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Colorado Attorney General candidate Q&A

The race features Republican Michael Allen and Democrat Jena Griswold

PUBLISHED: | UPDATED:
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Michael Allen  Republican

Residence: Monument
Profession: District Attorney
Education: Law Degree, KU School of Law
Experience: 20+ years of legal experience as a prosecutor, including service as an elected District Attorney, handling complex criminal cases and leading major public law enforcement organizations.


What are your top three priorities, if elected?
I am focused on improving the quality of life for all Coloradans. This includes protecting public safety, building an economically stronger Colorado, and defending the rule of law. As District Attorney, I have focused efforts on reducing crime by supporting victims and holding offenders appropriately accountable. I will also protect Coloradans from fraud, rising costs, and policies that make Colorado less affordable. Finally, I will work to ensure the government follows the law, protects consumers, respects constitutional rights, and delivers fair justice. I take a practical, results-driven approach to public service that is focused on safer communities and an economically stronger Colorado.

What would be your approach to advocating for the state’s interests and Coloradans’ rights when the state is targeted by the Trump administration?
My approach would be the same regardless of who is in the White House: put Colorado first. If the Trump administration, or any federal administration or future president, oversteps its legal or constitutional authority, threatens Coloradans’ rights, or harms our state’s interests, I would not hesitate to act. But I would not use the Attorney General’s Office to reflexively sue the federal government for partisan political purposes. I would evaluate each case on the law and the facts. My loyalty has always been to the people of Colorado, the Constitution, and the rule of law.

What role should the attorney general’s office play in police oversight?
My approach to police oversight is informed by my experience as a District Attorney. I review every officer-involved shooting investigation in my jurisdiction, applying the law independently and objectively to ensure accountability and transparency. The Attorney General’s Office should play a broader role in setting high professional standards through Colorado POST, including strong, consistent training and curriculum for peace officers statewide. Effective oversight means ensuring thorough investigations when force is used, while also investing in training, professionalism, and accountability before misconduct occurs. The goal should be both public trust and effective, constitutional policing.

How has your professional experience prepared you to be the state’s attorney general?
My professional experience has prepared me to serve as Attorney General from multiple perspectives. I have spent more than 20 years as a prosecutor, including two terms as the elected District Attorney in Colorado’s largest judicial district, leading a major public law office and prosecuting complex criminal cases. I have also worked in the Kansas Attorney General’s Office in the Consumer Protection Division, protecting consumers from fraud and deceptive practices. That combination of criminal prosecution, executive leadership, complex litigation, and consumer protection gives me the broad legal and management experience necessary to lead Colorado’s Attorney General’s Office effectively.

 

 

 

Jena Griswold  Democrat

Residence:
Profession: Secretary of State
Education: University of Pennsylvania Law School; Whitman College; Estes Park High School
Experience: Griswold graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and is Colorado’s Secretary of State. She is a leader in defending democracy and standing up to Trump.


What are your top three priorities, if elected?
I am running for Attorney General to stand up to Trump and MAGA extremists to protect our democracy and fundamental rights. I will protect women’s rights and make sure Coloradans have access to critical reproductive health care, including birth control, IVF, and abortion access, and ensure victims get justice by taking on Colorado’s rape kit testing backlog. I will also go after illegal corporate greed, price gouging, and wage theft and staff up an Office of Worker’s Rights. As the first in my family to go to a four year college and law school, I will always stand with working people.

What would be your approach to advocating for the state’s interests and Coloradans’ rights when the state is targeted by the Trump administration?
We’ve seen the bedrock principles of our democracy and the rule of law pushed to the brink. Trump consistently breaks the law and undermines the Constitution. We cannot let his brazen attempts to grab power go unchecked. We must fight back. That¶¶Òõap why I’m running for Attorney General.

As Colorado’s next Attorney General, I will continue the current AG’s work of taking on the Trump Administration to protect our rights and our state. That includes protecting our land, air and water, and ensuring that if a federal agent commits a crime they face accountability.

What role should the attorney general’s office play in police oversight?
The Attorney General has the responsibility for investigation and enforcement of pattern-and-practice violations of civil rights; if law enforcement is accused of violating these rights, the AG is charged with conducting a fair and transparent investigation, which I will do. POST is also part of the AG’s office – this unit certifies all peace officers in the state and decertifies officers if they engage in prohibited behavior. I will partner with law enforcement to improve safety in this role.

As AG, I will work to increase transparency and accountability, and improve police standards and public trust in law enforcement.

How has your professional experience prepared you to be the state’s attorney general?
As Secretary of State, I have increased access to voting, including increasing ballot drop boxes by over 70%, working to guarantee access on public colleges and tribal lands, and implementing automatic voter registration. I also safeguarded our elections by working with the legislature to ban guns near voting locations and make it a crime to compromise voting equipment or threaten election workers. I have taken on MAGA and Trump, including barring Tina Peters from directly overseeing elections after she compromised her county’s voting equipment and refusing to hand over Coloradans’ sensitive voter data to Trump’s DOJ. As AG, I will continue to protect Colorado from Trump’s dangerous federal overreach.


How candidate order was determined: A lot drawing was held at the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office on July 28, 2026 to determine the general election ballot order for major and minor party candidates for US Senate, US House of Representatives, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, Attorney General, State Board of Education, University of Colorado Board of Regents, State Senate, and State House of Representatives. Colorado law (1-5-404, C.R.S.) requires that candidates are ordered on the ballot in three tiers: major party candidates followed by minor party candidates followed by unaffiliated candidates. Within each tier, the candidates are ordered by a lot drawing with the exception of the office of Governor and Lt. Governor, which are ordered by the last name of the gubernatorial candidate. The lot drawing was conducted by Secretary of State Elections Division staff and was witnessed by representatives of the Colorado Democratic, Colorado Republican, and Colorado Forward Parties. Questionnaires were not sent to write-in candidates.

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