Joseph Shelton (Colorado)

Joseph Shelton

Nonpartisan

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 8, 2022

Education

High school

William J. Palmer High School

Personal

Birthplace

Colorado Springs, Colo.

Religion

Agnostic

Profession

Security guard

Contact

Campaign website

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Joseph Shelton (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Colorado State Board of Education to represent Colorado's 5th Congressional District. He lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.

Shelton completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Shelton graduated from William J. Palmer High School in May 2015 and went on to study criminal justice at Pikes Peak Community College. His professional experience includes working as a program assistant for Inside Out Youth Services. He has served as vice president and co-founder of Colorado Springs Breaking Boundaries and as a planning committee member of Educating Children of Color Inc.

Elections

2022

See also: Colorado State Board of Education election, 2022

General election

General election for Colorado State Board of Education District 5

Incumbent Steve Durham defeated Joseph Shelton in the general election for Colorado State Board of Education District 5 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Steve Durham (R)	58.4	157,068
		Joseph Shelton (D)	41.6	111,914

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 268,982
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Colorado State Board of Education District 5

Joseph Shelton advanced from the Democratic primary for Colorado State Board of Education District 5 on June 28, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Joseph Shelton	100.0	43,638

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 43,638
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Colorado State Board of Education District 5

Incumbent Steve Durham advanced from the Republican primary for Colorado State Board of Education District 5 on June 28, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Steve Durham	100.0	80,167

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 80,167
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Gavin Rainey (R)

2019

See also: Colorado Springs School District 11, Colorado, elections (2019)

General election

General election for Colorado Springs School District 11 Board of Education At-large (4 seats)

The following candidates ran in the general election for Colorado Springs School District 11 Board of Education At-large on November 5, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mary Coleman (Nonpartisan)	19.3	24,977
✔		Darleen Daniels (Nonpartisan)	16.3	21,045
✔		Parth Melpakam (Nonpartisan)	13.8	17,814
✔		Jason Jorgenson (Nonpartisan)	12.9	16,727
		Chris Wallis (Nonpartisan)	12.5	16,169
	Submit photo	Vincent Puzick (Nonpartisan)	10.0	12,944
		Joseph Shelton (Nonpartisan)	7.9	10,237
	Submit photo	Conner Sargent (Nonpartisan)	7.2	9,373

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 129,286
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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.

Campaign themes

2022

Joseph Shelton completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Shelton's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Joseph is a politically involved community activist in Colorado Springs, CO. Joseph was recently employed by Inside Out Youth Services working to further advance and support the rights of LGBTQ+ youth in Colorado. In 2019 Joseph was a candidate for Colorado Springs School District 11 Board of Education. Joseph has held many different positions and titles in and around the community of El Paso County, CO. Joseph has a background in politics, LGBTQ+ education, Law Enforcement, and student advocacy.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I relate to where our students are coming from.
• More schools in Congressional District 5 are either closing, are closed, or are on the verge of closing under Director Durham.
• I was born and raised in Colorado Springs, I have lived my life here. I have built up a community, one person at a time, one group at a time, and one organization at a time. I am built on what Colorado is made of.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Education Reform; Equitable funding for schools; Better pay for our educators

What qualities does this office possess that makes it a unique and important part of the state government and legal system?

The Colorado State Board of Education is the beginning of the line when it comes to education. They set the funds that each district gets, they help implement state laws pertaining to education, as well many other areas along the lines of education. The State Board of the Education is the line leader of education in Colorado setting forth the aspects of education for the entire state of Colorado.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Characteristics and principles that are most important for an elected official are someone who listens to the community, works with the community and not against or for the community, and is open and honest on the issues at hand. An elected official should be able to play across party lines working with someone they agree with and someone they don't agree with. This is how we build success in communities, by understand we won't agree on every issue but we should always hear each other out.

What legacy would you like to leave?

The legacy I would like to leave is always being true to you and your passions. Never let anyone walk over who you are or what you want to do in life. Any person, no matter age, race, gender, sexuality, etc., is able to do whatever they choose in life. You create your own path and you pave your own way. Don't give up on your dreams over what someone says.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

The first historical event that happened in my lifetime was Barack Obama being elected President of the United States in November 2008. I was 12 years old when he was elected President of the United States and sworn in as President of the United States.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My first job was a student worker at TwoCor Projects to which I worked at for 2 years 9 months. My first real job though was a Housekeeper at the Antlers Hotel to which I worked at for 2 years 8 months, rising in the jobs from Housemen to Housekeeper to Lobby Cleaner to Housekeeping Inspector to Housekeeping Supervisor.

What responsibilities of this office do you personally consider the most important?

I believe the most important job for this office is having strong communication with school districts, schools, students, staff, and community. If you don't communicate with your community that you were elected to represent, you have failed them because you are not seeing or knowing of the issues that they hold in hand and need support in fixing. In communicating with the community you represent, you build a relationship that bonds the systems of education together, creating ripples of success for students, staff, and community.

Tell us your favorite joke.

So a vowel saves another vowel’s life…The other vowel says, “Aye E! I owe you!”

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2019

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Joseph Shelton completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Shelton's responses.

What would be your top three priorities, if elected?

The three priorities I want to work on are, 1. Bringing down our bullying epidemic inside our schools by holding staff members accountable when they just let it pass by with no consequences. 2. Hire teachers trained in every end of diversity. 3. Bringing students voices back to our Board of Education by creating 5 seats to which students will sit upon.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

A person I currently look up to is Jessie Pocock, Executive Director of Inside Out Youth Services. Jessie was always seen as someone in life who would not succeed. Jessie will tell you that she was broken down in life, however, she rose above what she had going on and fixed her life. She turned it around and now works for social justice and representation of the LGBTQ community of Colorado Springs.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My first job was a Housekeeper at the Antler's Hotel. I held this job for 3 years before leaving because of unresolved conflicts in the workplace.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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Colorado State Board of Education District 5

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