Penfield Tate III

{{Short description|American politician}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|name = Penfield Tate III

|image = PenfieldTateIII.png

|caption = Tate in 2019

|state = Colorado

|state_senate = Colorado

|district = 33rd

|term_start = 2000

|term_end = 2003

|predecessor =

|successor =

|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1956|5|19}}

|birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,{{cite web |title=Penfield W. Tate III's Biography |url=https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/penfield-w-tate-iii |website=HistoryMakers |access-date=8 December 2023}} U.S.

|death_date =

|death_place =

|party = Democratic

|spouse = Paulette

|education = {{plainlist|

• Colorado State University
• Antioch School of Law

}}

|signature=PenTate-Signature-300x143.png

}}

Penfield Wallace Tate III (born May 19, 1956) is an American politician.

Tate's father Penfield Tate II served in the United States military. As a result, the younger Tate and his mother Ellen spent his early life on several military bases. Tate III graduated from Colorado State University in 1978 with a degree in sociology. He pursued a J. D. at the Antioch School of Law, ending his legal studies in 1981. Tate then became an attorney based in Denver for the Federal Trade Commission. In 1984, Tate began practicing law at Trimble, Tate & Nulan, a law firm cofounded by his father. Tate worked for Federico Peña from 1990 to 1991, returning to Trimble, Tate & Nulan in 1992, before leading his own legal practice, Tate & Tate, P.C., alongside his father. Tate worked for the Colorado Department of Administration before serving the Colorado Democratic Party as vice chairman from 1994 to 1996. He was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives from the eighth district the next year. In 2000, Tate sought election to the Colorado Senate from District 33.{{cite news |title=Penfield Tate III |url=http://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/penfield-w-tate-iii |accessdate=October 3, 2018 |work=The HistoryMakers |date=September 26, 2016}}

Tate resigned from the state senate in February 2003 to contest the mayoralty of Denver in the 2003 Denver mayoral election.{{cite book |last1=Webb |first1=Wellington E. |title=Wellington Webb: The Man, the Mayor, and the Making of Modern Denver |date=2007 |publisher=Fulcrum Publishing |isbn=9781555916343 |page=[https://archive.org/details/wellingtonwebbma0000webb/page/362 362] |url=https://archive.org/details/wellingtonwebbma0000webb|url-access=registration }}{{cite news |title=Senate journal |url=https://www.leg.state.co.us/2003a/inetc&j.nsf/(jousen)/326D74678209F5C487256CD00052A0ED/$FILE/jour_041.pdf |accessdate=October 3, 2018 |agency=Colorado Senate |date=February 17, 2003 |pages=379–380}} He was one of seven candidates in the mayoral election,{{cite news |last1=Kohler |first1=Judith |title=Seven Vie for Denver Mayor's Job |url=https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/Seven-Vie-for-Denver-Mayor-s-Job-7119703.php |accessdate=October 3, 2018 |work=Midland Daily News |agency=Associated Press |date=May 5, 2003}} but placed fourth in the first round and therefore did not advance to the runoff, won by John Hickenlooper. In October 2018, Tate began his second Denver mayoral campaign.{{cite news |last1=Kenney |first1=Andrew |title=Former Democratic lawmaker Penfield Tate to challenge Hancock in Denver mayor’s race |url=https://www.denverpost.com/2018/10/01/penfield-tate-denver-mayor-race-michael-hancock/ |accessdate=October 3, 2018 |work=Denver Post |date=October 1, 2018}} He would, once again, place fourth in the first round of the 2019 Denver mayoral election. In 2023, he ran for an at-large Denver City Council seat in the 2023 Denver Mayoral election and placed third out of nine candidates.