Women will make up the major­i­ty of law­mak­ers, and more peo­ple of col­or will serve in Colorado’s state­house next year, but top lead­er­ship will remain large­ly white and male.

Exec­u­tive lead­er­ship is made up of the House speak­er, major­i­ty leader and minor­i­ty leader as well as Sen­ate pres­i­dent, major­i­ty leader and minor­i­ty leader. On Thurs­day, the cham­bers held cau­cus elec­tions for these and oth­er lead­er­ship positions.

In the House Demo­c­ra­t­ic cau­cus, House Major­i­ty Leader Alec Gar­nett of Den­ver was elect­ed to replace House Speak­er KC Beck­er of Boul­der who is term-lim­it­ed. Gar­nett was unopposed.

The House Demo­c­ra­t­ic cau­cus looks very dif­fer­ent than when Gar­nett first start­ed six years ago than with 34 Democ­rats, he not­ed. Now, the 41 Democ­rats make up a “very diverse cau­cus,” he said.

“I believe our great­est chal­lenges lie ahead, and we’ll need to come togeth­er again to deliv­er results for our state,” he said. “As a new cau­cus, we’ll have to reestab­lish that trust and empow­er each oth­er to gov­ern each oth­er. At a time in a glob­al pan­dem­ic and eco­nom­ic cri­sis, racial tur­moil and a chaot­ic pres­i­den­cy has upend­ed the lives of so many, the peo­ple of Col­orado have entrust­ed us yet again with a large majority.”

The lead­er­ship spot with the most com­pe­ti­tion was that of major­i­ty leader. Three women and this year’s assis­tant major­i­ty leader ran for the seat.

After two runoff elec­tions, the cau­cus elect­ed Rep. Daneya Esgar of Pueblo to the seat. Esgar was cred­it­ed for her lead­er­ship on the Joint Bud­get Com­mit­tee, and nom­i­na­tors said she brings a per­spec­tive out­side of Den­ver to cau­cus pri­or­i­ties. She is from Pueblo and is open­ly les­bian. Esgar said she wants to make sure the cau­cus is more inclu­sive and does more mentorship.

“This isn’t a step­ping stone for me. … I tru­ly just want to be able to give back and take all of the expe­ri­ence I’ve gar­nered in six years and the lead­er­ship skills I’ve been able to grow to help all of us,” Esgar said.

She best­ed Rep. Leslie Herod of Den­ver, the first Black and open­ly LGBTQ law­mak­er elect­ed to the state­house; Rep. Adri­enne Benavidez of Com­merce City, a Lati­na; and Assis­tant Major­i­ty Leader Chris Kennedy of Denver.

Esgar is cur­rent­ly the chair of the pow­er­ful Joint Bud­get Com­mit­tee, which she will have to leave in Jan­u­ary. The new speak­er, Gar­nett, will appoint her replace­ment and one oth­er mem­ber to the com­mit­tee at a lat­er date.

Rep. Ser­e­na Gon­za­les-Gui­ter­rez, a Den­ver Demo­c­rat, was elect­ed assis­tant major­i­ty leader to replace Kennedy. Also vying for the seat was Rep. Yadi­ra Car­aveo, a Thorn­ton Democrat.

Rep. Meg Froelich of Engle­wood and Rep. Lisa Cut­ter of Lit­tle­ton were named co-cau­cus chairs, and Rep. Mon­i­ca Duran of Wheat Ridge and Rep. Kyle Mul­li­ca of North­glenn co-whips.

House Repub­li­cans are expect­ed to meet Mon­day to elect their top lead­ers for the 2021 ses­sion. House Minor­i­ty Leader Patrick Neville has announced he won’t be seek­ing re-elec­tion, and Rep. Hugh McK­ean of Love­land is wide­ly expect­ed to get the job.

Lit­tle changed in the Sen­ate, on either side of the aisle.

In the Demo­c­ra­t­ic cau­cus, Sen. Leroy Gar­cia of Pueblo returns as pres­i­dent. Sen. Steve Fen­berg of Boul­der returns as major­i­ty leader, with Aurora’s Rhon­da Fields return­ing as assis­tant major­i­ty leader. Sen. Ker­ry Dono­van of Vail was named pres­i­dent pro tem­pore, replac­ing the term-lim­it­ed Sen. Nan­cy Todd in that role. Sen. Jeff Bridges of Green­wood Vil­lage beat out Den­ver Sen. Robert Rodriguez for the posi­tion of major­i­ty whip. Sen. Julie Gon­za­les of Den­ver was named cau­cus chair.

In the Repub­li­can cau­cus, Sen. Chris Hol­bert of Park­er returns as minor­i­ty leader and Sen. John Cooke of Gree­ley returns as assis­tant minor­i­ty leader. Sen. Paul Lun­deen of Mon­u­ment returns as minor­i­ty whip, and Sen. Jim Small­wood of Park­er will serve as minor­i­ty cau­cus chair, replac­ing the term-lim­it­ed Vic­ki Mar­ble in that role.

The Sen­ate sends three peo­ple to the Joint Bud­get Com­mit­tee: Demo­c­rat and cur­rent com­mit­tee Vice Chair Sen. Dominick Moreno of Com­merce City, Demo­c­rat Sen. Chris Hansen of Den­ver, and Sen. Repub­li­can Bob Rankin of Car­bon­dale, who eked out an elec­tion win in north­west Col­orado this week.