The Democratic domination of Colorado politics at the statewide level is now total, with party members holding the offices of governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer, secretary of state and attorney general.
It’s in that last office where chances for a miniature Republican revival in the state’s ultra-blue landscape are highest, University of Colorado Boulder law professor Douglas Spencer said. With its law-and-order focus, the post could be seen even by some Democrats as suitable for a party switch, he said.
And before current two-term Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat, was elected in 2018 during a blue wave election, Republicans Cynthia Coffman and John Suthers held the post for 14 years running.
“It’s more likely Republicans could pick up this seat than any other state office,” Spencer said.
First, voters participating in the major parties’ June 30 primaries will pick the nominees who will face off in the November election. Here’s a look at the six candidates vying for the seat on either side, in the order they’ll appear on each ballot.
Democratic candidates
Jena Griswold |
Griswold, the second-term Colorado secretary of state, leads in name recognition and fundraising — on both sides of the aisle. Through late May, the Democrat had raised nearly $1.9 million, which was nearly twice that of the second-highest fundraiser in the race, fellow Democrat Hetal Doshi.
Griswold, 41, holds up her record of going after President Donald Trump and his administration almost everywhere she goes, a tried-and-true strategy in a state where the president is deeply unpopular. It’s also an approach embraced by her Democratic opponents, who are unanimous in their criticism of Trump’s foreign policy, immigration crackdown and environmental deregulation.
“The most burning issue is protecting Coloradans, our state and doing our part to protect the nation from Trump’s lawlessness,” Griswold told The Denver Post. “I’m going to do everything in my power to stop this administration from breaking the law and hurting our state.”
In the primary race, Griswold’s legal resume has come under attack. She is a lawyer but has done less litigating than her Democratic opponents.
Griswold often talks about her role in her current office in holding former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters accountable for her criminal role in an election equipment security breach following the 2020 election. Peters was recently released from prison after Gov. Jared Polis granted her clemency.
She also points to her efforts to keep Trump off the Colorado ballot in 2024 because of his role in the events that led to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, as well as her refusal to “hand over Coloradans’ sensitive voter data to the federal government.”
David Seligman |
The executive director of the , Seligman positions himself at the left edge of the Democratic field, with a heavy focus on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and oligarchy.
“We don’t need ICE,” the Denver native said. “What ICE has turned into, it would be one of the most well-funded armies in the world.”
A Harvard Law School grad, Seligman says on his campaign website that Towards Justice “stands up in court for nurses, rideshare drivers, meatpackers, Amazon workers, veterans, teachers, federal employees, grocery workers, renters buried in junk fees from the biggest landlords in the country and working families drowning in medical debt to massive hospital systems.”
“I use the law to fight for people,” he told The Post.
Seligman, 43, says corralling ICE and addressing Colorado’s “crushing affordability crisis” will be among his top priorities as attorney general. “Billionaire oligarchs who are ripping us off in this state” are at the heart of the problem, he said.
“We’re going to hold them accountable in bold ways,” he said.
Seligman also slammed the Environmental Protection Agency as ineffective under Trump, and he highlighted the Suncor oil refinery in Commerce City as a business that is “making us sick and getting away with it.”
Michael Dougherty |
Boulder County’s district attorney for the past half-dozen years, Dougherty has the most prosecutorial experience — nearly 30 years — among the six candidates running. He was the lead prosecutor in the 2021 Boulder King Soopers mass shooting and the 2025 Pearl Street Mall antisemitic firebombing cases. Both resulted in convictions
Before landing in then-Attorney General John Suthers’ office to head up the DNA Justice Review Project in Colorado, Dougherty, now 54, worked as a prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York City, where he led the sex crimes unit.
His courtroom experience is critical to being able to discern which cases are worth bringing to trial, he said, a skill Colorado’s next attorney general will need to have. The AG’s office most often files civil or enforcement cases.
“Do we have enough evidence to take Donald Trump to court? Thatap a decision that requires legal experience and leadership,” he said. “I believe the next AG has to have legal experience and integrity.”
Other priorities Dougherty identifies are protecting the rights of working people, prosecuting hate crimes, holding polluters accountable, shutting down scams and curbing fraud.
Hetal Doshi |
A former assistant U.S. attorney in Colorado, Doshi focused on pursuing cartels, fraudsters and scammers. The Democrat also considers herself a bulwark against the Trump administration’s attempts to dismantle many of the nation’s environmental regulations.
“With the federal rollback of environmental protections, we’re at real risk of pollution and other impacts on our air, water and land,” she said. “I’m best positioned to fight for Colorado and fight federal lawlessness because I’m the only former federal prosecutor in the race.”
More recently, Doshi served as deputy assistant attorney general during the Biden administration, overseeing the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.
Doshi, 47, said she would be “very comfortable” taking the Trump administration to court as attorney general but would also want to “look inward and make sure the work of Colorado is still happening.” Weiser has sued or joined suits against the White House dozens of times since Trump started his second term last year.
“I’m mindful that every time we sue the Trump administration, that takes time,” she said.
Doshi wants to tackle healthcare fraud and hold ICE accountable in Colorado, saying that “all options are on the table” for dealing with the immigration enforcement agency.
“Prioritization of the deportation of criminals is not what’s happening today,” she said.
Republican candidates
Michael J. Allen |
On the other side of the ledger, Allen, the El Paso County district attorney in Colorado Springs, said no one should count out a Republican recapture of the attorney general’s office.
“I’m not as convinced it’s as deep blue a state as people say,” said Allen, a Colorado native. “Colorado voters are very discerning and smart. People have an appetite for change.”
Allen, 54, a U.S. Navy veteran, has been a prosecutor for more than two decades and has served as the Fourth Judicial District’s district attorney for six years. He created an election integrity unit and an organized crime unit, and he credited a motor vehicle theft team in his office with slicing auto theft cases in half in his jurisdiction last year.
He also prosecuted the Club Q mass shooting case as a hate crime, securing the second-longest prison sentence in Colorado history. Allen looks warily at efforts by Colorado’s Democratic Party-dominated legislature in recent years to ease punishment for convicted criminals.
“A lot of criminal justice reform has eroded the accountability of the criminal offenders,” he said. “And it’s undeniable that crime has an impact on affordability.”
David Willson |
The other Republican in the race is David Willson, a retired U.S. Army attorney who has also represented parents in neglect and dependency cases for the past decade. He ran against Allen in the El Paso County district attorney’s race in 2024 and lost.
Willson, 62, said Weiser is wasting taxpayer money litigating the Trump administration as much as he has.
“This is just that ‘let’s get Trump’ attitude, rather than doing good for the citizens of Colorado,” he said. “I can’t imagine what there are (that many) issues to sue over.”
As attorney general, Willson said he would “defend the (state) laws that I believe are constitutional,” without elaborating further on what those are. Colorado has protections for abortion and legal marijuana, both of which Willson opposes, in its constitution.
On his campaign website, Willson says Islamic Sharia law must never come to Colorado and that porn in schools must be eradicated — an apparent reference to books that some parental groups have found objectionable or inappropriate for young students. Allen, he said, hasn’t done enough to look into the issue.
“I would have investigated those books,” Willson said. “I would have made an issue of it and it would have gone away.”
