Michael Dougherty, who left the Colorado attorney general’s race last month to seek appointment as Boulder County’s top prosecutor, says he will run to be elected to the post after being selected for the job last week by Gov. John Hickenlooper.
Dougherty’s decision — announced Tuesday — sets up a race in November for Boulder County district attorney between him and state Rep. Mike Foote, a fellow Democrat from Lafayette who is also a prosecutor in the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office.
Foote was also seeking to be appointed to the job by Hickenlooper and vowed to run for the post if he was not chosen.
Dougherty had been serving as a prosecutor for Jefferson and Gilpin counties before being selected for the Boulder job.
The Boulder County district attorney position opened up after Stan Garnett announced in December that he was stepping down from the post to become a senior partner at the Denver law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. Garnett was elected to a third term in 2016.
“An election is an opportunity to go door-to-door and have real discussions with members of the community,” Dougherty said in a written statement. “I look forward to talking about my experience as a leader and my vision for the District Attorney’s Office, and answering questions about the future of our criminal justice system.”