| Senator Tom Sullivan was elected to the Senate in 2022 to represent Arapahoe County and Douglas County after serving in the House for four years. He currently serves as Vice Chair of the State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee and is a member of the Transportation & Energy Committee.
Tom grew up the son of two veterans of the US Air Force, and while their service moved Tom around the globe during his childhood, he settled in Rochester, New York. Upon completing high school, Tom entered the US Air Force in 1974 at the end of the Vietnam conflict and served as a crew chief on KC-135's until he was honorably discharged in 1977.
In 1980, he and his wife Terry moved to Colorado, where Tom worked various jobs in the Denver metro area until 1986 when he was hired by the United States Postal Service (USPS). Tom used his GI Bill to get his degree at Metropolitan State College of Denver in 1988 in journalism and accounting and used that degree in his work with the American Postal Workers Union (APWU). He helped to start an award-winning newsletter "Aurora News" and served three terms as Secretary and Treasurer of the Aurora Local while also being a shop steward.
Tom and Terry started a family in 1985 and moved to what is now Centennial in 1992. Their two children, Alex and Megan, attended Cherry Creek Schools until graduation from Grandview High School. Tragedy struck Tom's family in the early morning hours of July 20, 2012. His son, Alex, was celebrating his 27th birthday with friends and co-workers at the Century Theater in Aurora and was one of the twelve who was murdered that night. That life-changing night has led Tom down the path of advocating for gun violence prevention laws and victims' rights.
A steadfast advocate for working families, Tom stepped up his activism with the Colorado American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), and was selected to serve on their executive council. He has been active with workers represented by the AFL-CIO on topics such as equal pay, the minimum wage, and teachers' rights.
In 2018, Tom became the first Democrat elected to represent House District 37. In two terms at the State House, Tom sponsored Colorado's Extreme Risk Protection Order law, which is already saving lives across the state. He has also fought tirelessly for affordable housing and education funding, worker protections, veterans, expanding access to mental health treatment and protecting access to reproductive health care.
Tom's goal is to take all that he has learned in not only these past 10+ years but his entire life and use it to be a voice for change and action for the citizens of Colorado. |