Mark Ferrandino is the state representative for House District 2 in Denver and, since November 2012, the Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives. In the 2012 General Election, Representative Ferrandino faced Republican challenger TJ Tyrrell. Mark was reelected by a margin of 70% to 24%.

In his opening day remarks for the 2013 Legislative session Speaker Ferrandino quoted many diverse figures such as Barney Frank, Ayn Rand and Martin Luther King, telling the House that Job No. 1 is “to accelerate our state’s economy and connect more Coloradans to good jobs.” The current session has been a very rewarding one for the Speaker and the State of Colorado.  In addition to several jobs bills being passed, the Speaker is also very proud to have passed legislation that offers in-state college tuition to all Colorado high school graduates, regardless of immigration status, a bill to help protect pregnant women from criminal actions, and several pieces to promote child welfare, just to name a few.  Perhaps the proudest moment of the session came on March 21st when Governor John Hickenlooper signed the Colorado Civil Union Act, making Colorado one of 18 states that offer recognition to same-sex couples.  The Speaker stated, “With the Governor’s signature here today, the protection of Colorado’s laws will now extend equally to all. Thousands of Colorado families will now be able to receive the recognition they deserve. Ladies and gentlemen, the Colorado sun now warms all our people.”

In November 2011, House Democratic Leader Sal Pace announced that he would relinquish his leadership position to campaign for Congress in the Colorado's 3rd District, Rep. Ferrandino ran to succeed him and was elected unopposed by the Democratic caucus on November 18, 2011. After being elected to the leadership position, as House Minority Leader by his colleagues, Rep. Ferrandino resigned his post as the ranking Democrat on the Joint Budget Committee, which writes the state’s annual budget and has had the unenviable task of trimming more than $5 billion from state expenditures since the Great Recession struck in 2008. Rep. Ferrandino had served on the JBC since 2009.

Rep. Ferrandino has a sterling record of standing up for Colorado consumers and civil rights. He has sponsored legislation granting needy homeowners threatened with foreclosure 90 extra days to work with their lenders to come to a good solution. He led the fight to crack down on payday lenders, reducing their exorbitant 300 percent interest rates. He sponsored legislation allowing state employees to designate their unmarried partners as insurance beneficiaries, and he has championed civil unions for gay and lesbian couples.

Rep. Ferrandino was first elected to the Colorado House of Representatives through a vacancy committee in 2007 to complete the term of Rep. Mike Cerbo. He was treasurer of the Colorado Democratic Party from 2005 through 2007 and has served as a co-captain for House District 2A and co-chair of the Colorado Stonewall Democrats. In 2010, he was named Rising Star by the Colorado Democratic Party, and in 2007, he was named Colorado Young Democrat of the Year for his work on behalf of the party and Democratic candidates across the state. As a college student, he spent a semester in Washington, D.C. interning for U.S. Rep. Charles Schumer, now New York’s senior U.S. senator.

Rep. Ferrandino served as a senior budget analyst for the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing under Gov. Bill Owens, as a program analyst for the United States Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, and as a policy analyst for the White House Office of Management and Budget under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

He is currently an adjunct professor at Metro State University in Denver.

Rep. Ferrandino was born in Nyack, N.Y. with his twin sister Nicole who also lives in Colorado with her family.  He has an older brother, Michael, a surgeon at Duke University.  His parents are lifelong educators who worked in the New York City public school system.  He has a B.A. in political science and economics and a master’s in public policy analysis from the University of Rochester.  He was a pole vaulter in college and he can still run a mile in under six minutes.

Rep. Ferrandino lives in the Baker neighborhood of Denver with his partner, Greg, and their dog, Dagny.