Salazar, John Tony, 1953-

John Tony Salazar (born July 21, 1953) is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Colorado's 3rd congressional district from 2005 to 2011.

Born in Alamosa, Colorado, he served four years in the U.S. Army before going on to earn a B.S. from Adams State College. After graduating, Salazar returned to the family ranch and began a career as a seed-potato farmer. While a farmer, Salazar became active in local agricultural organizations. He served on the Rio Grande water conservation district, where he successfully opposed a private company’s effort to buy local water rights to divert water to Denver’s suburbs. He was appointed to the Colorado agricultural commission in 1999. In 2002 he was elected to the Colorado state house of representatives, where he continued to oppose measures to divert water out of the region.

Salazar was first elected to the United States House of Representatives in 2004. His election to succeed retiring Republican Scott McInnis was one of the most contested House elections of the year with Salazar just one of three Democrats to pick up seats in the House of Representatives. Though a Democrat, he exhibited conservative leanings. He opposed expanding gun control and supported permanent repeal of the inheritance tax and lower taxes. He also supports allowing Americans to buy cheaper prescription drugs from Canada. He was a member of the conservative Blue Dog Democrats, leading him to oppose Democratic priority measures such as the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and the American Clean Energy and Security Act in 2009. During consideration of the Affordable Care Act, he voted in favor of the Stupak Amendment restricting federal funding of elective abortions. However, he also voted for the Senate version of the health care bill lacking the Stupak Amendment language.

In 2010, Salazar was defeated for re-election by Republican Scott Tipton. Following his service in Congress, he was appointed as Commissioner of the Colorado Department of Agriculture in the Cabinet of Governor John Hickenlooper in 2011, and announced his retirement as Commissioner in November 2014.