Republican Cynthia Coffman is Colorado’s current attorney general, but with her in November 2017 (in what turned out to be a failed endeavor) and two prominent Democrats vying for her job, the 2018 race for the state’s top law enforcement official is well underway.
The contest could have major implications for Colorado, especially when it comes to environmental regulations and the oil and gas industry. Not to mention potential pushback against the Trump administration.
Coffman has under former President Barack Obama — — and .
So here’s who is running, who is on the fence and who is out (as of May 21, 2018):
Republicans
Brauchler, a Republican who is the top prosecutor in the 18th Judicial District, until Nov. 13 when he . His decision came less than a week after Cynthia Coffman joined the very crowded GOP gubernatorial primary. He quickly won backing from the Republican Attorney General’s Association.
Democrats
The state representative and has , particularly when it comes to issues involving the oil and gas industry. Salazar, an attorney, worked in civil rights and criminal law for the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies before becoming a lawmaker. Salazar was initially thought to be a potential candidate for Colorado governor.
Weiser is the former dean of the University of Colorado Law School and onetime Obama administration official who got into the attorney general’s race in May 2017 by saying that Coffman has been “aiding and abetting” the White House by not taking action against Donald Trump’s policies. He has for the contest.
Who is out?
U.S. Rep. Ken Buck — a Republican from Windsor — told The Denver Post in mid-July that he should Cynthia Coffman get into the governor’s race. But in a September talk-radio interview, he said it was highly unlikely he would end up pursuing the job. “I think itap getting late in the game to put a campaign together for governor or for attorney general,” Buck, Weld County’s former district attorney, told Ross Kaminsky on his talk radio show.
Coffman was elected attorney general in 2014 , coming to the job after serving as chief deputy attorney general under former Colorado Attorney General John Suthers. On Nov. 8, 2017, she announced that she wouldn’t be seeking re-election as the state’s top law enforcement officer, .
Dougherty is a career prosecutor who currently serves as an assistant district attorney for the 1st Judicial District in Jefferson and Gilpin counties. He jumped into the attorney general’s race in May and said, if elected, he planned to focus on the environment, public safety, consumer protection and government transparency. He suspended his campaign for attorney general in February 2018 in hopes of being appointed Boulder County’s district attorney (which he was).
Garnett, a Democrat and the Boulder County district attorney, but ultimately decided against seeking the job, saying it could prove to be “a huge distraction” from his oversight of the programs he’s launched or is expanding in the Boulder district attorney’s office.
Levin is a Denver attorney who got in on the contest in June 2017, positioning himself as a consumer advocate. As a political newcomer, has an extensive background in commercial litigation, having secured multimillion-dollar settlements from insurance companies on behalf of consumers and businesses. The Colorado secretary of state’s office found in April he didn’t have a sufficient number of signatures to petition onto the ballot. Levin challenged the decision in court, but was unsuccessful.
Padden is a former state and federal prosecutor who also has a history in the private sector. She says public safety and consumer protection are the cornerstone of her platform. In the mid-2000s, Padden served as an assistant attorney general under former Attorney General John Suthers. She suspended her campaign in April and endorsed Phil Weiser.
Wist, the No. 2 Republican in the Colorado House, said he was seriously considering running for attorney general should Cynthia Coffman jump into the gubernatorial race. But after George Brauchler got into the attorney general’s contest, Wist — a Colorado native who lives in Centennial and works in a private law practice specializing on employment matters — a run.