February 11, 2026 11:11 AM UTC

State Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet Resigns

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• by: Colorado Pols

The great vacancy committee that is the Colorado legislature — on both sides of the aisle — is spinning up again.

As The Colorado Sun reports:

President Pro Tempore Dafna Michaelson Jenet, a Commerce City Democrat who spent nearly a decade at the Capitol fighting for survivors of sexual assault and to improve mental health care, announced Tuesday that she’s resigning from the legislature. Her last day is Friday.

Michaelson Jenet, who is one of a few Jewish state lawmakers, is leaving the General Assembly to join the David Merage Foundation for Confronting Antisemitism, a local nonprofit. She will lead an initiative there combating antisemitism across the country and starts the new job next week.

Michaelson Jenet said serving as a state lawmaker has become too big a financial hardship for her family.

“It was a heavy decision, and there were a lot of factors — not the least of which is my family has struggled over these last 10 years that I have been in the legislature and earning well beneath my capabilities,” said Michaelson Jenet, who worked for nonprofits before running for office. “That’s really taken a hit on my family.”

State lawmakers are paid about $45,000 a year for a job that’s supposed to be part time but is really a year-round commitment. The median household income in Colorado is about $95,000. Michaelson Jenet is not the first lawmaker to depart the legislature citing personal finances. [Pols emphasis]

We certainly can’t knock Sen. Michaelson Jenet for making a personal financial decision. We’ve long advocated in this space to increase salaries for state lawmakers in order to attract a wider range of candidates and to keep good legislators in the building. Raising salaries would also likely reduce the vacancy committee problem at the State Capitol; roughly 1-in-4 current state legislators initially made their way into the building via vacancy committee appointments.

Michaelson Jenet’s replacement will be determined by a committee made up of Democrats in Senate District 21. Two sitting State Representatives share pieces of Michaelson Jenet’s Senate district — Democrats Manny Rutinel and Lorena Garcia. Rutinel likely won’t be interested in the vacancy given that he is running for Congress in CO-08.