Suzanne Williams is a politician in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. She is a

Comanche The Comanche (), or Nʉmʉnʉʉ (, 'the people'), are a Tribe (Native American), Native American tribe from the Great Plains, Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the List of federally recognized tri ...

; during her terms of office, she was the only enrolled American Indian state legislator in Colorado. She belongs to the Democratic Party. Williams is related to J. Howard Williams, a former Texas president of the

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is a Baptist theological institute in Fort Worth, Texas. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. It was established in 1908 and in 2005 was one of the largest seminaries in the wor ...

. Before running for office, she was a Special Education Professional in the Cherry Creek School District for 22 years. In 2004, Williams was elected to the Colorado State Senate. She served as assistant caucus chair for the Senate Majority Caucus, vice-chair on the Business, Labor and Technology Committee, and vice-chair of the Transportation Committee. As an American Indian, she was the only enrolled Native state legislator in Colorado. On December 26, 2010, Williams was involved in a fatal car crash near

Channing, Texas Channing is a town in Hartley County, Texas, in the United States. It is the county seat of Hartley County. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 281. History Channing was founded in 1888 by George Channing Rivers, a ...

. The car she was driving veered into oncoming traffic, killing Brianna Michelle Gomez.Texas police investigate fatal crash involving Colorado state senator
''CNN'', December 28, 2010 Williams' son and two grandsons were not wearing seatbelts and were hospitalized with injuries after being ejected from the vehicle. One of the injured grandchildren was not secured in a child seat as required by law. Williams faced a grand jury investigation; no criminal indictment was issued, but she was later cited with three misdemeanor traffic violations. Williams faced significant criticism for the seat belt violations given her advocacy for harsher seat belt violation penalties and her efforts to introduce legislation allowing police to pull over and ticket drivers should they suspect seat belts not in use. Consequently, she lost her expected promotion to Chairwoman of the Colorado State Senate Transportation Committee.

References

External links

Project Vote Smart
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Suzanne Living people Colorado state senators Members of the Colorado House of Representatives Women state legislators in Colorado 21st-century American women politicians Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century members of the Colorado General Assembly