Karen McCormick announced Monday that she will seek another term to represent District 11 at the Colorado State House of Representatives.
McCormick has lived in Longmont for roughly 29 years and is a retired small business owner and veterinarian.
“What I learned over the last three years of diving into this job is the realization that a big part of the job is learning the procedures and the policies and most importantly the personalities involved … I feel like now I have hit my stride … I really feel like I have the tools, the connections and the knowledge to really keep going to make sure that we that we plan accordingly for the future,” McCormick said.
Over the past three years, McCormick said she was most reminded that one person cannot change policy, it takes a team.
“You cannot do anything by yourself. As gung ho as you may be about a particular policy or a particular reason why you ran for office, you cannot — and thankfully — you can’t force a bill or a policy through the process without that collaborative process of respectful dialogue,” she said, adding that building relationships is key to creating strong policy.
Relationship building has allowed McCormick to be part of several pieces of legislation that have passed during her tenure. In her first session, she contributed to the creation of the Farm Workers Bill of Rights. This bill granted farm workers overtime protections and heat and shade, meal time and water break guidelines.
McCormick also has a child who identifies as transgender. While traveling with her child, she discovered the challenge of finding a public restroom that her child felt comfortable using. As a result, during the last legislative session, McCormick assisted in the creation of a bill that would include future publicly owned buildings to include restrooms that are not gender specific or to relabel single-person restrooms as gender-neutral facilities.
If elected in 2024, McCormick will propose a veterinary telehealth bill and a scope of practice bill. She said more conversations concerning the veterinary care of animals are expected to take place at the Capitol. She is excited to have firsthand experience in the field in order to drive better-informed legislation around policies concerning animal care, she said.
She also hopes to form legislation that will authorize a study that will analyze universal healthcare in Colorado. McCormick would like to understand the data to know if such a program would be plausible in the state.
“I still very purposeful in this position, very honored that the citizens of Longmont have given me this responsibility — I take it very seriously. I would be honored to keep working on all of these things and more,” McCormick said.
