This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at coloradosun.com.
State Sen. Faith Winter was remembered Friday for inspiring a generation of women in Colorado and across the country to run for elected office, for her ferocity as a policymaker and for the love she showered on her two teenage children.
“She saw potential in everyone and everything,” Jessica Walker, who became friends with Winter in high school, told hundreds gathered outside the Colorado Capitol. “She was fearless, kind and genuine. She was one of one.”
Winter, a Broomfield Democrat, was killed last week in a three-vehicle crash on Interstate 25 south of Denver. The 45-year-old is survived by her 16-year-old son, Tobin, and 14-year-old daughter, Sienna. She’s also survived by her fiancé, Matt Gray, a former state representative and fellow Democrat.
The memorial for Winter on Friday was attended by scores of dignitaries, both Democrats and Republicans, including members of Colorado’s congressional delegation and current and former state lawmakers.
Gov. Jared Polis, speaking tearfully at the service on the Capitol’s west steps, said Winter leaves a legacy of “fearlessness and of giving back.”
“When Faith was on your team, she was a fierce ally,” he said.
Dawn Huckelbridge, who leads the national organization Paid Leave for All, said Winter moved mountains to get a government-run paid family and parental leave program passed in Colorado.
“She didn’t just win paid leave in Colorado,” Huckelbridge said. “She won it after fight after fight — after introducing it, after flipping the Senate, and then taking it to the ballot for the very first time in this country, ignoring every naysayer and winning.”
Many spoke of her impact helping women get elected to office in Colorado and beyond. Winter served as the executive director of Emerge Colorado, which trains women to run campaigns. More recently, she traveled the country as a consultant helping prepare women for the rigors of electoral politics.
A friend said one of her happiest places was the front of a room full of ambitious women.
“She believed in her heart and in her bones that women belong everywhere that decisions are being made,” Democratic state Rep. Jenny Willford said. “And she didn’t quietly hold in that belief.”
Hazel Gibson, a Democratic strategist who worked with Winter and was a close friend, painted a picture of a woman dedicated to accomplishing as much as possible.
“Her home was full of fur, laughter, chaos and love — exactly as she wanted it,” Gibson said. “Faith lived in full color. She loved in full color.”
Sienna Snook, Winter’s daughter, said her mom wasn’t perfect, but she “put so much love out into the world.”
“She made her life much harder than it needed to be, simply because she cared so much,” she said.
The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, which is investigating the wreck, says it could take several weeks to determine what caused the crash. It has declined to release even basic information about the collision.
Winter’s autopsy is expected to take at least a month to complete.
Winter was entering her 12th and final year as a state lawmaker because of term limits. Among Winter’s accomplishments in the legislature was passing a measure raising billions of dollars for transportation projects in Colorado by imposing new fees on the purchase of gas and diesel fuel, as well as on rideshare rides and deliveries. She rose to become the assistant Senate majority leader, the No. 3 role in the chamber, in 2023.
In 2018, when she was a state representative, Winter came forward to allege she had been sexually harassed by a fellow Democratic state lawmaker, Rep. Steve Lebsock. The Colorado House ultimately voted to oust Lebsock, in large part because of Winter’s decision to speak about her experience.
Lebsock’s ouster led the legislature to bolster its workplace harassment policies and eventually hire someone for the first time to field complaints.
U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen, a Lakewood Democrat who served alongside Winter in the legislature and was one of her closest friends, delivered the eulogy Friday. Pettersen recounted how Winter was inspired to run for office after meeting with then-Colorado Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, a Democrat and the first woman to hold the position.
Fitz-Gerald told Winter she should run for office — advice she followed with a successful bid for a seat on the Westminster City Council.
Pettersen was in a fellowship program when she met Winter in 2009 for lunch. Winter was a Westminster city councilwoman at the time.
“We talked about our backgrounds and what inspired us to do this work,” Pettersen remembered. “And towards the end of the conversation, she paused and said something that changed my path.”
Winter told Pettersen she should run for office.
“I immediately laughed and replied, ‘People like me don’t run for office,” Pettersen said.
“Isn’t that the problem?” Winter said.
Colorado Capitol Alliance
This story was produced by the Capitol News Alliance, a collaboration between KUNC News, Colorado Public Radio, Rocky Mountain PBS, and The Colorado Sun, and shared with Rocky Mountain Community Radio and other news organizations across the state. Funding for the Alliance is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
