{{Short description|American politician}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Donald Valdez | image = Donald Valdez—2.JPG | image_size = 225px | state_house = Colorado | district = 62nd | term_start = January 11, 2017 | term_end = January 9, 2023 | predecessor = Ed Vigil | successor = Redistricted | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | party = Democratic | spouse = | children = | alma_mater = Adams State University | profession = | website = {{URL|https://donaldvaldez.com/}} }} '''Donald Valdez''' is an American farmer and politician who served as a member of the Colorado House of Representatives. He represented District 62, which covered portions of Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Huerfano, Mineral, Pueblo, Rio Grande, and Saguache counties.
==Career== Valdez has a background in farming and ranching and worked for the Natural Resources Conservation Service before taking office. He has also served as deputy public trustee and deputy sheriff in Conejos County.<ref>{{cite web|title=About Donald Valdez|url=http://valdezforco.com/about|publisher=Committee to Elect Donald Valdez|access-date=July 12, 2017}}</ref>
Valdez was first elected to his seat in 2016, winning with 55.51% of the vote against Republican opponent Robert Mattive.<ref>{{cite web|title=Donald Valdez|url=https://ballotpedia.org/Donald_Valdez|website=Ballotpedia|access-date=July 12, 2017}}</ref> He took his seat in 2017, succeeding Ed Vigil. He served on the House Agriculture, Livestock, & Natural Resources Committee and the House Local Government Committee.<ref>{{cite web|title=Representative Donald Valdez|url=https://leg.colorado.gov/legislators/donald-valdez|publisher=Colorado General Assembly|access-date=July 12, 2017}}</ref>
Valdez was briefly a candidate for Colorado's 3rd congressional district, having announced his candidacy in July 2019. He faced at least two challengers for his party's nomination.<ref>{{cite news |last=Goodland |first=Marianne |date=2019-07-02 |title=A Colorado lawmaker jumps into the race for Scott Tipton's seat in Congress |url=https://www.coloradopolitics.com/news/a-colorado-lawmaker-jumps-into-the-race-for-scott-tipton/article_946ac194-9d04-11e9-9dc5-8fe599066f4a.html |work=Colorado Politics }}</ref> However, in November 2019, he abandoned his congressional campaign and decided to seek re-election to his seat in the Colorado House of Representatives.<ref>{{cite news |last=Luning |first=Ernest |date=2019-11-01 |title=Valdez ends congressional campaign, switches to bid for re-election to state House |url=https://www.coloradopolitics.com/quick-hits/valdez-ends-congressional-campaign-switches-to-bid-for-re-election/article_16914f64-fcd5-11e9-9494-cb35b25d135d.html# |work=Colorado Politics |access-date=2019-11-01 }}</ref>
In February 2021, Valdez announced that he would seek the Democratic nomination for Colorado's 3rd congressional district in 2022. He cited Lauren Boebert's response to the storming of the Capitol as a major reason for launching his second congressional campaign.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.denverpost.com/2021/02/18/donald-valdez-lauren-boebert-colorado-house-democrat/ |title=Colorado state Rep. Donald Valdez joins other Democrats vying to defeat Rep. Lauren Boebert in 2022|date=February 18, 2021|last=Hindi |first=Saja |website=Denver Post}}</ref> However, at the Colorado District 3 Democratic Assembly held on April 5, 2022, Valdez got only 28.6% of the 297 votes cast by the delegates, falling short of the 30% required to appear on the primary ballot, effectively ending his candidacy.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hillstrom |first=Zach |date=April 6, 2022 |title=Pueblo's Sandoval makes Democratic primary for November election |url=https://www.chieftain.com/story/news/2022/04/06/pueblos-sandoval-makes-primary-ballot-cd-3-assembly/9487123002/ |work=The Pueblo Chieftain |location= |access-date=April 7, 2022}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category}} *[https://donaldvaldez.com/ Campaign website] *[https://leg.colorado.gov/legislators/donald-valdez State legislature website] {{CongLinks|votesmart=170025|fec=H0CO03132}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Valdez, Donald}} Category:Living people Category:Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in Colorado Category:Democratic Party members of the Colorado House of Representatives Category:People from Conejos County, Colorado Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Candidates in the 2020 United States House of Representatives elections Category:Candidates in the 2022 United States House of Representatives elections Category:21st-century members of the Colorado General Assembly
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