Forward Affiliate - Bob Marshall

Born in Colorado, Bob joined the Marine Corps after Georgetown University (BSFS). After serving six years, the Marines selected Bob to attend Cornell Law School where he earned a JD & LLM in International Law. He then served as a Defense Counsel and Station Judge Advocate before leaving active duty to clerk for the Honorable Judge Siler on the U.S. Court of Appeals. After returning to Colorado, Bob frequently mobilized for duty during “The Global War on Terror” for such service as a Police Transition Team Leader in Iraq and as the Governance OIC in Helmand Province Afghanistan. While assigned to Wounded Warrior Battalion, he earned a LLM in Tax Law and subsequently began working for the IRS in the Large Business & International Litigation division.

A Republican for 30 years, Bob became a “never Trumper” when Mr. Trump attacked Captain Khan's mother during the 2016 convention. In December 2017, he left the GOP when it continued supporting Roy Moore for the U.S. Senate in Alabama. Bob joined the Democratic Party in December 2021; was elected “Democrat of the Year” in June 2022; and in November 2022 won election to the Colorado State House from Highlands Ranch, becoming the first Democrat elected to a partisan office from Douglas County in more than a half century.

Bob developed a reputation for good governance in his community by holding local government accountable for unethical and illegal conduct. As local government was dominated by the GOP, this led to his strong affiliation with the Democratic party and ultimately his election as the first Democrat elected to partisan office in more than a half century in Douglas County, one of the largest in Colorado and the sixth wealthiest in the United States.

When Bob entered the legislature, he had not intended to continue championing good governance, but he soon developed the same reputation of holding power accountable, even within his own party. He sponsored several electoral reform bills to improve representation and responsiveness by the government. And he notably filed suit against the entire legislature and leadership of both parties for long-standing violations of Colorado’s Sunshine laws (Open Meetings and Open Records). This action even led a former GOP Majority Leader to comment that: “It took courage…to blow the whistle on this practice.” Bob’s general practice and conduct as a legislator led a former Speaker of the Colorado State House to suggest that Bob look at the Forward Party. After researching, there was an incredibly strong match between Bob’s values and what he had already been accomplishing and working towards in the legislature and the goals of the Forward Party.