Dave, a former US Army Green Beret and Iraq War veteran, is our current District 1 City Councilman. He was elected in April 2021 and has become known as “the honorable Dave Donelson, Councilman for the people” due to his refusal to take developer campaign donations, and his stellar voting record in support of his constituents, citizen groups and neighborhoods. He is seeking reelection to his second, and final, term.
Meet Dave
Dave and his wife Holly will celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary this year. They have called Colorado Springs home for 33 years. They have lived in District 1 for 25 years and raised their daughter and son here.
Dave served his country for 21 years in the US Army - first in Military Intelligence as a Russian Linguist, then in the Green Berets as a Special Forces Medical Sergeant, and finally as a Commissioned Officer and Physician Assistant. He is an Iraq War veteran with three one-year deployments to Iraq. He also served one year in the Republic of Korea (where he was on 9/11), and six months at the US Embassy in Kazakhstan (among other deployments). He retired from the Army in 2010 after reaching the rank of Major.
After retiring from the Army, Dave continued to serve the citizens of Colorado Springs as a Physician Assistant at Peterson AFB Flight Medicine, then a small Urgent Care, and finally as the Center Director for a Men’s Health Clinic. In this final position, his focus on customer service and understanding of small business success led to dramatic increase in patients (customers) enrolled.
In the summer of 2019, Dave retired from medical practice. Soon after, he and Holly traveled to Europe for the 75th Anniversary of D-Day. Holly's father had landed on Utah Beach on June 6, 1944, and it was at that very location Dave decided to continue serving his country and community by running for public office.
Dave has a BA in Political Science from the University of New Mexico, a BS in Physician Assistant Studies from the University of Nebraska School of Medicine, and graduated from the Defense Language Institute as a Russian linguist. He has also been a Paramedic and a Wilderness Guard (pictured left). He is a member of the Special Forces Association, Pikes Peak Road Runners, and Knights of Columbus (among other organizations). He and Holly are members of Corpus Christi Catholic Church.