Cathy Kipp
2019 - Present
2025
5
Cathy Kipp (Democratic Party) is a member of the Colorado House of Representatives, representing District 52. She assumed office in 2019. Her current term ends on January 8, 2025.
Kipp (Democratic Party) is running for election to the Colorado State Senate to represent District 14. She is on the ballot in the general election on November 5, 2024. She advanced from the Democratic primary on June 25, 2024.
Kipp completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Cathy Kipp was born in Berkeley, California.[1] Kipp graduated from University of California, Santa Cruz with a degree in computer and information science in 1985. She moved to Fort Collins that same year. Her professional experience includes working as a database designer, adminstrator, and programmer. In 2011, she was elected to the Poudre School District school board and was re-elected to a second term in 2015. She served as board vice president from 2013 to 2015 and as board president from 2015 to 2017.[2][3]
Committee assignments
2023-2024
Kipp was assigned to the following committees:
2021-2022
Kipp was assigned to the following committees:
2019-2020
Kipp was assigned to the following committees:
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
See also: Colorado State Senate elections, 2024
General election
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
General election for Colorado State Senate District 14
Cathy Kipp, Phoebe McWilliams, and Jeff Brosius are running in the general election for Colorado State Senate District 14 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | ||
 | Cathy Kipp (D)  | |
 | Phoebe McWilliams (R) | |
| Jeff Brosius (L) | |
| ||||
| = 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 Senate District 14
Cathy Kipp advanced from the Democratic primary for Colorado State Senate District 14 on June 25, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Cathy Kipp | 100.0 | 16,665 |
| Total votes: 16,665 | |||
| = 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 Senate District 14
Phoebe McWilliams advanced from the Republican primary for Colorado State Senate District 14 on June 25, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Phoebe McWilliams | 100.0 | 5,892 |
| Total votes: 5,892 | |||
| = 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 finance
2022
See also: Colorado House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for Colorado House of Representatives District 52
Incumbent Cathy Kipp defeated Deborah Vicino in the general election for Colorado House of Representatives District 52 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Cathy Kipp (D) | 64.8 | 28,183 |
 | Deborah Vicino (R) | 35.2 | 15,282 | |
| Total votes: 43,465 | |||
| = 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
- Erin King (L)
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Colorado House of Representatives District 52
Incumbent Cathy Kipp advanced from the Democratic primary for Colorado House of Representatives District 52 on June 28, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Cathy Kipp | 100.0 | 9,378 |
| Total votes: 9,378 | |||
| = 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 House of Representatives District 52
Deborah Vicino advanced from the Republican primary for Colorado House of Representatives District 52 on June 28, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Deborah Vicino | 100.0 | 7,188 |
| Total votes: 7,188 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Endorsements
To view Kipp's endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.
2020
See also: Colorado House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Colorado House of Representatives District 52
Incumbent Cathy Kipp defeated Donna Walter in the general election for Colorado House of Representatives District 52 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Cathy Kipp (D) | 63.8 | 36,140 |
 | Donna Walter (R) | 36.2 | 20,528 | |
| Total votes: 56,668 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Colorado House of Representatives District 52
Incumbent Cathy Kipp advanced from the Democratic primary for Colorado House of Representatives District 52 on June 30, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Cathy Kipp | 100.0 | 17,276 |
| Total votes: 17,276 | |||
| = 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 House of Representatives District 52
Donna Walter advanced from the Republican primary for Colorado House of Representatives District 52 on June 30, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Donna Walter | 100.0 | 7,083 |
| Total votes: 7,083 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
2015
- See also: Poudre School District elections (2015)
Five of the seven seats on the Poudre School District Board of Education were up for by-district general election on November 3, 2015.
The seats of District A incumbent Cathy Kipp, District B incumbent Thomas M. Balchak, District F incumbent Nancy Tellez, and District G incumbent Susan Gutowsky were up for election. There was also a special election for a two-year term for the District E seat, held by Carolyn Reed.[4][5]
Kipp defeated challenger Michael Pruznick for the District A seat. Balchak did not file to run for another term in District B, leaving challenger Nate Donovan to run unopposed and win that seat. Reed also ran unopposed and won the two-year term in District E. District F was left open to a newcomer. Rob Petterson defeated Gavin Kaszynski in that race. In District G, Gutowsky ran unopposed and won re-election.[6]
Results
| Poudre School District, District A, General Election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Cathy Kipp Incumbent |
77.8% | 24,596 |
| Michael Pruznick | 22.2% | 7,019 |
| Total Votes | 31,615 | |
| Source: Larimer County, "2015 Coordinated Election Statement of Votes Cast," accessed December 22, 2015 | ||
Funding
Kipp began the race with an existing account balance of $1,399.44 from her previous campaign. She reported $13,810.00 in contributions and $9,366.63 in expenditures to Colorado Secretary of State, which left her campaign with $5,842.81 on hand as of October 30, 2015.[7]
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Cathy Kipp completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kipp's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Cathy Kipp has served in the Colorado House of Representatives since January of 2019. She currently serves as the State Representative for House District 52 which covers much of both south and east Fort Collins. She chairs the House Energy and Environment Committee, and serves on the House Finance Committee.
Cathy lives in southeast Fort Collins, Colorado. Cathy started actively volunteering in PSD schools when her twin sons entered Kindergarten, and she soon became an active volunteer at the school district level.
Cathy served as a locally elected member of the Poudre School District School Board from 2011 to 2019, also serving for a term as Board President. Cathy’s focuses on the board included starting monthly listening sessions to make sure the community’s voice was heard and leading the board in our education advocacy efforts at both the state and federal levels.
Cathy moved to Fort Collins in 1985 after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Computer and Information Science from the University of California and spent 12 years working as a database developer prior to leaving the workforce to raise her children.
- Public Education: support public education with appropriate funding and address the teacher shortage Colorado continues to experience
- Environment: mitigate climate change, improve our air quality, and reduce pollutants in our environment
- Housing: address the shortage of affordable and attainable housing in Colorado
*Basic rights for all including our LGBTQIA+ community, people of color, and other marginalized parts of our community
- Reproductive rights including access to abortion care
- Protecting Pollinators
Always tell the truth,
Listen to everyone, and
Every constituent deserves a response.
I do my best to represent the people I serve, I host town halls and listening sessionas and make myself available in the community generally. I always listen to ensure I understand all sides of issues. Whether we ultimately agree or disagree, I believe it's important to have the conversation.
Additionally, my office is always available to help if you need help navigating state government.
I want people to know I care about my community, that I always am always willing to listen, and that I allways tell the truth.
The legislature should pass legislation and the governor gets to decide whether to sign or veto it. This makes it important for people in the governor's office and the legislature to have open communications and have a willingness to work collaboratively.
Affordable housing, behavioral health, climate change, environmental, and water.
Yes. As a former school board member, my experience serving on my local school board has been valuable as I served in the House, and my observation is that people who serve in the state House before serving in the state Senate are better prepared.
Absolutely. The Capitol is all about relationships and trust. And it is important to work with legislators on both sides of the aisle where you can find common ground.
No. I intend to retire from public office when I finish my service in the state legislature.
In the House I am the Chair of the Energy and Environment Committee and I also serive on the Finance Committee. While in the House I have also served on the Education Committee, the State Affairs Committee, and the Public and Behavioral Health and Human Services Committee.
Good government should always strive to be tranparent and accountable in all respects. Those who represent you should make sure this is the case.
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.
2022
Cathy Kipp completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kipp's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Cathy has served in the Colorado House since January of 2019. She currently serves as the State Representative for House District 52 which is most of the east side of Fort Collins. She currently serves on the House Education, Finance, and Appropriations Committees.
Cathy Kipp lives in southeast Fort Collins, Colorado. Cathy and her husband have twin 24-year-old sons. Cathy started actively volunteering in PSD schools when her boys entered Kindergarten, and she soon became an active volunteer at the school district level.
Cathy served as a locally elected member of the Poudre School District School Board from 2011 to 2019, also serving for a term as Board President. Cathy’s focuses on the board included starting monthly listening sessions to make sure the community’s voice was heard and leading the board in our education advocacy efforts at both the state and federal levels.
Cathy moved to Fort Collins in 1985 after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Computer and Information Science from the University of California and spent 12 years working as a database developer prior to leaving the workforce to raise her children.
- Public Education: We need to adequately fund public education in Colorado.
- Climate Change: We need to take steps mitigate climate climate change and promote clean air and water in Colorado.
- Affordable Housing: We need to continue to take steps to address the crisis of affordable housing and homelessness in Colorado.
In addition to the topics listed above, healthcare, including behavioral healthcare (mental health and substance abuse).
Also, pollinator protection also holds a special place in my legislative agenda.
Ethics, because in politics your word is everything, so elected officials must be able to be trusted.
Understanding who to trust. A legislator can't do everything, so knowing who to trust is key.
Critical thinking ensure good questions are asked and issues are well understood.
Listen to constituents.
Respond to constituents.
Represent constituents.
A better education system and a cleaner environment.
Suprisingly, I found my 7 years of school board experience very helpful in my legislative work.
100%. Relationships are everything in politics.
Education Committee: Because I'm a former school board member and I understand the value of public education.
Finance & Appropriations Committees: Because most everything we do in the state legislature involves figuring out how to align our values within the constraints of our limited budget.
Yes. I have served in the state legislature for the past 4 years. When working with stakeholders on bills, coming up with creative ways to compromise while still getting the important parts of public policy passed are part of the work.
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.
2020
Video for Ballotpedia
| Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released June 23, 2020 |
Cathy Kipp completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kipp's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Cathy Kipp lives in southeast Fort Collins. Cathy and her husband have been married for 33 years and have twin 22-year-old sons. Cathy started actively volunteering in the schools when her kids entered Kindergarten, and she soon became an active volunteer and served on many school and district level committees over the years. Cathy served on the PSD Board of Education. She was elected in 2011 and re-elected to a second term in 2015. While on the board, Cathy served time both as board Vice President and as board President. During Cathy's time on the school board, she spent a lot of time advocating for our public schools and for adequately funding public education. Cathy joined the State House of Representative in 2019 where she has continued her work to support public education in Colorado and to work on long-term sustainable solutions to our state's budget crisis. Cathy has also spent time working on solutions to protect our environment and address climate change. Cathy moved to Fort Collins in 1985 after graduating with a bachelor's degree in Computer and Information Science from the University of California and spent 12 years working as a database developer prior to leaving the workforce to raise her children.
- Education: I have a strong background understanding education issues. I will continue to fight for Colorado to fully fund our public education system so all students have the opportunity to receive an excellent education and we can adequately pay our teachers.
- Environment: I believe in taking action to mitigate climate change. I will champion the values of our citizens by advocating for clean air and clean water. I support Governor-elect Polis' bold vision of 100% renewable energy in Colorado by 2040 and will work to beat that deadline.
- Healthcare: I will work to create price transparency for prescription drugs, medical services, and doctors' fees. These steps are key to achieving health care for all. I believe in access to quality mental health and substance abuse resources in Colorado.
We also need to fix how we fund our state government in Colorado. Even pre-pandemic, we had serious issues funding vital services such as education here in Colorado. Despite having the top economy in the country, our funding never recovered from the great recession. We are working this year to fix some of the conflicting amendments to our state constitution by referring issues in November to the voters which have kept us from making progress as a state. If you want to get a little wonky, I'm happy to discuss issues such as the repeal of the Gallagher amendment or Fair Tax Colorado which I'm helping to get onto the ballot.
Throughout all my time in public service, I have made a commitment to ensuring people hear back from me. I know how frustrating it can be to feel your voice isn't heard on issues that you care about. As your representative, I always listen and am willing to have a conversation - whether or nor we ultimately agree on an issue.
My title is State Representative - which means I represent the people who live in my district at the Colorado state Capitol. That means it is my job to listen and find out about what the residents of my district care about. Yes, I do have my own beliefs and values, and I believe that my own beliefs and values combined with a willingness to listen and consider additional perspectives and ideas are reasons to consider re-electing me as your state representative.
Having also been on the other side - trying to be heard by an elected official, I always respond when constituents email or call me. I think it's rude and disrespectful not to respond to the people I represent. Whether or not we agree on an issue, you deserve to know that I have heard you and understand your point of view.
By the time I leave office I would like to ensure that every child has the opportunity to receive a high quality education, that we have made progress in mitigating the effects of climate change and have a cleaner environment, that we rely less on fossil fuels and more on clean and renewable energy, that we have made progress towards access to affordable health care - mental as well as physical - for all, that we have solved our state funding challenges and as a state are able to help properly fund the things that are important in our state like schools and our infrastructure, that we are able to eliminate systemic racism, that we treat everyone with respect and dignity, that criminal justice really does mean that people receive justice.
I remember the Vietnam War protests in Berkeley, California when I was around 5 years old. My dad was attending law school at UC Berkeley and we lived in the family student housing. All the Stop signs in the student housing neighborhood had the word War hand painted underneath the word Stop. One day when my family was driving through Berkeley, our the car got stopped by a large group of college students protesting. The protesters opened up a fire hydrant letting the water gush out and block the intersection. Some of the students started rocking our car back and forth and my little sister and I were terrified. One of the students leaned into the window to calm us down and said, "Don't be scared. It's okay, they're just having fun."
Somebody Once Told Me/All Star - by Smash Mouth
We have a great diversity in our State House, with some people having served in other elected roles previously and some who have not. I honestly think there are advantages to both. I have found that being a locally elected member of my local school board for 7 years taught me a lot of skills which I am able to carry over to the legislature. It helps me bring an understanding of other local levels of government to the table, understanding that we have a large state with urban, suburban, and rural areas - and that one size fits all solutions are not always the best answer. But we also have members of our legislative branch who come from a variety of walks of life who are able to bring their experience and passions to the table. I think the strength of our legislative body largely stems from the diversity of our backgrounds.
A legislator is one person representing one district. In Colorado we have 100 legislators. We have 65 members of the House and 35 members of the Senate. It is absolutely important to build relationships - with both members of your own party and members from the other party. As legislators we cannot accomplish anything on our own. It is by having civil discourse and talking with others that we are able to get things done.
And you never know where you might find common ground or with whom. I have run bills with members of the opposite party who generally have very different beliefs than me. So when we come together to run a bill, people look at us and look at the bill and know that if two such different ideologies can come together to agree on something, it's probably a good thing.
Education: After spending 7 years as a locally elected member of my school board prior to joining the legislature, the House Education Committee is a good fit for me. I know what it's like to be at the receiving end of legislation or funding decisions I didn't like. As a legislator it is important for me to bring the perspective of a former school board member to the committee and have an understanding about how state level decisions might work at the local level.
Energy and Environment: With the huge challenges we have of working to mitigate climate change, improve air and water quality along the Front Range (and throughout the state), creating more clean energy from renewable sources, work on protecting our environment from single use plastics, Styrofoam, chemicals and other pollution, and more - we have a lot to get done to keep Colorado and Fort Collins a great place to live.
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.
Campaign finance summary
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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.
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Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Colorado scorecards, email suggestions to [email protected].
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Colorado State Legislature was in session from January 9 to May 8.
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2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the Colorado State Legislature was in session from January 12 to May 11.
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2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Colorado State Legislature was in session from January 13 to June 8.
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2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
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In 2020, the Colorado State Legislature was in session from January 8 to June 15.
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2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
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In 2019, the Colorado State Legislature was in session from January 4 through May 3.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Colorado State Senate District 14 |
Officeholder Colorado House of Representatives District 52 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on June 13, 2022
- ↑ Cathy Kipp, "About Cathy," accessed March 23, 2020
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 26, 2024
- ↑ Poudre School District, "Poudre School District Board of Education," accessed January 27, 2015
- ↑ Colorado Secretary of State, "Colorado elections & campaign finance calendar," accessed January 27, 2015
- ↑ Poudre School District, "2015 Director Election," accessed September 1, 2015
- ↑ Tracer, "Search Results", accessed October 30, 2015
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Colorado House of Representatives District 52 2019-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
Poudre School District school board District A -2018 |
Succeeded by - |
