# Rod Pelton

Rod Pelton is a Republican member of the Colorado Senate for district 35.

- Party: Republican
- Seat: Colorado Senate, district 35
- Serving since: 2023-01-09
- Current term: CO 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/45cd06eb-9967-4468-9e4e-677549e7638d

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/45cd06eb-9967-4468-9e4e-677549e7638d (America’s Political Pulse, Polarization Research Lab), data through 2026-10-27. Data under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: Westwood, Sean J., and Yphtach Lelkes. 2024. America's Political Pulse [data set].

## Headline

82% of Pelton’s itemized money in the 2026 cycle came from Colorado, in the bottom quarter of State Senate Republicans.

## What Pelton says (CO 2025–26 session)

59 classified statements: 59 posts on X. Each rate is the share of statements with the label, against the State Senate Republicans average; rank 1 is the highest rate.

| Label | Pelton | State Senate Republicans average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 0.0% | 2.3% | 272 of 354 |
| Policy criticism | 23.7% | 9.5% | 34 of 354 |
| Policy discussion | 42.4% | 37.3% | 152 of 354 |
| Bipartisanship | 5.1% | 2.3% | 46 of 354 |
| Credit claiming | 20.3% | 15.4% | 110 of 354 |
| Extreme labels | 3.4% | 1.3% | 43 of 354 |

Most discussed policy areas: Agriculture and Food 28% (State Senate Republicans 6.2%); Energy 16% (State Senate Republicans 5.8%); Armed Forces and National Security 12% (State Senate Republicans 6.5%); Law 12% (State Senate Republicans 3.7%); Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues 8.0% (State Senate Republicans 5.0%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score +0.31 (standard error 0.01), from 116 donors and 1,159 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 41% of State Senate Republicans score lower.

## Votes (CO 2025–26 session)

1,666 roll calls. Attendance 97.6% (Colorado Senate 97.2%). Party unity 97.9% (94.2%). 70 votes against the party majority.

Key votes:

- 2026-05-13 · voted yea · CONCUR · SB 187 Establishing Commission on Medicaid · pass · https://openstates.org/co/bills/2026A/SB187/
- 2026-05-13 · voted yea · BILL · HB 1425 Applied Behavior Analysis Services · pass · https://openstates.org/co/bills/2026A/HB1425/
- 2026-05-13 · voted nay · REPASS · SB 42 Revenue Classification Taxpayers Bill of Rights · pass · https://openstates.org/co/bills/2026A/SB42/
- 2026-05-13 · voted nay · BILL · HB 1141 Discriminatory Practices in Public Schools · pass · https://openstates.org/co/bills/2026A/HB1141/
- 2026-05-13 · voted yea · CONCUR · SB 78 Changes to Institutions of Higher Education Statutes · pass · https://openstates.org/co/bills/2026A/SB78/
- 2026-05-13 · voted nay · BILL · HB 1309 Abuse in Cases of Separation · pass · https://openstates.org/co/bills/2026A/HB1309/
- 2026-05-13 · voted yea · REPASS · SB 165 Species Conservation Measures · pass · https://openstates.org/co/bills/2026A/SB165/
- 2026-05-13 · voted yea · CONCUR · SB 115 Post-Conviction Relief for Certain Offenders · pass · https://openstates.org/co/bills/2026A/SB115/
- 2026-05-13 · voted yea · AMEND (L.081) · HB 1289 Modification of Certain Tax Expenditures · pass · https://openstates.org/co/bills/2026A/HB1289/
- 2026-05-13 · voted yea · CONCUR · SB 3 End-of-Life Management of Electric Vehicle Batteries · pass · https://openstates.org/co/bills/2026A/SB3/

## Legislation (CO 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 70 bills: 64 reached committee, 54 passed one chamber, 50 passed both, 37 became law. Cosponsored 184. 91.4% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Colorado Senate 94.3%; rank 27 of 35).

Recent sponsored bills:

- HB 1432: Health-Care Payment Programs (became law, 2026-06-04) https://openstates.org/co/bills/2026A/HB1432/
- HB 1420: Wind Energy Facilities Light-Mitigating Technology (became law, 2026-06-04) https://openstates.org/co/bills/2026A/HB1420/
- SB 165: Species Conservation Measures (became law, 2026-05-29) https://openstates.org/co/bills/2026A/SB165/
- SCR 1: Areas of Local Preemption (in committee, 2026-05-06) https://openstates.org/co/bills/2026A/SCR1/
- HB 1416: Transfers to General Fund & Colorado Economic Development Fund (became law, 2026-06-03) https://openstates.org/co/bills/2026A/HB1416/
- HCR 1004: Person's Rights Related to Their Children (in committee, 2026-04-20) https://openstates.org/co/bills/2026A/HCR1004/
- SB 157: Determination of Town Abandonment (became law, 2026-05-26) https://openstates.org/co/bills/2026A/SB157/
- SJR 20: Recognize Home Education Day (passed both chambers, 2026-04-22) https://openstates.org/co/bills/2026A/SJR20/
- HB 1341: Colorado Agricultural Development Authority Bond Allocation Service Period (became law, 2026-06-04) https://openstates.org/co/bills/2026A/HB1341/
- SB 147: Lobbyist Regulation (passed both chambers, 2026-05-29) https://openstates.org/co/bills/2026A/SB147/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $22.6K (State Senate Republicans median $46.2K). 82% of itemized individual money came from in state. Aggregates only; no individual donors.

## Recent statements

Newest first. Posts on X are listed by date and link only.

- 2026-05-14 · Post on X · https://x.com/SenRodPelton/status/2054723110449103014
- 2026-05-06 · Post on X · https://x.com/SenRodPelton/status/2052153956340761008
- 2026-04-27 · Post on X · https://x.com/SenRodPelton/status/2048854695733551579
- 2026-04-24 · Post on X · https://x.com/SenRodPelton/status/2047741432707100763
- 2026-04-22 · Post on X · https://x.com/SenRodPelton/status/2047061302942822574
- 2026-04-14 · Post on X · https://x.com/SenRodPelton/status/2044168946098876676
- 2026-04-08 · Post on X · https://x.com/SenRodPelton/status/2041913369536688446
- 2026-04-02 · Post on X · https://x.com/SenRodPelton/status/2039786217563443501
- 2026-04-02 · Post on X · https://x.com/SenRodPelton/status/2039817319405281350
- 2026-03-31 · Post on X · https://x.com/SenRodPelton/status/2039036005794332817

## Links

- Official site: https://leg.colorado.gov/legislators/rod-pelton
- Campaign site: https://www.peltonforcolorado.com/
- X: https://x.com/SenRodPelton
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rod.pelton
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RodPeltonForSD35
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SenatorRodPelton/

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/45cd06eb-9967-4468-9e4e-677549e7638d