Chris deGruy Kennedy

After six years of representing House District 23, Chris deGruy Kennedy is entering his fourth and final term as the representative for the new House District 30, which includes eastern Lakewood and Edgewater in Jefferson County. He currently serves Vice Chair of the House Health and Insurance Committee and is a member of the Finance Committee.

Chris’s priority is to make sure every hard-working Coloradan has the opportunity to thrive and enjoy our unique quality of life. He is committed to supporting our public schools, bringing down the high cost of living—including health care, childcare, housing, and higher education—and protecting our clean air and water and our beautiful public lands for the next generation.

Over the last six sessions, his legislative accomplishments include robust cost transparency requirements for hospitals, a reinsurance program to reduce health insurance premiums on the individual market, a prescription drug affordability board, stronger consumer protections at free-standing emergency departments, advancement of value-based payments and integration in primary care, increased supports for renters and utility customers, improved prevention and treatment for substance use disorders, initiatives to combat climate change, regulation of toxic air contaminants, and multiple innovative democracy reforms. 

He has also supported increasing funding for K-12 and higher education, transportation infrastructure, affordable housing, and behavioral health care.

After several years working as a structural engineer, Chris gravitated toward public service and became an active volunteer for local campaigns and environmental initiatives. As an aide and policy staffer for four sessions and manager of numerous campaigns in Jeffco, Chris compiled an extensive record of policy and political experience before throwing his hat in the ring for the State House in 2015.

Chris is a lifelong Coloradan and has masters and bachelors degrees from the University of Colorado. He lives in Lakewood with his wife, Kyra, their daughter, Lennon, and two dogs, two cats, two goats, and two chickens.