. Representative Herod is the first African American LGBT candidate elected to the State Legislature.

Representative Herod’s extensive experience in social services, criminal justice, mental health, and anti-poverty issues has led her to be at the forefront of setting progressive policy and passing many pieces of legislation in her freshman year to the Governor’s desk. She currently serves on the House committees of Judiciary, Finance and Legal Services. In her first term, she has focused her legislative efforts on access to reproductive health care, homeless youth, criminal justice reform, immigration rights and supporting Colorado entrepreneurs.

Representative Herod has served on multiple community boards and commissions, including serving as a gubernatorial appointee to the state’s Judicial Performance Commission and as a mayoral appointee to Denver’s Cultural Affairs Commission. Additionally, Representative Herod has served on the Board of Directors for Urban Peak, Colorado’s leading homeless youth service agency. She is also a co-founder of New Era Colorado, the state’s leading organization focused on the engagement of young people in our community and served as President of Colorado Black Women for Political Action.

The Colorado Democratic Party honored Representative Herod with the 2017 “Rising Star” award and, she was honored with a 2017 “Power Award” by Out Front Colorado – she is featured on the cover of their November Power Issue, Representative Herod was also featured in Marie Claire magazine’s Power Issue Nov 2017.