Kerr elected assistant House majority leader

DENVER-- House Majority Whip Andy Kerr (D-Lakewood) defeated State Rep. Nancy Todd (D-Aurora) to become assistant House majority leader early Thursday afternoon.

Kerr succeeds Assistant Majority Leader Terrance Carroll (D-Denver), who earlier on Thursday was elected Speaker of the House by the House Democratic Caucus.

Kerr said caucus by staying in House leadership, he would bring stability.

"We do need to keep some stability moving forward, and I bring that to this," Kerr said.

Todd noted that even though half the Democratic House caucus are women, the caucus so far had selected two men - Carroll and House Majority Leader-elect Paul Weissmann (D-Louisville) - for House leadership.

"I think it's extremely important that ...our leadership looks like our caucus," Todd said. "I don't want to just run on the woman issue, but I think that is a factor."

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story stated, in error, that Todd beat Kerr for assistant House majority leader.