Penfield Tate III

Penfield Tate III
Tate in 2019
Member of the Colorado Senate
from the 33rd district
In office
2000–2003
Personal details
Born (1956-05-19) May 19, 1956 (age 68)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,[1] U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
SpousePaulette
Education
Signature

Penfield Wallace Tate III (born May 19, 1956) is an American politician.

Tate's father Penfield Tate II served in the United States military. As a result, the younger Tate and his mother Ellen spent his early life on several military bases. Tate III graduated from Colorado State University in 1978 with a degree in sociology. He pursued a J. D. at the Antioch School of Law, ending his legal studies in 1981. Tate then became an attorney based in Denver for the Federal Trade Commission. In 1984, Tate began practicing law at Trimble, Tate & Nulan, a law firm cofounded by his father. Tate worked for Federico Peña from 1990 to 1991, returning to Trimble, Tate & Nulan in 1992, before leading his own legal practice, Tate & Tate, P.C., alongside his father. Tate worked for the Colorado Department of Administration before serving the Colorado Democratic Party as vice chairman from 1994 to 1996. He was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives from the eighth district the next year. In 2000, Tate sought election to the Colorado Senate from District 33.[2]

Tate resigned from the state senate in February 2003 to contest the mayoralty of Denver in the 2003 Denver mayoral election.[3][4] He was one of seven candidates in the mayoral election,[5] but placed fourth in the first round and therefore did not advance to the runoff, won by John Hickenlooper. In October 2018, Tate began his second Denver mayoral campaign.[6] He would, once again, place fourth in the first round of the 2019 Denver mayoral election. In 2023, he ran for an at-large Denver City Council seat in the 2023 Denver Mayoral election and placed third out of nine candidates.

  1. ^ "Penfield W. Tate III's Biography". HistoryMakers. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
  2. ^ "Penfield Tate III". The HistoryMakers. September 26, 2016. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
  3. ^ Webb, Wellington E. (2007). Wellington Webb: The Man, the Mayor, and the Making of Modern Denver. Fulcrum Publishing. p. 362. ISBN 9781555916343.
  4. ^ "Senate journal" (PDF). Colorado Senate. February 17, 2003. pp. 379–380. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
  5. ^ Kohler, Judith (May 5, 2003). "Seven Vie for Denver Mayor's Job". Midland Daily News. Associated Press. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
  6. ^ Kenney, Andrew (October 1, 2018). "Former Democratic lawmaker Penfield Tate to challenge Hancock in Denver mayor's race". Denver Post. Retrieved October 3, 2018.