In November 2004, Coloradans elected Ken Salazar to serve as Colorado's thirty-fifth United States Senator.

A fifth generation Coloradan, Senator Salazar's life reflects the American dream. His family settled in the American West before the United States was a country. After helping found the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1598, they planted roots in Colorado's San Luis Valley, where they have farmed and ranched the same land for five generations.

Senator Salazar's parents served in World War II - his mother in the War Department in Washington D.C. and his father as a staff sergeant in the United States Army. After the war, they returned to the San Luis Valley to farm, ranch, and raise a family.

On a remote ranch without electricity or telephone, Senator Salazar's parents taught their eight children the values of hard work, family, and faith. Thanks to their lessons, Senator Salazar and his seven brothers and sisters all became first generation college graduates.

A farmer for more than thirty years, Senator Salazar helped form the El Rancho Salazar partnership in 1981. He and his wife have owned and operated small businesses, including a Dairy Queen and radio stations in Pueblo and Denver. He practiced water and environmental law in the private sector for eleven years. And he has served the people of Colorado as Attorney General, as a member of the Governor's cabinet, and now in the United States Senate.

As a United States Senator, Ken Salazar has exercised a leadership role in bringing people together to address the most important issues of the 21st century.

Senator Salazar has championed a new defense and foreign policy that restores American security and influence around the world. He has pressed for a change in mission in Iraq to better advance America's national security interests and has worked to strengthen our military to ensure that we are able to confront emerging threats.

Senator Salazar has been a key leader in creating a clean and renewable energy economy that is less dependent on foreign oil. He has helped lead every bipartisan effort on energy since 2005, including the Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007, which has been signed into law.

He has tackled the challenge of providing affordable health care by fighting to broaden the Children's Health Insurance Program and by working to improve health care for older Americans.

Senator Salazar has been a champion for Colorado's farmers, ranchers, and rural communities, ensuring that the 2007 Farm Bill and our energy policy create food and fuel security for America. He has worked to help veterans in rural communities get better access to health care by creating the Office of Rural Health within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and by pressing the VA to open new rural outreach clinics in Colorado.

Senator Salazar serves on the powerful Finance Committee, which oversees the nation's tax, trade, social security, and health care systems. He also serves on the Agriculture, Energy and Natural Resources, Ethics, and Aging Committees. From 1999 to 2004, Ken Salazar served as Colorado's thirty-sixth Attorney General, winning statewide elections in 1998 and 2002. He served as chairman of the Conference of Western Attorneys General and received the "Profiles in Courage" award from his fellow state attorneys general for his dedication to preserving and promoting the rule of law.

As Colorado's top law enforcement officer, Attorney General Salazar led efforts to make Colorado communities safer, fight crime, strengthen the state's sex offender laws, address youth and family violence, enhance and enforce Colorado's consumer protection laws, combat fraud against the elderly, and protect Colorado's environment. He established the first-ever Colorado Attorney General Fugitive Prosecutions Unit to apprehend and prosecute fugitive murderers, the first-ever Attorney General Gang Prosecution Unit, and an Environmental Crimes Unit.

From 1987 to 1994 Ken Salazar served in the Cabinet of Governor Roy Romer as chief legal counsel and executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. Ken crafted reforms for oil, mining, and gas operations to better protect the environment and the public. He fought to uphold Colorado's interstate water compacts, created the Youth in Natural Resources program to educate thousands of young people about Colorado's natural resources, and authored the Colorado constitutional amendment creating Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO). He then served as the first chairman of GOCO, helping make it one of the most successful land conservation efforts in the United States.

Ken graduated from Centauri High School in Conejos County in 1973, attended St. Francis Seminary, received a political science degree from Colorado College in 1977, and graduated with a law degree from the University of Michigan in 1981. Salazar also received honorary doctorates of law from Colorado College in 1993 and the University of Denver in 1999. Ken and his wife, Hope, have two daughters, Melinda and Andrea, and one granddaughter, Mireya. Ken's older brother, John Salazar, was elected to the United States Congress in November 2004 from Colorado's 3rd Congressional District.