Frank McNulty (Colorado politician)

Frank McNulty was born in Blue Island, Illinois, on February 2, 1973, to Frank and Denise McNulty.^[1] He has lived in Colorado since 1977,^[2] and was raised in Jefferson County, Colorado, where he graduated from J.K. Mullen High School. In 1995, he graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a bachelor's degree.^[1]

After graduating from college McNulty worked for U.S. Senator Wayne Allard. He returned in 1998 in order to attend the University of Denver and graduated with a Juris Doctor degree in 2001. A public policy advisor, he joined Governor Bill Owens' administration in 2000, and was assistant director for water for the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.^[1][2][3]

In 2006, McNulty won the Republican nomination for a seat in the Colorado House of Representatives from the 43rd district without opposition and defeated Democratic nominee Allen A. Dreher in the general election.^[4] He was reelected in 2008,^[5] 2010,^[6] and 2012.^[7]

During McNulty's tenure in the state house he served on the Agriculture committee.^[8] In 2008, McNulty was a member of a committee that investigated Douglas Bruce to determine if the state house could punish Bruce for actions he did before taking office and what actions should be taken against him.^[9] The Republicans gained control of the state house after the 2010 elections and selected McNulty to be speaker;^[10] he is the most recent Republican to be speaker.^[11] McNulty declined to seek a leadership position after the Republicans lost their majority in the 2012 elections and Mark Waller was selected to serve as minority leader.^[12]

During the 2010 Colorado gubernatorial election McNulty was a member of a draft movement trying to get Josh Penry to seek the Republican nomination.^[13] He endorsed Mitt Romney during the 2012 Republican presidential primaries.^[14]

McNulty was a member of Jeb Bush's steering committee in Colorado during the 2016 Republican presidential primaries.^[15] McNulty was the director of the Public Trust Institute, which filed ethics complaints against Governor John Hickenlooper.^[16][17] In 2019, he co-chaired Preserve Colorado's Electoral Vote with Jack Graham in opposition to Colorado joining the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.^[18] He was a lobbyist for Centennial Institute, a conservative think tank at Colorado Christian University.^[19] McNulty was elected to the University of Colorado Board of Regents from the 4th district in the 2022 election.^[20]

McNulty married Kim Hall, with whom he had two children. They first met while working for Allard.^[21][3]

In 2007, McNulty proposed legislation to place the minimum mandatory sentencing at 15 years for people convicted of sexual offenses against children under 15.^[22] He proposed legislation to require proof of citizenship in order to vote.^[23] Civil unions for same-sex couples was opposed by McNulty.^[24] He opposes the legalization of cannabis.^[25] McNulty supports Israel and opposed peace negotiations for the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 2016.^[26] The AFL-CIO gave McNulty a rating of 47% in 2011.^[27]