Dafna Michaelson Jenet

Dafna Michaelson Jenet (born November 14, 1972) is an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the Colorado Senate representing District 21 from her appointment in September of 2019 to her resignation in February of 2026. She previously served in the Colorado House of Representatives representing House District 32 and, prior to redistricting, District 30, which covered a portion of Adams County including parts of Commerce City, Aurora, Brighton, Henderson, Bennett, Keensburg, Strasburg, and Thornton. She was elected to that seat in 2016, unseating Republican incumbent JoAnn Windholz.

Michaelson Jenet and her husband Michael Jenet founded the nonprofit Journey Institute. She is the sister of Yehiel Mark Kalish, the only rabbi to serve in the Illinois House of Representatives.

She published her first book, It Takes a Little Crazy to Make a Difference, in 2015. The book, which describes her yearlong tour of all 50 states in 2009, won the 2015 International Book Award in the social change category. She published her second book, Peanut's Legacy, in 2017. In it, she describes the loss of her final pregnancy.

Michaelson Jenet serves as Chair of House Public and Behavioral Healthcare and Human Services Committee. She also serves on the Legislative Audit Committee and on the House Education Committee,2 and was chair of the Interim School Safety Committee in 2019. In 2018, Michaelson Jenet was elected caucus chair by her peers in the General Assembly.

In August 2023 she was selected by a vacancy committee to represent District 21 in the Colorado Senate, succeeding Dominick Moreno.

Michaelson Jenet was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 2016, defeating Republican incumbent JoAnn Windholz by a margin of 8 points. In her first campaign for public office, Michaelson Jenet was one of 161 candidates across the country endorsed by President Obama. Her 2016 campaign was targeted by the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee as one of 52 “essential races” around the country.

Michaelson Jenet was re-elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 2018 and once again endorsed by President Obama. Her 2018 campaign was designated as a "race to watch" by the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee as one of the critical 2018 midterm races in battleground states.

In the 2017 legislative session, Michaelson Jenet worked on issues of veterans affairs, mental health, and housing. She introduced a bill to create a statewide metric for Colorado's institutions of higher education to award college credit to veterans based on the skills and education they received while serving their country. The bill was chosen by House Speaker Crisanta Duran as one of the first five to be introduced in the session. The bill passed and was signed by Governor John Hickenlooper on June 1, 2017.