DENVER — Denver Public Schools Board of Education Vice President Auon’tai Anderson will not seek re-election to the school board and will instead run for a seat in the Colorado House of Representatives in 2024, he told Denver7 Investigates in an exclusive interview.
Anderson said he will run for the seat in House District 8, currently held by Democrat Leslie Herod, who is term-limited. Anderson will run as a Democrat, he said.
“You know, I got tired of telling parents and students, ‘I can’t do anything about that. That’s the law.’ And that's something that was a consistent message I had to give people after some of the tragic issues that have happened in the Denver Public Schools this last semester,” said Anderson, referencing the headlines from Denver East High School earlier this year after a student shot and wounded two deans on campus.
Anderson said he was challenged to do something about these issues.
“And I took it as a challenge of, 'Let’s run for office, and let’s run to be in the state house to be an advocate, to ban assault weapons, to enact policies like rent control and to really focus on the issue that matter most to Coloradans,'” Anderson said.
Since becoming the youngest member ever elected to the DPS school board in 2019, Anderson, 24, has at times been a lightning rod for controversy as an outspoken political activist. Now, he says he wants bigger and broader challenges.
He also stressed that this decision is not because he is concerned about losing a re-election bid
“My victory was decisive,” Anderson said. “I’m confident I could go up against any of the opposition that are fielding for my seat in the November election and beat them, but I know that my skill set is better served if I return back home to my community in northeast Denver.”
Anderson said he will remain on the school board for the remainder of his term, which ends in November. That will give him a full year to campaign for the state house with the election coming in November 2024.
