Penfield Wallace Tate III (born May 19, 1956) is an American politician. Tate's father

Penfield Tate II Penfield Tate II was the first and only black mayor of Boulder, Colorado. Tate was mayor from 1974 to 1976 and served on Boulder's City Council from 1972 to 1974, and won the most votes of all candidates. He is the only black mayor to serve in Bo ...

served in the United States military. As a result, the younger Tate and his mother Ellen spent his early life on several military bases. Tate III graduated from

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado, United States. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University Syst ...

in 1978 with a degree in sociology. He pursued a J. D. at the

Antioch School of Law Antioch School of Law was a law school in Washington, D.C. which specialized in public advocacy. The school now operates as the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law (UDC-DCSL). The school was located in the hist ...

, ending his legal studies in 1981. Tate then became an attorney based in Denver for the

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) United States antitrust law, antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. It ...

. In 1984, Tate began practicing law at Trimble, Tate & Nulan, a law firm cofounded by his father. Tate worked for

Federico Peña Federico Fabian Peña (born March 15, 1947) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 12th United States secretary of transportation from 1993 to 1997 and the 8th United States secretary of energy from 1997 to 1998, during the pres ...

from 1990 to 1991, returning to Trimble, Tate & Nulan in 1992, before leading his own legal practice, Tate & Tate, P.C., alongside his father. Tate worked for the Colorado Department of Administration before serving the

Colorado Democratic Party The Colorado Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Colorado. Shad Murib serves as its chair. The governing body of the party is the State Central Committee, which consists of the chair and vice chair of t ...

as vice chairman from 1994 to 1996. He was elected to the

Colorado House of Representatives The Colorado House of Representatives is the lower house of the Colorado General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Colorado. The House is composed of 65 members from an equal number of constituent districts, with each distri ...

from the eighth district the next year. In 2000, Tate sought election to the

Colorado Senate The Colorado State Senate is the upper house of the Colorado General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Colorado. It is composed of 35 members elected from single-member districts, with each district having a population of abou ...

from District 33. Tate resigned from the state senate in February 2003 to contest the mayoralty of Denver in the 2003 Denver mayoral election. He was one of seven candidates in the mayoral election, but placed fourth in the first round and therefore did not advance to the runoff, won by

John Hickenlooper John Wright Hickenlooper Jr. ( ; born February 7, 1952) is an American politician, geologist, and businessman serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from Colorado since 2021. A mem ...

. In October 2018, Tate began his second Denver mayoral campaign. He would, once again, place fourth in the first round of the

2019 Denver mayoral election The 2019 Denver mayoral election was the 2019 edition of the quadrennial elections held to determine the Mayor of Denver, Mayor of the Denver, City of Denver, Colorado. The election was held on May 7, 2019. Since no candidate received a major ...

. In 2023, he ran for an at-large Denver City Council seat in the 2023 Denver Mayoral election and placed third out of nine candidates.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tate, Penfield III 1965 births Living people African-American state legislators in Colorado Democratic Party members of the Colorado House of Representatives Democratic Party Colorado state senators Colorado State University alumni David A. Clarke School of Law alumni Colorado lawyers 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American politicians 21st-century members of the Colorado General Assembly