Family, Politics, and Colorado’s Divides

Family First: How a Colorado Lawmaker Navigates Politics Under Her Own Roof

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Key takeaways

• Colorado House Majority Leader Monica Duran leads a Democratic agenda at the Capitol while being outnumbered by conservatives in her own family.
• Her two sons and late husband have all supported Donald Trump, yet the family maintains close bonds through respect and clear boundaries around political disagreements.
• Duran’s lived experience as a domestic violence survivor drives her legislative work on victims’ rights and gun safety, even when it clashes with her sons’ strong Second Amendment views.
• One son moved his family to Wyoming over Colorado’s gun laws, illustrating how state policy can reshape personal geography and family rhythms.
• Their story offers a practical blueprint for readers seeking to keep political conflict from overwhelming family relationships.

Table of contents

• Inside a politically split Colorado family
• When personal values become public policy
• Guns, geography, and generational divides
• Practical lessons for politically divided families
• Ideas to explore this topic further

Inside a politically split Colorado family

In Colorado’s political arena, Monica Duran, the House Majority Leader from Wheat Ridge, manages floor debates and shepherds hundreds of bills each year. Yet her toughest balancing act may be at home, where she is often the lone Democrat in a family of Republicans.

Her two adult sons are conservatives, as was her late husband. All three have voted for Donald Trump. One son, Patrick Ellis, describes himself as having voted for Trump three times and says his mother is the only Democrat he has ever voted for.

Despite that ideological gap, their relationship is grounded in affection and mutual respect. Patrick focuses on issues where he and his mother agree: support for crime and domestic violence victims, protections for women, and advocacy for animals. On core points where they disagree, they accept that neither is likely to convert the other.

Duran sets a clear boundary when conversations run hot:

“Family comes before politics. It just has to.”

This simple rule keeps debates from overwhelming birthdays, holidays, and regular family time.

When personal values become public policy

Duran’s politics are deeply informed by her past. She is a domestic violence survivor from her first marriage, a period when she experienced homelessness with her toddler son, Patrick. That experience shaped her mission at the Capitol.

As a lawmaker, she has championed:

• Expanded resources and funding for crime and domestic violence victims
• Stronger support services for survivors trying to rebuild their lives
• Stricter gun safety measures in Colorado, including training standards for concealed handgun permits

These policy choices put her at odds with her sons’ conservative views, especially on guns. But they also highlight a broader truth for readers: personal trauma and lived experience often become the foundation of a public policy agenda. For many voters and policymakers, politics is not abstract—it’s a response to what they or their loved ones have endured.

Guns, geography, and generational divides

The family’s biggest fault line is over gun policy. Duran’s sons are strong Second Amendment supporters. Her backing of measures like waiting periods for firearm purchases and age limits for buyers went beyond simple disagreement: it helped prompt her younger son, David, to move his family from Colorado to Wyoming about a year and a half ago.

In Wyoming, he now lives on 80 acres, hunts freely, and is teaching his 6-year-old daughter to shoot, starting with a pellet gun and emphasizing safety. Duran admits the idea of a young child with her own gun storage makes her “cringe,” but she respects his commitment to teaching responsible use.

That tension captures a wider dynamic playing out across the Mountain West and beyond: people are increasingly choosing where to live based on state policy—from guns and taxes to schools and health care. For families, that can mean more physical distance, even as they work hard to preserve emotional closeness.

Practical lessons for politically divided families

If your own family spans the political spectrum, Duran’s story offers several actionable insights:

• Define non-negotiables: Like Duran’s “family before politics” rule, set shared ground rules for conversations during holidays and gatherings.
• Lead with shared values: Focus first on where your beliefs overlap—safety, opportunity, fairness, or community—before diving into disagreements.
• Tell stories, not slogans: Personal experiences (like Duran’s survival of domestic violence or her son’s commitment to gun safety) can humanize positions better than repeating party talking points.
• Accept core differences: As Patrick notes, some beliefs are so foundational that no debate will change them. Recognizing that can reduce friction and resentment.
• Stay curious, not combative: Ask family members what shaped their views—was it a job, military service, a formative childhood experience, or a mentor?

For many readers, this approach can turn political clashes into occasionally uncomfortable, but ultimately productive, conversations rather than relationship-ending battles.

Ideas to explore this topic further

To deepen your understanding of how families navigate political polarization and policy differences, consider:

• Exploring reporting from Colorado Public Radio on state politics and lived experiences behind key laws.
• Comparing how different states approach gun laws, victim support services, and domestic violence protections, and how that might influence where people choose to live.
• Starting a family “story night” where each person shares one life event that most shaped their political views—no rebuttals, just listening.

Monica Duran’s household shows that even under the same roof, people can interpret freedom, safety, and justice in very different ways—and still sit down together for tamales, tacos, or carnitas over the holidays.

For readers searching for a way through their own political divides, her example underscores a simple, durable hierarchy of priorities: relationships first, arguments second.

Source: https://coloradosun.com/2026/01/01/monica-duran-family-politics-colorado/