A vacancy committee selected Andrew Boesenecker to fill Fort Collins Mayor-elect Jeni Arndt s former seat in the Colorado House of Representatives.
The House District 53 seat represents the west half of Fort Collins. Arndt, a Democrat, won reelection to the seat in 2020 but resigned earlier this month after winning the Fort Collins mayoral election. In occasions where a state legislator can t finish their term, a vacancy committee made up of members of that legislator s political party selects a successor among nominees to serve out the rest of the term.
Boesenecker (pronounced Base-uh-neck-er) is the director for annual giving and stewardship at The Institute for Shipboard Education s Semester at Sea program. He previously led campaigns for Larimer County commissioners Jody Shadduck-McNally and John Kefalas.
Fort Collins City Council District 1 race is the only one on the April 6 ballot with an incumbent facing off against a challenger.
Incumbent council member Susan Gutowsky was elected for a partial term in 2019, a few months after council members appointed her to fill the seat left by county Assessor Bob Overbeck. The other candidate is Nick Armstrong, a small-business owner and president of the Maple Hill HOA. His campaign message is largely focused on neighborhood connectivity and the lack of infrastructure that leaves north Fort Collins largely cut off from the rest of the community.
Gutowsky is pointing to her experience navigating Fort Collins through the COVID-19 pandemic and her history of advocating for environmental issues as clean, safe, livable neighborhoods.