{{Short description|American politician}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Dom Moreno |image = Dominick Moreno.JPG |office = Majority Leader of the Colorado Senate |term_start = February 23, 2022 |term_end = September 1, 2023 |predecessor = Steve Fenberg |successor = Robert Rodriguez |state_senate1 = Colorado |district1 = 21st |term_start1 = January 11, 2017 |term_end1 = September 1, 2023 |predecessor1 = Jessie Ulibarri |successor1 = Dafna Michaelson Jenet |state_house2 = Colorado |district2 = 32nd |term_start2 = January 2013 |term_end2 = January 11, 2017 |predecessor2 = Ed Casso |successor2 = Adrienne Benavidez |birth_date = {{birth date and age|1985|2|7}} |birth_place = Commerce City, Colorado, U.S. |death_date = |death_place = |party = Democratic |education = Georgetown University (BA) |website = {{URL|dominickmoreno.com|Official website}} }} '''Dominick Moreno''' (born February 7, 1985) is an American politician who served as a state legislator in Colorado. A Democrat, Moreno represented the 21st district of the Colorado Senate from January 11, 2017 until he resigned on September 1, 2023 to serve as deputy chief of staff to Denver Mayor Mike Johnston.<ref>{{cite news |last=Goodland |first=Marianne |date=September 1, 2023 |title=Rep. Dafna Michaelson Jenet picked to succeed Dominick Moreno in Colorado Senate |url=https://www.coloradopolitics.com/legislature/dafna-michaelson-jenet-succeeds-dominick-moreno-colorado-senate/article_b6a985c4-4840-11ee-b3c1-37a6319509ce.html |url-status=live |work=Colorado Politics |location= |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230901190355/https://www.coloradopolitics.com/legislature/dafna-michaelson-jenet-succeeds-dominick-moreno-colorado-senate/article_b6a985c4-4840-11ee-b3c1-37a6319509ce.html|archive-date=September 1, 2023 |access-date=September 1, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Birkeland |first=Bente |date=August 4, 2023 |title=A top state Senate leader is stepping down for a job in Denver mayor's administration |url=https://www.cpr.org/2023/08/04/dominick-moreno-mike-johnston-job/ |url-status=live |work=CPR News |location= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230805030034/https://www.cpr.org/2023/08/04/dominick-moreno-mike-johnston-job/ |archive-date=August 5, 2023|access-date=September 1, 2023 }}</ref> Before his election to the senate, he represented the 32nd district in the Colorado House of Representatives from 2012 to 2016.<ref name=denverpost>[http://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_21956613 "Colorado House Democrats pick Ferrandino for speaker, historic first for gays"]. ''Denver Post'', November 8, 2012.</ref>
==Biography==
===Early life and education=== Moreno was born and raised in Commerce City, Colorado, and earned a B.A. in American Government from Georgetown University. Coming from a working-class family, Moreno was able to afford tuition at the institution as a consequence of generous scholarships he received.<ref name="dominickmoreno.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.dominickmoreno.com/about-dominick/ |title=About Dominick – Candidate Information Page |access-date=2012-11-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130227053802/http://www.dominickmoreno.com/about-dominick/ |archive-date=2013-02-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Dominick_Moreno |title=Dominick Moreno – Legislator Information page – Ballotpedia}}</ref> Moreno returned to Colorado to work in retail and the service industry. Throughout his time at Georgetown, he spent breaks abroad teaching English in northern Mexico in the village of Palmitas.
After graduation, Moreno moved back to Colorado and served for two years on the city council of Commerce City.<ref name="dominickmoreno.com"/> In 2017, Moreno completed [https://www.hks.harvard.edu/ Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government] program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government as a [http://www.bohnettfoundation.org/ David Bohnett] [https://victoryinstitute.org/programs/bohnett-leaders-fellowship/ LGBTQ Victory Institute] Leadership Fellow.
==Legislative career== Prior to his election to the state legislature, Moreno worked as a legislative aide to Ed Casso, his predecessor as the district's representative.<ref name=outfront>[https://archive.today/20130131100802/http://outfrontonline.com/focus/news/second-gay-man-announces-bid-for-colorado-general-assembly/ "Second gay man announces bid for Colorado General Assembly"]. ''OutFront Colorado'', September 22, 2011.</ref> He is openly gay,<ref name=outfront /> and became one of five LGBT members of the state House of Representatives. Others are Speaker of the House Mark Ferrandino, Representative Joann Ginal, Representative Paul Rosenthal and Representative Sue Schafer.<ref name=denverpost />
===2012 election=== In the 2012 general election, Moreno faced Republican challenger Paul Reimer. Moreno was elected by a wide margin of 67% to 28%.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/CO/43032/111283/en/summary.html# |title=CO – Election Results – Colorado Secretary of State |access-date=2012-11-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314203900/http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/CO/43032/111283/en/summary.html |archive-date=2017-03-14 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://data.denverpost.com/election/results/state-house/2012/ |title=State House 2012 Election Results – Denver Post |access-date=2012-11-10 |archive-date=2014-07-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708040426/http://data.denverpost.com/election/results/state-senate/2012/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
===School board service=== In July 2018, Moreno was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Adams County School District 14 school board, filling out the term of a board member who resigned. Moreno is a graduate of schools in the district and continued to serve in the General Assembly.<ref>{{cite news |last=Robles|first=Yesenia |date=2018-07-09 |title=Adams 14 votes to appoint Sen. Dominick Moreno to fill board vacancy |url=https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/co/2018/07/09/adams-14-votes-to-appoint-sen-dominick-moreno-to-fill-board-vacancy/ |work=Chalkbeat |access-date=2018-07-10 }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{C-SPAN|109578}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-co-sen}} {{s-bef|before=Steve Fenberg}} {{s-ttl|title=Majority Leader of the Colorado Senate|years=2022–2023}} {{s-aft|after=Robert Rodriguez}} {{s-end}} {{Portal bar|Biography|Colorado|Politics|United States}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moreno, Dominick}} Category:1985 births Category:21st-century members of the Colorado General Assembly Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people Category:Democratic Party Colorado state senators Category:Democratic Party members of the Colorado House of Representatives Category:American gay politicians Category:Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in Colorado Category:Hispanic and Latino American LGBTQ people Category:LGBTQ state legislators in Colorado Category:Living people Category:People from Commerce City, Colorado Category:Candidates in the 2018 United States House of Representatives elections
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