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Colorado State Senator Resigns to Avoid Recall Over Gun Control

Colorado state Sen. Evie Hudak has decided to resign rather than face a possible recall election over her support of gun control legislation passed in 2013.

Hudak
A third Colorado state senator facing a possible recall vote tied to new gun restrictions has decided to resign from office.

State Sen. Evie Hudak, a Democrat, supported several controversial firearm restrictions passed in Colorado earlier this year. Two of her fellow Democrats in the state Senate lost their seats -- largely over their support of tightening gun restrictions -- in September recall elections: Sens. John Morse of Colorado Springs and Angela Giron of Pueblo. In a letter announcing her resignation, Hudak referred to several bills she supported in 2013, including a requirement for criminal background checks on all gun sales and a ban against magazines that can store more than 15 rounds of ammunition.*

Hudak's resignation came six days before a Dec. 3 deadline for recall organizers to submit more than 18,900 recall petition signatures to the Colorado Secretary of State's Office.

“By resigning I am protecting these important new laws for the good of Colorado and ensuring that we can continue looking forward,” she wrote.

With Hudak’s resignation, Democrats maintain a narrow 18-17 majority in the state Senate. A vacancy committee will appoint another Democrat to her seat until a general election in November 2014. “The fate of the leadership of the entire Senate was at stake,” says Kelly Maher, a Republican strategist in Colorado. “In Evie’s choosing to resign, she avoids a recall and ensures that the seat remains in Democrat hands at least until next November.” Hudak was in the first year of her second four-year term in the Senate. She won re-election in 2012 by a narrow margin -- fewer than 600 votes.

*This story has been updated to reflect that Hudak was in the first year of her second term and that the Colorado gun law limited magazines to 15 rounds. 

J.B. Wogan is a Governing staff writer.
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