Summit County Citizens Voice

Emily Tracy.

Competitive senate district encompasses resorts, rural ag communities

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY —Following Randy Baumgardner’s victory in the Senate District 8 GOP primary, state democratic leaders say that Emily Tracy‘s bid for the seat has become a top-tier race in the contest to hold on to a slim majority in the State Senate.

Tracy, a Breckenridge resident, is former city councilwoman and a trained mediator with a career in child protection. She will receive financial, communications, grassroots and strategic support from the party organization in what could be a tight race in a presidential election year.

“Emily Tracy has spent her career working to give Colorado children a brighter future, and will continue that work as the next Senator from Northwest Colorado,” said Lionel Dripps, director of the Democratic Senate Campaign Fund. “As co-chair of the Summit Chamber of Commerce Legislative Affairs Committee, Emily understands the challenges that small businesses face in Northwest Colorado. Emily will use her experience as a mediator to bring all sides together and get results for the Western Slope in the Colorado Senate.”

Senate District 8 covers Garfield, Grand, Jackson, Moffat, Rio Blanco, Routt and Summit Counties on the Western Slope. Obama won SD8 with 52.8 percent of the vote in 2008, and the majority of the general election electorate is pro-choice and pro-civil unions.

Emily Tracy served as Cañon City Councilwoman for 8 years, and later worked as a leader and advocate for her community through Action 22. In her 14 years working in child protection for the State of Colorado, she helped design and implement Colorado’s foster care review system, which ensures that children in foster homes do not get left behind.

She brought her expertise in child protection to the board of Colorado Court Appointed Special Advocates, which finds and trains volunteer child advocates so that Colorado’s most vulnerable children have a voice in our judicial system. Emily has experience as a mediator, is a former trainer in conflict resolution and worked to expand court-based mediation services in her four years with the Colorado Judicial Branch. Emily currently works for the Summit  Chamber of Commerce.

Filed under: Colorado, Summit County Colorado Tagged: | 2012 election, Breckenridge, colorado Legislature, Colorado Senate, Colorado Senate District 8, Emily Tracy