John Carson (Colorado)
2025 - Present
2027
0
John Carson (Republican Party) is a member of the Colorado State Senate, representing District 30. Carson assumed office on January 10, 2025. Carson's current term ends on January 12, 2027.
Carson (Republican Party) is running for re-election to the Colorado State Senate to represent District 30. Carson declared candidacy for the 2026 election.[source]
On January 4, 2025, Douglas County Republicans appointed Carson to the Colorado State Senate to replace Kevin Van Winkle (R).[1]
Carson was a district-level delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Colorado. Carson was one of 30 delegates from Colorado initially bound by state party rules to support Ted Cruz at the convention. Colorado's delegates were later released since Cruz withdrew from the race.[2][3] Cruz suspended his campaign on May 3, 2016. At the time, he had approximately 546 bound delegates. For more on what happened to his delegates, see this page.
Biography
Carson earned a B.A. in political science in 1983 at the University of Colorado at Boulder. From 1979 to 1985, Carson served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. In 1987, Carson also earned a J.D. at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He earned an LL.M. in taxes at the Georgetown University Law Center in 1996.[4][5]
After law school, Carson worked in Washington, D.C., as legal counsel for members of congress such as:[6][7]
- Former Colorado Senator Wayne Allard (R)
- Former Wisconsin Senator Robert Kasten (R)
- Former Representative Joe Knollenberg (R) from Michigan's 11th Congressional District
Carson also worked as staff director for the U.S. Senate Banking Committee's Subcommittee on Housing and Transportation "where he was responsible for oversight of HUD, FHA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac."[8]
Under former President George W. Bush (R), Carson served as Rocky Mountain Regional Director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from 2001 to 2009. In that position, he acted as HUD's "liason to mayors, city managers, elected representatives, state and local officials, Congressional delegations, stakeholders and customers in Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming."[5][9]
In 2009, Carson joined the law offices of Snell & Wilmer, a business law firm with offices across the western United States and in Mexico. He also served as vice president, general counsel, and secretary for Cherry Creek Mortgage Company, an independent mortgage lender located in Greenwood Village, Colorado.[9][8]
Carson served as president of the Douglas County School District Board of Education from 2009 to 2013 after being first elected in 2005. In June 2015, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that a voucher program passed during his tenure, the Choice Scholarship Pilot Program, was unconstitutional because "it channels public funds to religious schools."[6][10]
Political career
Colorado State Senate (2025-Present)
Douglas County Republicans appointed Carson to the Colorado State Senate to replace Kevin Van Winkle in January 2025.[1]
Colorado State Board of Regents District 6 (2015-2021)
Carson was first elected to the board in 2014 and took office in January 2015.[11]
Elections
2026
See also: Colorado State Senate elections, 2026
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
General election for Colorado State Senate District 30
Incumbent John Carson is running in the general election for Colorado State Senate District 30 on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
| John Carson (R) | ||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
John Carson has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey. If you are John Carson, click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.
Who fills out Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey?
Any candidate running for elected office, at any level, can complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Survey. Completing the survey will update the candidate's Ballotpedia profile, letting voters know who they are and what they stand for. More than 21,000 candidates have taken Ballotpedia's candidate survey since we launched it in 2015. Learn more about the survey here.
Help improve Ballotpedia - send us candidate contact info.
Campaign finance summary
Campaign finance information for this candidate is not yet available from OpenSecrets. That information will be published here once it is available.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Colorado scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2016 Republican National Convention
- See also: Republican National Convention, 2016
Carson was a district-level delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Colorado. Carson was bound by state party rules to support Ted Cruz.[12]
Delegate rules
At-large and congressional district delegates from Colorado to the 2016 Republican National Convention were elected at district conventions and at the state convention. 2016 Colorado GOP bylaws did not require delegates to pledge their support to a specific candidate. If a delegate chose to pledge his or her support, however, Colorado GOP bylaws stipulated that the delegate was bound to the candidate to whom he or she pledged their support on their intent-to-run form through the first round of voting at the national convention unless released by the candidate or if the candidate's name was not placed on the nominating ballot.
Colorado caucus
- See also: Presidential election in Colorado, 2016
In August 2015, the Colorado GOP cancelled its presidential preference poll, which was scheduled to coincide with the Republican caucuses on March 1, 2016. According to The Denver Post, the Republican executive committee "voted to cancel the traditional presidential preference poll after the national party changed its rules to require a state's delegates to support the candidate that wins the caucus vote." Colorado Republicans still sent delegates to the Republican National Convention in July 2016. District-level and at-large delegates (34) were bound according to the preferred candidates indicated on their intent-to-run forms. RNC delegates (3) were unbound, meaning that they did not have to pledge their support to a given candidate.[13] Though Republican precinct caucuses were held on March 1 in Colorado, Colorado Republican National Convention delegates were chosen at district conventions and the Colorado state GOP convention in April.[14] Colorado Republican Party rules required participants in the district conventions and statewide convention to have participated in the precinct caucuses.[15]
Delegate allocation
Colorado had 37 delegates at the 2016 Republican National Convention. Of this total, 21 were district-level delegates (three for each of the state's seven congressional districts). Thirteen delegates served at large. In addition, three national party leaders (identified on the chart below as RNC delegates) served as delegates to the Republican National Convention.[16][17]
In 2015, the Republican Party of Colorado decided not to conduct a presidential preference poll in 2016. As a result, according to the Republican National Committee, all delegates were bound according to the preferred candidates indicated on their intent-to-run forms. RNC delegates were unbound, meaning that they did not have to pledge their support to a given candidate.[16][18]
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Colorado scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2024, the Colorado State Legislature was in session from January 10 to May 8.
|
See also
2026 Elections
External links
|
Officeholder Colorado State Senate District 30 |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Colorado Newsline, "Democrats pick Matt Ball to replace Chris Hansen in Colorado Senate," January 7, 2025
- ↑ The Journal, "Colorado delegates back Cruz over Trump," July 20, 2016
- ↑ Colorado GOP, "CO GOP 2016 State Convention Results," accessed April 25, 2016
- ↑ Linkedin, "John Carson," accessed October 22, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, "John Carson named HUD Rocky Mountain Regional Director," December 17, 2001
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Carson for Regent, "Bio," accessed October 22, 2015
- ↑ University of Colorado Board of Regents, "John Carson," accessed October 22, 2015
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Cherry Creek Mortgage Company, "Officers and Directors," accessed October 22, 2015
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Snell & Wilmer, "Snell & Wilmer grows housing and development practice with addition of attorney John K. Carson," March 20, 2009
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Colorado Supreme Court strikes down school voucher program," June 29, 2015
- ↑ University of Colorado, "Meet the Regents," accessed May 16, 2019
- ↑ Colorado GOP, "CO GOP 2016 State Convention Results," accessed April 25, 2016
- ↑ The Denver Post, "Colorado Republicans cancel presidential vote at 2016 caucus," August 25, 2015
- ↑ Colorado GOP, "Caucus/Assembly/Convention 2016," January 19, 2016
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedwsj - ↑ 16.0 16.1 Republican National Committee, "2016 Presidential Nominating Process," accessed October 6, 2015
- ↑ CNN.com, "Republican National Convention roll call vote," accessed July 20, 2016
- ↑ The Denver Post, "Colorado Republicans cancel presidential vote at 2016 caucus," August 25, 2015
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Kevin Van Winkle (R) |
Colorado State Senate District 30 2025-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
University of Colorado Board of Regents District 6 2015-2021 |
Succeeded by Ilana Spiegel (D) |
