Joe Neguse is a U.S. Congressman representing Colorado's 2nd Congressional District, elected in 2018 as the first Black member of Congress from Colorado.[2][3][7] Born to Eritrean immigrant parents, he earned a B.S. in Political Science and Economics *summa cum laude* from the University of Colorado-Boulder and a J.D. from its School of Law.[1][3] Early in his career, Neguse co-founded New Era Colorado, the state's largest youth voter registration nonprofit, and worked for then-Speaker Andrew Romanoff in the Colorado House.[3] In 2008, while in law school, voters elected him to the University of Colorado Board of Regents, making him the second African-American regent in state history; he served six years, including as Audit Committee Chair, advocating for affordable higher education, lower student health insurance costs, higher wages for low-paid workers, and easier voter registration.[1][2][3] At age 31, Neguse became one of Colorado's youngest cabinet secretaries under Governor John Hickenlooper, serving as Executive Director of the Department of Regulatory Agencies. His tenure recovered millions for consumers, pursued financial fraud cases, championed anti-senior fraud legislation, and launched the state's first online civil rights complaint system, earning the 2017 Consumer Protection Award.[1][2][3] In Congress, the 41-year-old serves on the Natural Resources, Judiciary, and Rules Committees, as Ranking Member of the Federal Lands Subcommittee, and was a House prosecutor in Donald Trump's second impeachment trial.[1][2][5] Ranked among the nation's most effective lawmakers—top Democrat in his freshman term and top for public lands—he has passed 22 bipartisan bills protecting public lands, supporting rural schools, aiding small businesses, and reforming ethics rules.[4][5][6] He founded the Bipartisan Wildfire, Fentanyl Prevention, and Colorado River Caucuses, and pioneered "service town halls" for community engagement, earning the 2023 John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award and Bipartisan Policy Center's Legislative Action Award.[2][4][5] Recently elected Assistant Democratic Leader, succeeding Jim Clyburn, Neguse prioritizes affordable healthcare, wildfire mitigation, gun violence reduction, and climate action, maintaining high bipartisan effectiveness.[5]