A Republican state lawmaker from Colorado Springs has been tapped by the Trump administration to fill the top regional post for the Small Business Administration.
Rep. Dan Nordberg announced Monday that he will resign from the legislature to take on the SBA’s administrator position that overees Colorado and five other states.
Nordberg, elected to the legislature in 2012, is in his third term.
“I’m ready and excited to go to work for small business to support and counsel America’s dynamic entrepreneurs,” Nordberg said in a written statement. “This is a tremendous honor and I look forward to joining the SBA team and participating in its great mission to support small business.”
Nordberg’s resignation will take effect at the start of the new year, and a vacancy committee will select his replacement for the 2018 legislative session.
Nordberg is not the first Republican state lawmaker to jump to the Trump administration. State Rep. Calrice Navarro, of Pueblo, last month resigned her post to become the Colorado Farm Service Agency’s state executive director.
Navarro’s replacement, Judy Reyher of Swink, has been under fire for Facebook posts and statement to The Denver Post that were critical of Muslims and African Americans.
The Trump administration was initially slow to fill some crucial federal posts for Colorado and the region, stepping up its pace in recent weeks and months to install people in those positions, from vacant federal judgeships to the regional head of the Environmental Protection Agency.