Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado was born in Yuma, Colorado, on August 22, 1974. He graduated from Yuma High School in 1993, earned a B.A. from Colorado State University in 1997, and a J.D. from the University of Colorado in 2001. Gardner served as a staff member for Senator Wayne Allard from 2002 to 2005 and was a member of the Colorado State House of Representatives from 2005 to 2010. He was elected as a Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives for the 112th and 113th Congresses (2011-2015) and to the U.S. Senate in 2014, serving from January 3, 2015, to January 3, 2021. He chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee from 2017 to 2018 and was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the Senate in 2020.