The unconventional race that could decide the direction of Colorado’s legislature

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About six years ago, an idea popped into Jillaire McMillan’s head: maybe someday she’d run for office. 

The idea wasn’t a big leap. In high school, she was voted most likely to be the first female president. McMillan, a mom of four who lives outside Longmont, had also served as the parent-teacher association president at her kids’ elementary, middle and high schools. And in the first weeks of the Trump administration, she joined a Facebook group founded by a lifelong Republican upset by Donald Trump’s disparaging rhetoric. The group, Mormon Women for Ethical Government, quickly grew into a 7,000-member nonpartisan organization that helps women get involved in government. McMillan would become its chief of staff. 

It made sense McMillan wanted to run. But she figured she’d do it five or 10 years down the road. Then, in late July, her state representative, Democrat Jennifer Parenti, dropped her reelection bid in the waning months of a contentious campaign.

McMillian is now running in House District 19, one of the most competitive legislative districts in the state this year. She faces former state Rep. Dan Woog, an Erie Republican, in a district that includes the towns of Erie, Firestone, Frederick and Dacono and is made up of a mix of suburban neighborhoods and rural pockets along the Boulder and Weld county line.

The outcome of the race in the district may determine whether Democrats keep their supermajority in the House. If they lose three House seats, they lose their supermajority. 

If Democrats have supermajorities in the House and Senate next year, they would be able to refer constitutional amendments to the ballot without Republican support and ask voters to make lasting changes to the tax system and around social issues. Supermajorities would also give Democrats in the legislature the ability to override vetoes by Gov. Jared Polis, who has been a persistent barrier to bills brought by the most liberal Democrats in the legislature. Polis this year vetoed a number of labor-backed measures, and the threat of a gubernatorial veto has previously kept other liberal proposals, like rent stabilization and progressive tax policies, from advancing in the legislature.

Parenti beat Woog in 2022 by 1,467 votes, or 3 percentage points, in a district whose voters have traditionally favored Republicans. Now, Woog is battling to reclaim his spot in the legislature. 

“I truly was pretty certain I wasn’t going to do it,” Woog said of running again. “I’ve just had constituents reach out and say, ‘Hey, look, it was this close. We’d love you to do it again.’” 

How Jillaire McMillan became the Democratic nominee

Parenti was one of the legislature’s most progressive Democrats. When she dropped out of the race, she blamed the Capitol’s political culture, saying she could not “continue to serve while maintaining my own sense of integrity.”

“The two are simply incompatible,” she wrote in a statement, saying personal agendas and special interests had made the job too difficult.

Parenti’s exit weeks after winning her primary this year forced a Democratic vacancy committee of 34 party insiders from the district to convene to select Woog’s new opponent. McMillan jumped in 10 days before the panel was set to meet, determined to speak to every member of the committee. 

Immediately she started sending group texts and cold calling members of the vacancy committee. Then she threw on a pair of running shoes to start knocking on their doors. That decision would result in meaningful conversations — and a dog bite.

“There was a gate (to a house) that said, ‘Dogs on premises, keep the gate closed.’ And I was like, ‘OK, I can handle a dog,’” McMillan said. “I did not read the third line of the sign that said, ‘Do not enter without permission of owners.’”

McMillan narrowly won the vacancy committee vote on Aug. 8 —  less than 100 days before Election Day — in the second round of voting, 16-14. She defeated three other candidates, two of whom were former elected officials. 

McMillan’s entry into the race so late in the election cycle has left her at a lopsided campaign cash disadvantage. She had raised only about $50,000 through Tuesday, including $20,000 in personal loans she made to her campaign.

(Parenti returned the $7,634 she had in her campaign account when she dropped out of the race.)

Woog, by comparison, has been campaigning for more than a year. He had raised about $100,000 through Tuesday, in addition to the roughly $20,000 he rolled over from his 2022 campaign. He had spent about $70,000 through Oct. 9. 

Why Dan Woog decided to run again

Woog announced he would run for his old seat in September 2023. This is his sixth time running for office. Three of those bids were for Erie town trustee, where he lost his first race. 

All that campaign experience has taught Woog the importance of retail politics. He started knocking on doors in April and has hit 9,600 houses since with the help of volunteers. His strategy revolves around letting his talking points take a back seat to what voters have to say. 

“I have my platform, but the reality is, I’m only gonna be better if I listen,” Woog said.

A valuable lesson from his failed 2022 statehouse bid was that he needed to learn more from the unaffiliated voters in the district and even some Democratic voters. From conversations with those voters he’s started talking about something not usually associated with conservative politics: the environment.

The oil and gas industry is prominent in his district. In the past, Woog has been a supporter of the industry. But after conversations with voters, he now has some concerns.

“There’s so many people in Erie that are even conservative or fiscally conservative, they’re independent voters, and they are worried about the environment,” he said. “They’re worried about oil and gas and the effects it has on our air quality. This has to be a focus.”

While Woog still believes in the importance of oil and gas — he says his first statehouse campaign was driven by what he saw as an attack on the industry —  he said he now recognizes the need for alternative energy sources. He specifically wants to advocate for solar power and nuclear energy if he returns to the Capitol. 

While McMillan has benefited from the help of major Democratic figures in the state — including both of Colorado’s U.S. senators, U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse and Attorney General Phil Wieser — Woog has not seen much support from the Colorado GOP. He thinks they may have sent out an email supporting him, but that’s it.

The party has been in turmoil for months under the leadership of embattled Chairman Dave Williams. Woog has stayed out of the drama, which he thinks has served as a distraction given the upcoming election.

“It’s frustrating as a Republican,” he said. “I told myself, ‘I’m just running my race.’ ” 

Still, Woog has received a lot of campaign help from state-level super PACs. Those groups had spent nearly $300,000 to aid him through Tuesday. McMillan, meanwhile, had received no super PAC support. That’s an indication that Democratic groups are investing their money elsewhere to maintain the Democratic supermajority in the House.

45 days out

It’s 9 a.m. in Frederick and there are 45 days until Election Day. The annual Miners Day parade starts in one hour. The McMillans’ minivan is nestled between a dance troupe practicing its moves and a float with signs encouraging people to vote. Her van is decked out in campaign signs that arrived 16 days earlier and a bubble machine strapped on the roof. The only problem: Now the van won’t start. 

That’s when 20-year-old Reilly Jackson, McMillan’s campaign manager, walked up. Jackson was carrying handmade signs she’d made the night before. The University of Colorado political science major immediately started rounding up volunteers so McMillan could focus on the pressing matter — getting that van rolling, which McMillan did. 

A lifelong resident of Erie, the biggest town in House District 19, Jackson has been engaged in politics since she was 12. At 18 she interned for Neguse and spent this summer interning for Polis. McMillan had eagerly reached out to Jackson after Parenti recommended her, and the women quickly hit it off.

“We realized that there’s a lot of mutual crossover, and not only where we are ideologically, but also the motivations we have for the district,” Jackson said.

However, Jackson isn’t a bored student looking for something to do in her free time. Between the campaign, her social sorority, five classes and professional fraternity, she’s clocking 65-hour work weeks until Election Day.

“I do think we can win it, but it’s like, Tim Walz says, ‘You’ll sleep when you’re dead,’ ”  Jackson said, referring to the Minnesota governor who is Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate on the presidential ticket this year. “So that’s where we’re at right now.”

A few weeks after the minivan incident, McMillan was wrapping up a six-minute conversation with a voter in their doorway. As she left the driveway, she recorded a few notes on her phone using speech to text.

“He was a registered Democrat for a long time and is unaffiliated because he doesn’t like the partisanship and (there’s) too much government overreach on some things,” McMillan said.

When McMillan is going door to door to talk with voters, she always starts off the conversation the same way. She introduces herself as a Democrat who is a first-time candidate with a history of bipartisan political work. Then instead of going into her positions or plans, she asks the voters what issues are most important to them.

While topics are often different at each house, McMillan consistently finds a way to share her experience. On public education, she’s a mom of four and PTA president. On housing costs, she’s a homeowner who’s seen her insurance premiums rise. On hyper-partisanship, she has almost a decade working closely with Republicans — and she’s married to one.

While some conversations are brief, some go beyond five and sometimes 10 minutes and occasionally diverge away from politics.

At one house, a voter shared his concerns about inefficiencies in education funding. McMillan told him about a program she participated in with the St. Vrain Valley School District that invites parents to see the administrative side of schooling. By the end of the conversation, she was more focused on helping him find ways to get more involved in his kids’ school than getting his vote. 

Woog on the issues

As a property manager, Woog says he has seen the realities of Colorado’s housing crisis first hand. 

He claims that increased regulations on businesses in the state have increased his company’s costs, and he’s had to pass those costs onto his customers. Woog says he also knows that it’s not only the rent that is going up for tenants.  

“I have more tenants now that aren’t paying their water bills in time,” he said. “I see more yards dying as I do HOA drive-throughs. People are struggling, there’s just no question.” 

He blames Democratic control of state government for the tough times.

“The laws in the last few years forced me to hire more employees to meet compliance needs,” he said at a rally in Thornton earlier this month. “My liability has gone way up.”

Woog sees condominiums as part of the housing solution in Colorado. 

New apartment construction has outpaced condo buildings since 2008 in Colorado. A failed bill at the Capitol this year attempted to boost condo construction by limiting the powers of homeowners to file lawsuits over construction errors. Woog, a single father of two, thinks reducing developers’ liability could spur construction and give younger generations the ability to buy starter homes.

The measure failed because of pushback from progressive Democrats. Parenti sponsored a bill that would have made it easier for homeowners to sue builders for construction errors. That measure failed, too.

Condominium construction across the country reached historic lows over the last decade, and housing experts say the cost of litigation and liability insurance is a factor — but not the only one.

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“That’s just one thing that’s going to allow, hopefully, my kids to actually afford to live here — having condominiums again,” Woog said. 

If elected, Woog said he also wants to revive a bill he introduced in 2022 that would provide renters with an income tax deduction. A similar measure failed at the Capitol this year.

McMillan on the issues

Before the children leave for school and campaigning starts for the day, the McMillans have a family prayer. As a devoted member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, McMillan attends church every Sunday, volunteers for her congregation, has a daughter on a mission trip and doesn’t work on the Sabbath. 

It’s often a shock when people hear she’s endorsed by Planned Parenthood. But while the church is often associated with conservatism, McMillan says its teachings have led her to support progressive policies. 

On the topic of abortion, she said the church teaches her to honor life and that she has a responsibility to take care of others. It also emphasizes individual choice and allows for free agency. She doesn’t think those teachings are incompatible.

“There is that misconception out there that ‘you’re a Mormon, your church says you can’t ever do this,’ and that’s actually not true,” McMillan said. “I essentially feel like this is a decision that should be made by a woman, and that she can counsel as she chooses, with her partner, with her doctor, and if applicable, her God.”

With four kids who grew up in a world filled with mass shootings, she’s an advocate for tougher gun regulations. McMillan is endorsed by Moms Demand Action, Colorado Ceasefire and Sully’s Action Fund, which is linked to state Sen. Tom Sullivan, a Centennial Democrat whose son was murdered in the 2012 Aurora theater shooting. 

“They’ve experienced active shooter drills for most of their school lives,” McMillan said of her kids. “I was in a kindergarten classroom many years ago during an active shooter drill. It’s scary, and it’s scary for kids.”

Election Day is Nov. 5. 

Colorado Sun staff writer Jesse Paul contributed to this report, as did Colorado Sun correspondent Sandra Fish.

Roch is a journalism student at the University of Colorado. 

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