Sonya Jaquez Lewis

Sonya Jaquez Lewis is an American politician who served as a member of the Colorado Senate from the 17th district. She is a member of the Democratic Party and resides in Lafayette, Colorado. Previously, she served in the Colorado House of Representatives, representing the 12th district in Boulder County.

Early life and education

Sonya Jaquez Lewis was born to Georgia and Robert Lewis in Charlotte, North Carolina, in . Lewis graduated from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a bachelor's degree in biology in 1981. She was a member of Alpha Chi Sigma and on the board of directors of WXYC.

Career

Local politics

Lewis was elected to the Campus Governing Council in 1977 and 1979. She placed third in the initial round of the 1978 student president election. She was appointed to Carrboro, North Carolina's town planning board in 1980.

Lewis announced her campaign for a seat on the Carrboro Board of Aldermen on September 16, 1981, but later withdrew in favor of incumbent aldermen, who were fellow members of the Carrboro Community Coalition. She was appointed to the Durham County Women's Commission by the county board of commissioners in 1987, and later became its chair. During the 1990 senatorial election she was county coordinator for Harvey Gantt's campaign in Durham County. She worked for his campaign during the 1996 election.

Lewis served as an at-large delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention from Colorado and from Colorado's 2nd congressional district in 2012 and 2016.

State legislature

During Lewis' tenure in the state house she served on the Public Health Care and Human Services committee and as vice-chair of the State, Veterans and Military Affairs committee. She was a member of the LGBTQ Caucus.

Lewis refused to sign off her aide's time card in December 2023, and Senate President Steve Fenberg had to sign it instead. Fenberg warned Lewis about her poor behavior to her staffers and later stated that they would not help her vet or place new aides for her in the upcoming legislative session. She was removed as chair of the Local Government and House committee in January 2024, and her sponsorship was removed from legislation to prevent wage theft in the construction industry. Lewis denied the allegations made against her. On December 3, she was barred from having state-paid aides after a misconduct complaint was filed about her using staffers to do yard work and bartend.

On February 18, 2025, Lewis announced on Facebook at 6 A.M. GMT that she had resigned, with it having gone in effect the previous day at 7:15 P.M. GMT. Resigning from the state legislature ended the ethics probe against her. Two hours later the Senate Ethics Committee reported that Lewis had submitted at least one fabricated letter of support sent to the panel, claiming that it was from Anna McLean, a former aide. Lewis claimed that the letter was supposed to be information she gathered from conversations with McLean, despite it being in the first person and using her name on the letterhead, and that it was accidentally submitted. Another aide, Tara Mastracchio, also said that the letter submitted by Lewis with her name attached was not written by her.

The district attorneys' offices in Denver and Boulder are investigating Lewis for using deceit in an attempt to influence a public servant and signature forgeries.

Electoral history

References

Works cited

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Sonya Jaquez
Democratic Party members of the Colorado House of Representatives
Living people
21st-century members of the Colorado General Assembly
21st-century American women politicians
Women state legislators in Colorado
LGBTQ state legislators in Colorado
American lesbian politicians
1957 births
Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in Colorado
Hispanic and Latino American women in politics
Politicians from Charlotte, North Carolina
Democratic Party Colorado state senators