Rick Taggart

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Rick Taggart
Image of Rick Taggart

Republican Party

Colorado House of Representatives District 55
Tenure

2023 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

2

Predecessor

Compensation

Base salary

43,977/year for legislators whose terms began in 2023. $41,449/year for legislators whose terms began in 2021.

Per diem

For legislators residing within 50 miles of the capitol: $45/day. For legislators living more than 50 miles from the capitol: $237/day.

Elections and appointments
Last elected

November 5, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

Syracuse University, 1972

Graduate

University of Phoenix

Personal
Religion
Presbyterian
Profession
Professor
Contact

Official website

Official Facebook

Official Instagram

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Instagram

Personal Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

Rick Taggart (Republican Party) is a member of the Colorado House of Representatives, representing District 55. He assumed office on January 9, 2023. His current term ends on January 12, 2027.

Taggart (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the Colorado House of Representatives to represent District 55. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Biography

Rick Taggart earned a B.S. in business and environmental science from Syracuse University in 1972 and an M.B.A. from the University of Phoenix. Taggart's career experience includes working as an adjunct professor and the executive director of marketing and recruitment with Colorado Mesa University and as the president/CEO of Victorinox Swiss Army. He has been affiliated with the Grand Junction Economic Partnership, the Saint Mary’s Hospital Foundation, and the Suicide Coalition of Western Colorado.[1][2]

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.


Committee assignments

Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at:editor@ballotpedia.org.

2023-2024

Taggart was assigned to the following committees:


Elections

2024

See also: Colorado House of Representatives elections, 2024

General election

General election for Colorado House of Representatives District 55

Incumbent Rick Taggart won election in the general election for Colorado House of Representatives District 55 on November 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Rick Taggart
Rick Taggart (R)
 
100.0
 
36,085

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 36,085
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Colorado House of Representatives District 55

Incumbent Rick Taggart advanced from the Republican primary for Colorado House of Representatives District 55 on June 25, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Rick Taggart
Rick Taggart
 
100.0
 
11,513

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 11,513
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Campaign finance

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Taggart in this election.

2022

See also: Colorado House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election

General election for Colorado House of Representatives District 55

Rick Taggart defeated Damon Davis in the general election for Colorado House of Representatives District 55 on November 8, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Rick Taggart
Rick Taggart (R) Candidate Connection
 
63.6
 
25,411
Image of Damon Davis
Damon Davis (D) Candidate Connection
 
36.4
 
14,536

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 39,947
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Colorado House of Representatives District 55

Damon Davis advanced from the Democratic primary for Colorado House of Representatives District 55 on June 28, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Damon Davis
Damon Davis Candidate Connection
 
100.0
 
5,215

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 5,215
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Colorado House of Representatives District 55

Rick Taggart defeated Patricia Weber in the Republican primary for Colorado House of Representatives District 55 on June 28, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Rick Taggart
Rick Taggart Candidate Connection
 
52.7
 
9,789
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Patricia Weber
 
47.3
 
8,787

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 18,576
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Rick Taggart did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Candidate Connection

Rick Taggart completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Taggart's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

For 30 Years I've served in CEO and executive roles with Swiss Army Brands, the Timberland Company, Marmot, the Grand Junction Regional Airport, Colorado Mesa University and the Grand Junction City Council. As a council member of 7 years I have crafted strategies that helped our economy reach a decade -high of jobs creation. I would now like to take this experience to the Colorado State Legislature with a strong rational conservative voice for the citizens of Grand Junction.
  • Fiscal Conservative- as an entrepreneur and life long business leader I know what it means to keep expenses down, prioritize investments and grow revenue. As an elected official, I believe in the principles of Tabor and i have a consistent record in defending it. Voters deserve the opportunity to weigh in on any tax increase.
  • Students of Western Colorado deserve a more equitable funding mechanism for Districts like ours. District 51 is always underfunded and I want to do something about this. Parents should be empowered to make choices when it comes to educating their children.
  • The primary role of government is keeping people safe. Colorado is demonstrably less safe than we were four years ago. As an elected official I have prioritized public safety and helped develop a financial plan to hire more police officers and firefighters. Municipalities can only do so much on this front it also needs to be a priority of the state.
Education, Public Safety, Transportation, Energy, Water, Economic Development and Affordability.
I look up to many people, first and foremost my parents who gave me every opportunity to succeed and provided me with a strong ethical background. In business my first mentor was a Frenchman Roget Pirot (Managing Director of Salomon. He identified me early in my career as an individual who had the skills, drive and discipline to be the president of an organization. He created a career path for me with critical milestones where members of his North American staff critiqued me on my progress and set goals for and with me for each role I served within the company.. Following and adhering to his guidance placed me on a path to success. From a political standpoint I will always look up to Abraham Lincoln he led our country through one of the most troubling times in our history with determination and grace.
An elected official has to be honest, act with integrity and be gracious and humble.
There is one overriding responsibility of an elected official and that is to serve our citizens in the best possible manner.
The death of John F. Kennedy, I was about 10 years old.
My first job out of college was as a Sales/Technical Representative for Salomon North America. I worked for the company for 8+ years and was promoted our of my sales territory to a marketing manager and then on to be a general sales manager.
I have read many and I cannot name one in particular that stood out over others. I have always enjoyed fiction because of the number of business publications that I have read over the years. John Grisham is my favorite author on the fiction side.
Dirk Pitt, a Clive Cussler character.
Desperado, by the Eagles
Similar to how I have conducted myself in business and as a council member there has to be a give and take between the governor and the state legislature. This means listening and appreciating different points of view. Both parties have to understand that we serve the people of this great state and they depend on us to make good decisions and take strong actions to make their lives better.
Growth is going to continue to be the greatest challenge that we face. We are fortunate that this is one of the most beautiful states in the country. Maintaining a balance of economic prosperity without damaging our wonderful quality of life is going to be very challenging.
A unicameral state legislature would certainly be a more simplified structure, but this is the only benefit I can think of. Our government is founded on a principle of checks and balances I do not want to see this compromised.
Yes, experience is vital in this job. Crafting and implementing legislation is a difficult task, it requires individuals that can actively engage with one another. It requires great leadership and listening skills. Unless you have actively participated successfully in this process, at a municipal or county level, you are not prepared to serve your constituents when you enter the state legislature.
Relationship building is critical to success in legislature. Understanding the needs and desires of other legislators helps a good legislature create a solid foundation of trust. This trust is necessary for the difficult discussions and debates that are going to occur over future legislation. The ability to listen and have empathy to another persons point of view is vital to being successful as a legislature.
Redistricting has to be approached in a totally non biased manner. This is difficult to do when each of the major parties has something to gain potentially in the redistricting process. I wish I had an ideal solution, but I do not.
With my business background the Budget Committee would be my first choice.
An individual that have looked up to as a past legislator is Timothy Foster. Tim's intelligence, drive, determination and tenacity enabled him to be very successful as a State Representative and later as the President of Colorado Mesa University .
No I am not, I want to serve the citizens of Grand Junction.
I believe this would be difficult. As a CEO I understand in times of emergency that you need to listen to the input of your team, but someone needs to make the ultimate decision to address the emergency and this needs to be the executive in charge. At a state level the governor needs to listen to the valuable input from the legislature, but he or she ultimately has to make the difficult decisions that come with an emergency. The word emergency alone means the decisions are very time sensitive.
Compromise is an absolute. Crafting legislation at a municipal level has taught me that you are seldom going to get everything you want in a bill/ordinance. I have learned that you always have to keep the bigger picture in mind and how this bill is going to help the citizens of Grand Junction. If compromise is needed to get to this goal then embrace it and get on with it.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

Rick Taggart campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2024* Colorado House of Representatives District 55Won general$47,181 $21,933
2022Colorado House of Representatives District 55Won general$63,937 $57,753
Grand total$111,118 $79,686
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Colorado

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Colorado scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.


2024


2023








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External links

Candidate

Colorado House of Representatives District 55
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    Officeholder

    Colorado House of Representatives District 55
  • Website
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    		•

    Personal

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    Footnotes

    1. ↑ LinkedIn, "Rick Taggart," accessed May 8, 2023
    2. ↑ Rick Taggart HD55, "Meet Rick," accessed May 8, 2023

    Political offices
    Preceded by
    Janice Rich (R)     		Colorado House of Representatives District 55
    2023-Present    		 Succeeded by
    -


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