Representative Betsy Markey

Elizabeth Helen “Betsy” Markey (born April 27, 1956) is an American public official and former member of the United States House of Representatives who represented Colorado’s 4th congressional district from January 3, 2009, to January 3, 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, she later served as assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs in the United States Department of Homeland Security, as regional administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration, and as director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and Trade. Over the course of her career, she has combined federal service, entrepreneurship, and elected office, with a particular focus on small business, economic development, and public administration.

Markey was born in Cresskill, New Jersey, the sixth of seven children. She attended the University of Florida from 1974 through 1978, earning a degree in political science. During her undergraduate studies she completed her final semester abroad at a university in Poznań, Poland, an experience that exposed her to international affairs and the workings of government in a different political system. She later pursued graduate study in public administration, completing a Master of Public Administration degree at American University in Washington, D.C., in 1983. Her early academic and international experiences laid the foundation for a career that would span multiple federal agencies and later elective office.

After receiving her undergraduate degree, Markey began her career in national politics on Capitol Hill. She worked briefly on the staff of U.S. Senator John A. Durkin, Democrat of New Hampshire, and then joined the office of U.S. Representative Herbert Harris, Democrat of Virginia, as a caseworker and legislative assistant on one of his subcommittees. In 1981 she was hired as a staff assistant to the vice president for development and planning at American University, gaining additional experience in administration and institutional planning. In 1983 she was selected for the Presidential Management Fellows Program, a competitive two-year federal management track, through which she held several positions in the U.S. Department of the Treasury, including budget and program analyst, human resources specialist, and staff assistant to the deputy commissioner of the United States Customs Service.

In 1984, during the Reagan administration, Markey was recruited by the U.S. Department of State to help develop computer security policies for the newly formed Office of Information Systems Security. She served as director of computer security policy and training, working with all State Department bureaus to craft department-wide computer security policy and to create the department’s first comprehensive computer security training program for management, security personnel, and support staff around the world. For this work she received the State Department’s Meritorious Honor Award. Markey left the department in 1988 at the GS-14 level and moved into the private sector, co-founding a software firm, Syscom Services. Under her leadership, Syscom grew rapidly and by 1995 ranked number 99 on the Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies. In the mid-1990s she also became the owner of Huckleberry’s, a popular coffee and ice cream shop in Old Town Fort Collins, Colorado, which she operated as a small business until selling it in 2000.

Markey’s growing involvement in community and party affairs in Colorado paralleled her business activities. She served as president of the board of directors of the Food Bank for Larimer County, where she chaired a capital campaign that raised nearly one million dollars to expand the Food Bank’s facility and services. As chair of the Larimer County Democratic Party, she oversaw a significant expansion of the party’s organizational role in northern Colorado and founded the Larimer County Democratic Business Coalition, a network of local small business owners. She also participated in the Local Legislative Affairs Committee of the Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce, working at the intersection of business and public policy. In January 2005 she returned to federal-related work when she was hired as regional director for Colorado’s North Central and Eastern Plains for U.S. Senator Ken Salazar, a position she held until her resignation in May 2007.

In June 2007 Markey filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission and formally announced her intention to run for the U.S. House of Representatives in Colorado’s 4th congressional district, challenging three-term Republican incumbent Marilyn Musgrave. The 4th District, in Republican hands since 1973, was widely regarded as a safe Republican seat, but Musgrave was seen as vulnerable due to her focus on social issues, such as the Federal Marriage Amendment, and criticism of her constituent services. The district is geographically large and predominantly rural, with some of the most Republican counties in Colorado, yet its politics are dominated by Larimer and Weld counties—home to Fort Collins and Greeley—which, though comprising only about a third of the district’s land area, cast roughly 85 percent of its votes. In previous cycles Musgrave had survived by running up large margins in Weld County. In the 2008 general election, however, Markey won an unexpectedly wide victory, taking 56 percent of the vote to Musgrave’s 44 percent, the third-largest margin of victory for a congressional challenger in the 2008 cycle. While she lost most rural counties by margins of two-to-one or more, she carried Larimer County by approximately 36,500 votes and won Weld County by seven points, flipping the district to the Democrats.

Markey served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives, from 2009 to 2011, during a period of significant national economic and legislative activity following the 2008 financial crisis. As a member of the 111th Congress, she participated in the legislative process on a range of high-profile issues and represented the interests of her constituents in Colorado’s 4th district. She served on the Committee on Agriculture, where she sat on the Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy, and Research; the Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management; and the Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry. She also served on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, including the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management; the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit; and the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials. In key floor votes, Markey supported the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009; the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the major economic stimulus package enacted in response to the recession; the American Clean Energy and Security Act, a cap-and-trade bill that ultimately did not become law; and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the landmark health care reform legislation. In his memoir “A Promised Land,” President Barack Obama later described Markey as a promising and principled young House member who faced electoral defeat despite taking difficult votes on critical issues such as health care reform and the Recovery Act, underscoring her willingness to support measures she believed were in the national interest even at political risk.

In the 2010 election cycle, Markey sought a second term and faced a competitive race in what was widely regarded as one of the most closely watched House contests in the country. She was challenged by Republican state Representative Cory Gardner, American Constitution Party nominee Doug Aden, and independent candidate Ken “Wasko” Waszkiewicz. Polling aggregations rated the race a toss-up. In the general election, Markey was defeated, receiving 41 percent of the vote to Gardner’s 52 percent. Her single term in Congress nonetheless placed her among the women who have served in the United States House of Representatives and marked a notable Democratic breakthrough in a historically Republican district.

Following her congressional service, Markey returned to the executive branch. She was appointed assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, where she served as the department’s principal liaison to state, local, tribal, and territorial governments. She held this position until her resignation in January 2013. In June 2013 she announced her candidacy for Colorado State Treasurer in the 2014 elections. She secured the Democratic nomination but was defeated in the general election by the Republican incumbent, Walker Stapleton. In January 2016 Markey was appointed regional administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration, a role that drew on her background as a small business owner and entrepreneur. In December 2018 she was appointed director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and Trade, where she oversaw statewide efforts to promote business growth, trade, and job creation. She announced her resignation from that position in March 2021, concluding another chapter in a career that has spanned federal service, elective office, and state-level economic development leadership.