Evans brought in more than $1.2 million during the first three months of 2026, according to federal campaign finance reports due Wednesday. He ended March with more than $3.4 million in the bank. That’s an eye-watering sum, easily surpassing the roughly $2 million that Evans’ Democratic predecessor, then-U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo, had gathered at the same point in early 2024.

Evans has no primary challenger, meaning he won’t need to start seriously spending his cash until after his Democratic opponent emerges from the June 30 primary.

In other federal races, U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper significantly outraised a state senator challenging him in the Democratic primary, while another incumbent — Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert — was outraised by an even greater factor by her only remaining Democratic challenger in the state’s most conservative-leaning district.

The race for Evans’ 8th Congressional District seat, which sits in a rural-suburban area north of Denver, will be among the most closely watched contests in the country this fall. Two of the Democrats hoping to topple Evans have started marshalling their own financial resources.

State Rep. Manny Rutinel posted a strong quarter, hauling in more than $952,000 to bring his cash-on-hand total to more than $1.76 million. He raised more — and has banked more — than his former state House colleague, Shannon Bird, who joined the race a few months after Rutinel last year.

Bird raised nearly $567,000 in early 2026, and she ended the quarter with just over $1 million to play with as the primary season entered its final three-month stretch.

The third Democrat in the race, Marine veteran Evan Munsing, has outlasted several more established candidates — including Caraveo, who mounted a brief comeback campaign last year. But his fundraising has slipped farther behind Rutinel’s and Bird’s: Munsing raked in $115,000 last quarter, and he spent almost double that.

As a consequence, his cash pile has been halved, from the $213,000 at the end of 2025 to $108,000 at the end of March.

Between the three Democrats and Evans, the CD8 candidates raised more than $2.8 million over the last three months. Between them, the four candidates have nearly $6.4 million on hand.

More than half of that pile lies, waiting, in Evans’ coffers.

“I’m grateful for the outpouring of support from Coloradans who are ready to keep fighting for safer communities, a stronger economy and a more secure future,” Evans said in a statement Wednesday.

Here’s what else was revealed by the latest federal campaign finance reports, which came out just after the major parties’ primary ballots were finalized through assembly votes and petitioning.

Hickenlooper’s haul grows for primary challenge

In his Senate reelection race, Hickenlooper raised nearly $1.4 million last quarter, the first full reporting period since his primary challenger, state Sen. Julie Gonzales, entered the race. That’s more than he raised in the prior quarter.

Though he spent more than $1.2 million in the early part of 2026, the incumbent Democrat will still enter primary season with a hefty $4 million in the bank.

Gonzales, meanwhile, has reported more anemic fundraising. She raised more than $264,000 this past quarter, compared with the nearly $180,000 she posted in her first month in late 2025, showing a slowing pace. Her most recent total in the bank sat at just over $114,000.

In a blog post Wednesday, Gonzales acknowledged that her campaign was “living paycheck to paycheck.” But she appeared undaunted and said she raised $130,000 in the first week of April, after the reporting period’s end.

DeGette’s balance grows as challenger picks up pace

A different primary challenge is brewing in Denver’s 1st Congressional District.

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Democrat who’s been in Congress for nearly 30 years, is facing two Democratic opponents: University of Colorado Regent Wanda James and Melat Kiros, a lawyer and doctoral student who last month beat DeGette in an assembly nominating vote.

Whether that victory translates to an incumbent-toppling result in June remains to be seen. DeGette raised more than $263,000 last quarter, a bit more than she’d raised at the end of 2025. Her cash-on-hand total ticked up, too, and now sits at $636,000.

Kiros also saw a boost, bringing in more than $174,000, double her prior quarter’s total. With $118,000 in the bank, she trailed DeGette’s total entering primary season.

James’ fundraising went the opposite way. The regent raised more than $72,000 last quarter, below her fourth-quarter total last year. Her spending also ticked up, bringing her cash on hand down to just more than $54,000.

Boebert challenger keeps raking in cash. Will it matter?

Among Colorado’s incumbents in Congress, Boebert has long been a fundraising lightning rod. That remains true, even as she settles into the comfortably conservative 4th Congressional District, which covers Colorado’s Eastern Plains as well as Douglas County, after a district switch in the last election.

Eileen Laubacher, a retired rear admiral in the U.S. Navy, raised more than $2 million for the second consecutive quarter. After a big spend of $1.5 million, she still ended the quarter with more than $3 million in her campaign’s pocket. Another Democratic candidate, Trisha Calvarese, also had raised big money in her second run against Boebert before she dropped out two weeks ago.

Boebert, in contrast, raised just under $90,000 in the last three months, and she reported $160,000 on hand in late March.

It’s important to remember that Boebert now represents a district where, in a 2021 analysis, by more than 26 percentage points. In 2024, Boebert’s win wasn’t even half that — and .

Hurd amasses cash to defend Western Slope seat

In Boebert’s old 3rd Congressional District, her erstwhile Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd, is looking to defend a seat that’s reliably, if not comfortably, red. Hurd raised more than $609,000 last quarter, bringing his war chest to just under $2 million.

He also picked up a primary opponent at the Colorado Republican Party assembly last week — former state Rep. Ron Hanks — but his fundraising advantage is hefty.

Two Democrats are jockeying to take on Hurd in November. Alex Kelloff, a Snowmass businessman, has been in the race longer. He raised $192,000 last quarter, adding a bit to his cash-on-hand total of $458,000.

Kelloff’s newcomer primary opponent, fellow businessman Dwayne Romero, raised more than $505,000 in his first month in the race, and, after expenses, had slighty more on hand than Kelloff.

Democrat brings in cash to flip Colorado Springs district

Colorado’s other Jeff among Republican congressmen — Hurd’s fellow freshman, U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank —  raised $345,000 last quarter as he looks to defend the conservative 5th Congressional District. Crank’s war chest now tops $1.1 million.

His likely opponent, Democrat Jessica Killin, brought in nearly $670,000, bringing her on-hand total to more than $1.5 million. Army veteran Joe Reagan, who is challenging Killin for the Democratic nomination, raised $86,000 and ended the first quarter with $33,000 in the bank.

Democrats have been targeting the district, which — after Boebert’s current seat — is the most conservative in the state.

Incumbents’ cash hauls

While DeGette looks to ward off her primary opponents, Colorado’s three other Democratic members of Congress are without well-known Republican challengers. But they’re still slowly building up their campaign bank accounts.

U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, of the Boulder-based 2nd Congressional District, brought his cash on hand to just under $3 million last quarter. U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, of Aurora’s 6th Congressional District, raked in nearly $940,000 to start 2026 (which, his campaign said, was his largest single-quarter haul), and he had more than $2.5 million under his campaign mattress.

U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen, whose 7th Congressional District covers the center of the state up through parts of metro Denver, had more than $915,000 on hand.

Those sums will allow the Democrats to support not only their own campaigns but others’ races and causes, too. Crow’s latest campaign finance report listed a nearly $60,000 contribution to the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, for instance, while Neguse gave $35,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Kirkmeyer, of Brighton, will face off against state Rep. Scott Bottoms and political newcomer Victor Marx in the June 30 Republican primary. Bottoms and Marx, both pastors who live in Colorado Springs, qualified for the ballot through the GOP state assembly on Saturday.

Bottoms, who led a wide assembly field and won support from 45% of attendees, will get the top spot in the race.

Kirkmeyer took the petition route to the ballot. She submitted more than 15,000 valid signatures, including more than 1,500 from each of Colorado’s eight congressional districts, according to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office, which certified the signatures.

“This campaign has been built by thousands of real people, in real communities, all across Colorado,” Kirkmeyer said in a statement about her ballot qualification. “I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who took the time to sign our petition, share our message, and be part of something bigger. This is your campaign.”

The Democratic slate was mostly set at the end of March with that party’s state assembly. Attorney General Phil Weiser, who won support from more than 90% of that event����ap voting members, will face U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, who petitioned onto the primary ballot.

Also on Wednesday, the Secretary of State’s office certified University of Colorado Regent Wanda James’s spot in a primary challenge to incumbent U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Denver Democrat. Melat Kiros, a Denver lawyer who stunned DeGette by outpolling her during the county assembly in March, has also qualified for that primary race. Republicans have nominated Christy Peterson, who is unopposed.

Earlier in the week, the Secretary of State’s Office certified Hetal Doshi and Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty for the Democratic primary ballot for attorney general. They will face Secretary of State Jena Griswold and attorney David Seligman in that party’s nominating contest.

Democratic and Republican primary ballots

Here are the candidates who qualified for the major-party ballots in the June 30 primary in statewide races. Voters affiliated with a party will receive its ballot in the mail in June. Unaffiliated voters can participate in primaries and will receive both parties’ ballots in the mail, but they can return only one of them.

The four state offices are all open races this year, with the incumbents term-limited.

Governor

• Democratic primary: U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, Attorney General Phil Weiser
• Republican primary: state Rep. Scott Bottoms, state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, Victor Marx

Attorney general

• Republican primary: El Paso County District Attorney Michael Allen, David Willson
• Democratic primary: Hetal Doshi, Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty, Secretary of State Jena Griswold, David Seligman

Secretary of state

• Democratic primary: state Sen. Jessie Danielson, Jefferson County Clerk Amanda Gonzalez
• Republican primary: James Wiley (a former Colorado Libertarian Party official), unopposed

Treasurer

• Republican primary: Fremont County Commissioner Kevin Grantham, unopposed
• Democratic primary: state Sen. Jeff Bridges, unopposed

U.S. Senate

• Democratic primary: state Sen. Julie Gonzales, U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper (incumbent)
• Republican primary: state Sen. Mark Baisley, unopposed

Melat Kiros — who’s also a lawyer and a Ph.D student when she isn’t behind the counter at the Whittier Cafe — is picking up momentum in her first-ever political campaign. She’s running against longtime U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette in the Democratic primary for Colorado’s 1st Congressional District in Denver.

DeGette, who was sworn into office the year Kiros was born, has .

But Kiros, a Democratic socialist, rose to prominence after she demolished DeGette in the Democrats’ Denver County assembly last month. And while political observers, including Kiros herself, say the assembly process isn’t actually representative of who will vote in the June primary, the win still marked a surprising development in a race that many considered to be predetermined.

“This has nothing to do with me and everything to do with the fact that Denver Democrats want a fighter — somebody who is actually committed to transformative change,” Kiros said in an interview this week with The Denver Post.

Kiros didn’t keep DeGette off the ballot, but she gave her a scare. Kiros won 646 votes, or the support of 63% of those present at the county assembly. DeGette won 336, or 32% of the votes.

It was the first time DeGette had lost a county assembly vote since she initially won her seat in Congress in the 1996 election.

Two weeks after the county assembly, DeGette, 68, narrowly won her place on the primary ballot at the 1st Congressional District party assembly, receiving 33% support — just above the 30% threshold to make the ballot. A third primary candidate, University of Colorado Regent Wanda James, , but her voter signatures are still under review by the state.

Denver-based state Rep. Javier Mabrey, who endorsed Kiros, said he saw her as part of a larger movement within the Democratic Party: voters who don’t want to see the same types of candidates elected.

Like New York City’s new Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Kiros is a more progressive Democrat than those who currently make up the majority of the party’s members in Congress, he said.

“I think there’s an energy for politics that says, ‘Our problems are more complicated than Donald Trump alone. We’ve got to confront the conditions that led to Donald Trump,” Mabrey said of the Republican president. “I think Melat has tapped into that.”

Kiros will still have a long way to go if she hopes to pull off a win of the June 30 primary, however. The assembly gathered only a tiny sliver of the 416,000 people eligible to vote in the June Democratic primary — 230,000 unaffiliated voters and 186,000 registered Democrats, as of March 1, according to the secretary of state’s office.

A spokesperson for DeGette’s campaign said the congresswoman was proud to have made the ballot through the assembly process.

“This is ultimately only a small first step with a small group of people,” Jennie Peek-Dunstone wrote in an email. “Now, we are talking with hundreds of thousands of Democrats and unaffiliated voters across the District. Diana has deep support across Denver because she’s always fought for us. She’ll keep championing our progressive values by standing up to Trump, fighting for universal health care, and defending our democracy — just as she always has.”

Denver is a Democratic stronghold, meaning that whoever wins the primary is all but guaranteed to win the general election. In 2024, DeGette defeated her Republican challenger with 77% of the vote.

Kiros’ background

A child of immigrants, Kiros was born in Ethiopia but moved to Denver with her family as a baby. She left the city to attend Washington College in Maryland and went on to attend law school at the University of Notre Dame. After passing the bar exam, she began work as a securities regulation attorney at , one of the biggest law firms in the country.

Kiros said that two years in, firm leaders fired her for a by Hamas in Israel, which responded by launching a war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In the post, she questioned Israel’s legitimacy as a state and disavowed about the rise in antisemitism.

“This letter rightfully rebukes the anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and bigotry of all kinds that has spiked in recent weeks, but then goes on (to my confusion) to cite ‘calls for the elimination of the Israeli state’ as anti-Semitism,” she wrote. “… To conflate such bigotry with the geo-political question of Israel’s legitimacy is one of the greatest travesties in this conflict.”

More recently, Kiros has been criticized for sharing last month with a video that said Democrats “fellate Israel” and “suck (expletive).” The video was promoting an online rally for progressive candidates and speakers.

Kiros said she didn’t write that phrasing and doesn’t endorse that language.

After her firing from the law firm, Kiros says she decided to get more involved in politics. Now, she’s pursuing a doctorate in public policy with a focus on “democracy reform” at .

In 2024, she volunteered as the communications director for Democrat John Padora’s campaign in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District — one of the most conservative seats in the state and now represented by U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert.

‘Our party isn’t fighting back’

Kiros’ online ads , calling out not only DeGette but also former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. One shows large Xs over photos of former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and former President Joe Biden while Kiros says: “We hear politicians say over and over that we need bold leadership, progress and change. We’ve heard this for years. Decades. But they never deliver.”

“Our party isn’t fighting back like they should,” she goes on to say.

Kiros is endorsed by the Denver chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and the Justice Democrats. She says that if elected, she sees herself aligning with members of Congress like U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Summer Lee of Pennsylvania and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

She would use her position, she said, to “call out the Democrats who are not actually fighting for our values” and pressure them to change the votes she disagrees with. That could include civil protests and threatening quorum.

Her top three policy priorities would be passing “Medicare for All” and universal child care and creating a publicly financed election system similar to the one that Denver uses in city elections, which includes public matching for smaller-dollar donations.

DeGette supporters emphasize that the congresswoman is also a co-sponsor of Medicare for All legislation. Angie Anderson, a Platt Park resident and mother of 2 young children, said she’s heard DeGette talk about it.

“I consider myself pretty progressive, and I think that she represents me very well,” said Anderson, who said she has voted for DeGette in every election since she’s lived in Denver.

Ocasio-Cortez even gave DeGette a shout-out for her support of the policy .

“She is one of the most powerful people in Congress on health care,” Ocasio-Cortez said to the crowd of 30,000 people. “And Diana DeGette is a co-sponsor of Medicare for All. She believes in the guaranteed right to health care for every American. Thank you for electing her.”

Anderson said she thinks Kiros and DeGette are actually pretty similar politically.

“I just think the real difference is that Rep. DeGette has many years of experience and is actually a very skilled policymaker and legislator,” she said. “I take issue with the idea that youth and inexperience is fundamentally required to effect change.”

What did assembly win mean?

After Kiros’ assembly win, a wide swath of political observers jumped in to say that while the event’s outcome was surprising, it wasn’t particularly meaningful for the upcoming primary.

Doug Friednash, a former Denver city attorney and chief of staff to then-Gov. John Hickenlooper, wrote in a Post opinion piece recently that assemblies exclude the vast majority of voters, resulting in a “tiny, highly motivated slice of activists” to determine results.

“More and more extreme candidates in both parties have effectively used these caucuses to fly under the radar and effectively organized a small cadre of activists, like the Democratic Socialists, to show up at the caucus, leading to stunning results that make most voters shake their heads in extreme disbelief,” wrote Friednash, now a partner with Denver-based law firm Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber and Schreck.

At the very least, the win showed that Kiros’ team found a way to out-organize DeGette’s team. But it remains to be seen if that will continue through the primary election.

Kiros and her supporters agree that her assembly win doesn’t mean she’s a shoo-in to win the primary.

“I don’t think that folks who talk about the assembly not being reflective of the general electorate are wrong,” Kiros said. But she noted it was unusual for an incumbent to lose an assembly vote.

“DeGette has been challenged before,” Kiros said. “This is a different kind of campaign.”

Mabrey said finding ways to raise money for her campaign will be one of the keys for Kiros in the remaining months before the primary.

“Melat����ap going to need an injection of grassroots campaign cash to keep up,” he said.

Through the end of 2025, she had raised about $204,000 and spent nearly $138,000. DeGette had raised about $729,000 and spent $507,000 through then, while James had raised about $179,000 and spent $86,600.

Despite having lower cash reserves than DeGette, Kiros is getting recognized more often when in public, she said. During a recent hourlong interview with The Post at a Capitol Hill coffee shop, two people stopped by the table to introduce themselves and voice their support for her.

“I’m totally voting for you, dude,” one said. “Your campaign is (expletive) awesome.”

Between now and June, Kiros plans to knock on doors, call voters, work with businesses and use digital advertising to get her message out. Nearly 200 people volunteered at a recent weekend canvassing event, she said.

“The thing that we need to do to win,” she said, “is to give people enough faith that getting involved will make a difference.”

Staff writer Seth Klamann contributed to this story.

On Saturday, at least, you call them Democrats. Then, in two weeks, you call them Republicans.

The Democratic Party faithful are gathering this weekend in the southern Colorado city for their first in-person statewide assembly since 2018 — and the party’s most consequential assembly since then, to boot. A slew of candidates are vying for the party’s nominations to the state’s top offices, nearly all of which are open because of term-limited incumbents.

The Colorado Democratic Party’s state assembly on Saturday at Memorial Hall marks the first major winnowing of those candidates. It’s also a chance for the victors to rally the base — and, they hope, ride a wave of victory headlines to the June primary election, where voters will have the final say on nominations.

In two weeks, on April 11, the Colorado Republican Party will follow suit with their state assembly, at Massari Arena on the Colorado State University Pueblo campus.

The stakes are similar in each case. Party members, picked among neighbors at precinct and county caucuses across the state in the weeks before, will name their preferences for a slew of elected offices, from U.S. senator and governor to members of the state House of Representatives. 

The assemblies aren’t the end of the nomination process — indeed, some of the highest-profile names in Democratic politics are foregoing it. But the event will exclude from June 30 primary ballots those candidates who rely on the assembly and fail to clear its 30% threshold of support. The assembly vote winners will land on the ballot’s top line.

“The most exciting thing about (the assembly) is how it levels the playing field for grassroots competitors to have a shot at sharing a message that, in some cases, resonates broadly,” Colorado Democratic Party Chair Shad Murib said.

The assembly puts candidates in front of swaths of some of the most dedicated Democrats in the state to make their case, one five-minute speech at a time.

The candidates also get the chance to rub elbows in hallways and have one-on-one conversations with voters about why they should hold the office they’re seeking — making potentially invaluable inroads, particularly for lesser-known candidates looking to knock off longtime officeholders.

Already, the caucus and assembly process revealed an organizing gap for one longtime politician. Candidate for Congress Melat Kiros walloped U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette at the Denver County assembly in mid-March, winning nearly two votes for every one the 15-term congresswoman pulled in. On Friday night, Kiros easily cruised to a place on the June primary ballot, earning 67% of the party’s nominating vote to DeGette’s 33%. Though she lost, DeGette avoided the unthinkable — falling below 30% and falling off the ballot.

Former Gov. Roy Romer, a Democrat who led the state from 1987 to 1999, praised the caucus and assembly process as a way for regular people to steer the party, rather than letting someone just throw tens of millions of dollars into an election. He’ll be introducing Attorney General Phil Weiser, a candidate for governor, at Saturday’s assembly.

“This way is a movement,” Romer said in an interview. “When you’re petitioning, you’re a little more distant from people. This is working with people, community by community. This is a way to come together and say this is our nominee.”

Alternatively, candidates can qualify for the ballot by collecting petition signatures. U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper both pursued that option. Bennet is running for governor against Weiser, while Hickenlooper is seeking reelection.

They each collected nearly 15,000 signatures, or some 10 times the number of people who will be at the assembly, and were the first candidates to qualify for the June primary.

On the Republican side, state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer and pastor Victor Marx have both submitted more than 20,000 signatures to the secretary of state’s office to qualify for their party’s gubernatorial primary. More than a dozen other GOP candidates have also filed for the office. The GOP assembly next month is expected to pare down that field substantially.

Seth Masket, a University of Denver political science professor, cautioned against making assumptions about the routes the candidates take to the ballot.

Further-left and further-right candidates tend to benefit from the caucus and assembly process because they tend to attract a more passionate followings, he said. That doesn’t mean they necessarily do or don’t have a broad base of support, but they do have supporters who care enough to spend a weeknight at a caucus or a spring Saturday in a convention hall.

Candidates who are more mainstream in their party — and especially those with money — generally find it easier to petition onto the ballot. They can also avoid the risk of being kept off the ballot by an organized, enthusiastic base of opposition that only needs a few hundred people to potentially keep them below the 30% threshold necessary for ballot qualification. (The threshold drops to 10%, however, if the candidate goes a hybrid route of pursuing both petitions and the assembly vote.)

“(A successful assembly candidate is) not necessarily the candidate that’s going to win the primary, but it is a candidate that has a passionate following,” Masket said. “Not every candidate has that and, to be honest, more mainstream candidates don’t tend to have that kind of following. What they do have is more general name recognition and support from party members.” 

Recent electoral history in Colorado has shown that assembly victories rarely translate into overall victory in the primary.

In 2010, Bennet, who had been appointed to the Senate but not yet won an election, . In 2018, then-U.S. Rep. Jared Polis lost the caucus vote in his bid for governor. In 2020, Hickenlooper likewise lost the caucus in his first bid for the U.S. Senate.

All three went on to win the party nomination in the primary, and then they won the general election. 

So far this cycle, public polls show Bennet and with wide leads over their competitors, even as they cede the assembly to their rivals.

“Both methods require any candidate to earn the backing of voters from every single corner of this state,” Jordan Fuja, a spokesperson for Bennet����ap campaign, said in a statement. “… Colorado voters are looking for a governor with the experience, vision, and commitment to delivering the results we need. Michael has held a commanding lead since he first entered this race because Coloradans know he is the right candidate to protect Colorado from (President Donald) Trump’s chaos and build an economy that works for working people.”

Hickenlooper, meanwhile, had initially intended to go through the caucus and assembly process before putting his efforts into the petition process. 

In a statement, his campaign acknowledged the switch, saying the intent was voter outreach.

“Our focus in participating in the caucus process at the beginning was to help energize the base, meet with voters, and support the work of our county parties,” spokesperson Jess Cohen said. “The senator appreciates everyone who has participated in the process and really enjoyed having conversations with folks across the state.”

Hickenlooper’s decision to pull back, meanwhile, left openings for his rivals — and a chance to rally a fired-up Democratic base that has shown it����ap open to change.

“It����ap clear to me that the base of the Democratic Party is interested in evaluating who talks a good game and who walks the walk,” said state Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Denver progressive who’s running against Hickenlooper. “Who’s actually done the work and put in the muscle to listen to people and to translate those frustrations, those hopes, those anxieties, into concrete and durable policy. That����ap the work.”

Candidates seeking state and federal office through the state Democratic assembly

Besides state legislative races, here are the candidates seeking placement on the Democratic primary ballot at the state assembly in Pueblo. The party has been organizing multicounty assemblies separately for congressional candidates.

U.S. Senate: Karen Breslin, state Sen. Julie Gonzales and Jessica Williams

Governor: Antonio Martinez, William Moses, Erik Underwood and Attorney General Phil Weiser

Attorney General: Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty, Secretary of State Jena Griswold and David Seligman

Secretary of State: State Sen. Jessie Danielson and Jefferson County Clerk Amanda Gonzalez

State Treasurer: State Sen. Jeff Bridges, John Mikos and state Rep. Brianna Titone

Source: Colorado Democratic Party

Because of that experience, I pay close attention when political moments reveal something deeper about the mood of a district. Recently, it has become clear that many residents feel a growing disconnect from their long-standing representative in Washington.

Congresswoman Diana DeGette has served this district for decades. Longevity in office can bring valuable experience, but it can also create distance from the community’s current realities. An increasing number of voters feel that their needs and concerns are no longer adequately represented. This frustration is not just anecdotal; a small poll conducted by SearchLight Research for Wanda James’ campaign shows that only about 27% of likely Democratic primary voters would support DeGette if the election were held today. That poll is a stark indicator of shifting attitudes.

Given DeGette’s recent performance at the Democrats’ Denver County assembly, where she barely garnered enough votes to make it onto the ballot for the June primary, it would seem the poll was a stark indicator of shifting attitudes.

The message is loud and clear: many in the district believe their representative is out of touch with the energy, diversity, and urgency of Denver today. DeGette’s focus on federal issues has come at the expense of addressing the specific needs and concerns of Denver residents. Issues like housing affordability, economic opportunity, and federal investments in local communities are more pressing than ever — yet many feel these concerns are not being prioritized or addressed effectively at the federal level.

Amid this landscape, a new leadership voice is emerging — someone who is actively engaged with the community and truly understands the district����ap evolving needs. That person is Wanda James. Instead of engaging in political spectacle or internal party battles, she has focused on building a broad coalition of support across Denver’s diverse communities. Business leaders, women, Black and Latino community members, LGBTQ advocates, veterans, small business owners, and community organizers are rallying around her.

Support for Wanda James isn’t accidental. People have seen her consistently show up for years — advocating for fairness, opportunity, and economic growth. They’ve watched her participate in conversations that matter to their lives and work tirelessly to bring people together to find solutions.

For example, as a Regent for the University of Colorado, James led efforts to reform the procurement system, making it more accessible and equitable so that local, women-, and minority-owned businesses can achieve meaningful growth and equal opportunities in the procurement process. She has also fought to allow state university workers to collectively bargain. Wanda James is not someone who sits quietly on the sidelines. When issues affecting Denver communities arise, she steps forward — speaking out, working with others, and pushing for meaningful change.

Denver itself has changed dramatically over the last decade. It����ap more diverse, more entrepreneurial, and more outspoken about its challenges. The city’s residents want a leader in Congress who reflects that vitality — someone active, visible, and deeply connected to the people they serve.

The disconnect between Washington and Denver’s communities is no longer sustainable. People are hungry for representation that understands their daily struggles and offers real solutions. From where I sit, Wanda James embodies that kind of leadership. She brings credibility, a broad coalition of support, and a willingness to engage directly with the district����ap diverse voices.

The message is clear: Denver is ready for a representative who shows up — not just when seeking office, but every day, in every community. It����ap time for new leadership to emerge that truly reflects the energy and urgency of Denver today.

Roger Sherman is a former partner at CRL Associates, a leading government relations, public affairs, and strategic communications firm in Denver. Over the past 20 years, he has played leadership roles in numerous local ballot measure campaigns that have transformed the metro area. He served on the board of SafeHouse Denver for nine years, including two years as board chair, supporting victims of domestic violence and their children.

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The shock drubbing, delivered ahead of a formal assembly vote next week, was among signs that Democrats participating in the party’s caucuses and assemblies are dissatisfied with incumbent officials. Some other incumbents, including U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper in his reelection race and Sen. Michael Bennet in the governor’s race, have been leaning on the petition route to the ballot rather than facing primary opponents at the March 28 state assembly.

At the Denver Democrats’ county assembly on Saturday, Kiros — a 28-year-old doctoral student and former lawyer — won 646 votes, or 63%, compared to DeGette’s 336 votes, or 32%. The result was the first time DeGette, 68, has lost a county assembly vote since she entered Congress in 1997, Kiros’ campaign said.

If that level of support holds at the party’s 1st Congressional District assembly on March 27, Kiros will cruise to a place on the June 30 primary ballot. DeGette, meanwhile, cannot afford to lose any more ground: If fewer than 30% of delegates support her at that virtual assembly, she won’t make the ballot at all. Time is rapidly running out to switch tactics and get on the ballot by submitting voter signatures, with petitions due to the state on Wednesday.

“I think it����ap a testament to the organizing we were doing and the lack of organizing (DeGette) was doing on her part — and her thinking she would coast through,” Kiros said in an interview. ” … It was just an incredible, incredible day, and I’m really proud of what our campaign was able to accomplish.”

DeGette campaign spokeswoman Jennie Peek-Dunstone said the congresswoman “received more than the required threshold and we are confident she will be on the primary ballot.”

The polling win does not, by itself, mean that Kiros is a front-runner to prevail in the June 30 primary election, and her campaign will still need to flip DeGette delegates if it wants to keep the congresswoman off the ballot. That’s far from a sure thing, especially for a candidate with the experience and name recognition of DeGette.

But it does speak to the Kiros’ campaign’s organizing capabilities, and the results also represent something of a wakeup call, said Seth Masket, a political scientist at the University of Denver.

“DeGette and others know their party and the people associated with it are not terribly popular right now,” he said. “Democrats in general elections have the wind at their back right now, but incumbents in primaries — not so much. It����ap a harder environment.”

DeGette faces progressive challenge

A first-time candidate and daughter of Ethiopian immigrants, Kiros previously worked as a lawyer in New York. She was fired after writing in late 2023 criticizing law firms — including her own — that had signed onto a letter opposing anti-Israel protests. She then moved back to Colorado and entered a Ph.D program at the University of Colorado Denver.

She’s run a progressive challenge to DeGette, backing “Medicare for All,” universal child care and an embargo on arms sales to Israel, a nation that she has accused of committing a genocide against Palestinians.

Kiros has also been endorsed by the Justice Democrats, a left-wing Democratic group that’s backed candidates like now-U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ro Khanna and Ilhan Omar.

In her Denver assembly speech Saturday, DeGette accused Kiros of lying about her — a comment that drew boos from the audience.

Already a longtime supporter of Medicare for All, DeGette has backed more progressive causes in the past year. She for a halt to providing offensive arms to Israel, and she told assembly-goers Saturday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement should be abolished and that she wouldn’t support any funding for the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran. Those pledges drew cheers.

Kiros’ preference poll win was fueled by pre-assembly organizing, her campaign and supporters said, particularly on the part of the Denver chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. Deep Singh Badhesha, a DSA member who supported Kiros’ campaign, said organizers had group chats, stickers, food — they’d even set up a system to find babysitters for those who needed it. Such organization also helped the campaign sidestep technology problems that delayed the assembly, he said.

Those tech problems have contributed to lingering concerns among the DeGette campaign about assignment of delegates for the assembly next week, though her campaign said she was not disputing Kiros’ polling victory.

The assembly results come amid a broader surge of challenges to incumbent Democrats nationwide by often-younger and more progressive candidates. More than a dozen Democratic U.S. House members will face primary challenges this spring and summer, .

Some of the contests pit older incumbents against newcomers. Some feature moderates competing against liberals. Some of the matchups have resulted from the nationwide redistricting wars that redrew incumbents’ seats. Most of the races share a common ingredient: challengers seeking to move past the party’s losses in 2024 — and to bring more energy to the fight against President Donald Trump.

“Within the Democratic Party, it����ap this notion of how you best respond to a country that Trump is dominating when you’re all, as Democrats, unhappy with that,” Paul Teske, a professor at CU Denver and former longtime dean of its School of Public Affairs, told The Denver Post on Tuesday. (Kiros was a student of Teske’s last year.)

In addition to Kiros, University of Colorado Regent Wanda James is also running against DeGette in the primary. She did not participate in the assembly process Saturday and planned to file a petition to make the ballot.

‘Scared of the base’

Elsewhere, in the Democratic race for governor, Bennet’s campaign as he filed his primary ballot petition that he wouldn’t also seek a spot on the ballot through the caucus and assembly process. His rival, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, is relying on next week’s state assembly in Pueblo to make the primary ballot.

State Sen. Julie Gonzales has launched a progressive Senate primary campaign against Hickenlooper, who dropped out of the assembly process last week after initially participating. Hickenlooper’s campaign noted that he didn’t complete the assembly process during his first Senate campaign in 2020 and that he’s already submitted petitions for his place on the primary ballot.

In an interview, Gonzales countered that the senator was “scared of the base.”

Some left-wing-versus-moderate fights are set for state legislative races, too. In the Colorado attorney general’s race, two newcomer candidates, David Seligman and Hetal Doshi, are challenging Secretary of State Jena Griswold and Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty for the Democratic nomination.

In a news release Tuesday morning, Seligman’s campaign said he led Griswold by 2 percentage points in a straw poll of Democratic assembly delegates statewide.

Teske and Masket underscored that success in the Democrats’ assembly process, which often draws more progressive or active party members, does not necessarily translate to a high likelihood of victory in the June primaries.

Kiros’ campaign and organizing helped turn out motivated and informed delegates and supporters Saturday, and they seemed to catch DeGette flat-footed. But the June contest will feature tens of thousands of voters, including many who are unaffiliated, and will require campaign organizing on a vastly different scale.

It will also require money. DeGette had more than $535,000 on hand as of Dec. 31, compared to Kiros’ $64,000. After 30 years in office, which has included DeGette sweeping aside the occasional primary challenge, she can also boast strong name recognition.

“I was surprised,” Teske said of Saturday’s results. “I think Melat’s campaign organized well, got a lot of people out, got young people excited. … Whether it builds any momentum or changes anything is hard to say, because it����ap still hard to beat an incumbent.”

The New York Times contributed to this story.

Trump called on the Iranian people to “seize control of your destiny” as , who Trump and Israeli officials said was killed in the attack. Iran did not immediately confirm Khamenei’s death.

Democratic U.S. Reps. Jason Crow, , and and Sen. Michael Bennet all released statements calling for Congress to vote on a

“Trump is plunging us into another . He’s learned nothing from decades of failed conflicts,” Crow said. “It����ap a war of choice with no clear end game, no authorization from Congress and little support from Americans.”

, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he has seen no new information to suggest Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon is more imminent.

, also a Democrat, criticized Trump for bypassing his congressional duty to seek Congress’ approval for operations in Iran, describing it as a “calculated distraction” from the economy, immigration issues and unreleased files regarding convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“While we would certainly welcome the fall of Iran’s terror-sponsoring and repressive regime, the president’s reckless approach leaves us facing profound, unanswered questions about the new dangers he has unleashed,” Hickenlooper said.

Republican U.S. Reps. Gabe Evans, and all shared statements supporting combat operations and highlighting Iran’s attacks on Americans, links to terrorism and pursuit of nuclear weapons.

“ is a necessary step to eliminate Iran’s nuclear weapon capabilities, eliminate imminent threats to the United States and our allies and defend our core national security interests,” Evans said.

Evans also called on Hickenlooper and Bennet to pass a Department of Homeland Security funding bill, which both senators opposed in the wake of federal agents fatally shooting Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis.

Crank, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, said Khamenei’s reported death will avoid “a prolonged conflict that would have killed many Americans.”

“What comes next is just as important. The Iranian people must have a voice in deciding their next leader, and the surviving members of the dictatorship must be hunted down and brought to justice,” he said.

Republican did not explicitly acknowledge the attack, posting on X that she is “praying for safety for our service members and wisdom for our leaders.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

But as he touted many so-called “policy wins” for women, it has made me reflect on just how much he has actually harmed women specifically with his short-sighted, misguided policies – and how important it is that we continue to elevate women into the leadership positions.

For example, Trump highlighted access to IVF drugs — but ignored the Medicaid cuts in his “One Big Beautiful Bill,” even though Medicaid covers 40% of births in this country.

He bragged about lifting millions off food stamps, while ignoring SNAP changes that disproportionately hurt single moms and caregivers already struggling under this volatile economy.

This hypocrisy was not lost on me. Nor was the fact that much of our president����ap career has been spent mocking, belittling, and degrading women.

Our country is 249 years old. We’ve had 101 in-person State of the Union addresses, and 47 presidents have led the United States.

Yet, it wasn’t that long ago that women couldn’t vote, let alone hold public office or sit inside that chamber as lawmakers. There are so many trailblazers who have come before me, paving the way and cracking glass ceilings that once felt unbreakable. Just a few decades ago, Colorado had never sent a woman to Congress. Pat Schroeder changed that. One of just 15 women at Harvard Law School, she was elected at 32, when only 14 women served in the House. She brought her experience as a mom of two to help champion the Family and Medical Leave Act — reshaping how we support working families.

She passed that torch to Congresswoman Diana DeGette, who continues that legacy today as a leader of the Reproductive Freedom Caucus, fighting to repeal the Hyde Amendment and protect access to abortion care for low-income women. Colorado is lucky to have DeGette at the helm of this fight.

The trailblazers before us have moved this country forward, but, as we begin Women’s History Month on Sunday, I can’t help but think of how far we have to go. And there has rarely been a moment more pivotal than right now. Many of Trump’s most extreme policies disproportionately harm women — from cuts to health care and food assistance to attacks on reproductive freedom.

And how do we address what feels like insurmountable challenges? By continuing to elevate women — not just as figure-heads — but as leaders.

Women don’t want “baby bonuses.” They’re asking for affordable health care, reliable child care, and a safe place to live and raise their families. That means we have to build upon the progress that Sen. Michael Bennet started by making the child tax credit permanent. We have to guarantee paid family leave for everyone, so women have ample opportunity to get ahead.

Just one year ago, I became only the 14th Member of Congress to give birth while serving. The sexism I faced was palpable — from being denied the ability to vote remotely to being told I belonged at home, taking care of my baby, instead of in Congress.

But I also experienced many moments of hope. Moms would stop me with tears in their eyes, saying they saw themselves in me. It showed me that, above all, representation matters.

If we want to solve the biggest challenges facing families — affordability, health care, child care — we have to center the people living them. That means making our institutions more accessible and ensuring women have a real seat at the table.

Across the country, women still haven’t held some of the highest offices in our land. And when leadership doesn’t reflect the lived experiences of the people it serves, it����ap no wonder so many feel like nothing ever changes.

U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen represents Congressional District 7, which includes part or all of these Colorado counties: Jefferson, Broomfield, Lake, Chaffee, Park, Teller, Custer, and Fremont.

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Senators and members of Congress often bring guests to the president’s annual address. This year, the roster from Colorado includes guests who are on the front lines of President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda.

Among them is Caroline Dias Goncalves, a University of Utah student who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Mesa County last spring after a sheriff’s deputy who pulled her over in a traffic stop alerted federal authorities. Goncalves, who was released from detention in late June, will be a guest of U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat.

“Immigrants like me — we’re not asking for anything special. Just a fair chance to feel safe and to keep building the lives we’ve worked so hard for in the country we call home,” . “I hope no one else has to go through what I did, and I hope my story and presence can help inspire change for a better future.”

In a similar vein, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, also a Democrat, will bring Andrea Loya, the executive director of Casa De Paz. The nonprofit group works with people who are or were recently detained in Aurora’s ICE facility, as well as their families.

Caroline Dias Goncalves is our guest for tonight����ap State of the Union. Dreamers like Caroline have grown up here since they were young kids. They should not have to live in fear of violence from ICE.

— Senator John Hickenlooper (@SenatorHick)

Here are other Coloradans set to attend Tuesday’s speech in the nation’s Capitol. Trump’s address is set to begin shortly after 7 p.m. MST.

U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen, a Democrat from Lakewood, will bring Tyler Guyton, a survivor of the Evergreen High School shooting and the school’s student council president. Pettersen’s district includes the school.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican from Windsor, will bring state Sen. Byron Pelton, her office said. Pelton, who serves as the minority caucus chair in the state Senate, represents Sterling and northeastern Colorado, a district that overlaps with Boebert’s congressional district.

U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, a Democrat from Aurora, will host Jay Park, who owns bb.q Chicken, a restaurant franchise that has a location in Aurora.

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Denver Democrat, will bring … no one, including herself. Spokesman Jack Stelzner said the congresswoman wasn’t planning to attend the speech and “won’t force a constituent to sit through (President Donald Trump’s) lies and misstatements.”

U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans, a Fort Lupton Republican, will bring his wife, Anne, as his guest.

Messages sent to Republican U.S. Reps. Jeff Crank and Jeff Hurd and to Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse were not immediately returned Tuesday.

“She is currently refusing any housin (sic). She has a dog and she is unwilling to leave him for any reason. She is living in a tent near the river in (redacted). As of right now, that is where she wants to be,” a member of the wrote in a Sept. 13, 2019, email included in a trove of documents newly released by the .

That woman would be escorted the following month by a caseworker to the Durango airport so she could fly to Miami, where she was scheduled to attend an FBI briefing for Epstein’s victims after he died. The FBI employees exchanging emails about her were concerned about her well-being, saying the woman had no money, had been sober for a year and was traveling with a temporary paper identification card from Colorado that did not include a picture.

“I’m slightly concerned that Florida will be a trigger for her although she’s been working through that fairly well and seems determined,” an FBI employee wrote on Oct. 12, 2019.

Kimbal Musk, referenced at least 140 times in Jeffrey Epstein emails, says he only met Epstein once

The woman, identified only by the initials ML, appears to be one of many victims who were sexually assaulted and trafficked -- often as teenagers -- by Epstein.

Since last year, the Justice Department has uploaded millions of documents, photographs and videos to its publicly searchable , adding nearly 3 million more documents and thousands of pictures and videos on Jan. 30. The latest release came after Congress in November mandated it under pressure from the public and as speculation swirls around Epstein's connections to President Donald Trump and other prominent people.

The Denver Post searched the word "Colorado" in the files to get a sampling of Epstein's ties to the state. The Post reviewed 1,518 documents, including emails, text messages, pictures and court filings. The Post also ran the names of prominent Coloradoans through the database.

Kimbal Musk, a Boulder restaurateur and Elon Musk's brother, was referenced scores of times, including in email exchanges with Epstein and his friends about women and parties. Musk has not responded to The Post's requests for comment.

Other Coloradans were mentioned because they were lawyers representing Epstein's associates in business or criminal matters, or because Epstein's associates were seeking to meet them for business or political purposes.

Searching the documents is difficult for a number of reasons, including Epstein's voluminous misspellings and grammatical errors.

The files are heavily redacted, making it difficult at times to understand who is communicating with whom and to paint a complete picture of a particular conversation, such as an email exchange in 2013 between Bella Klein, one of Epstein's accountants, and two other people as they tried to determine who had been with Epstein in Aspen on April 15 of that year. One person replied, "I did not go to Aspen. Hope this helps." But the two other people's names were redacted, and the purpose of the trip was never discussed.

Many documents are duplicated for no apparent reason. The files also include documents that are of no relevance to Epstein's crimes, such as emailed advertisements, newsletters and real estate listings.

Victims' Colorado ties

At least two women who were prostituted and abused by Epstein and his clients had Colorado connections.

Epstein traveled to Aspen over the years, and a recently unsealed grand jury indictment filed in over the abuse of 13 girls lists a July 4, 2004, flight from Aspen to Palm Beach as evidence in that case. The names of people with Epstein on that flight were redacted.

In addition to the woman living in a tent, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, an Epstein victim who became an outspoken advocate for sex trafficking survivors, lived in Colorado at some points during her adult life.

Giuffre is one of the accusers who said she was sexually abused by Britain's former Prince Andrew, who was stripped of his royal title in the wake of the Epstein scandal. Giuffre died by suicide in 2025, but her brother and sister-in-law, who live in El Paso County, have on her behalf.

Ghislaine Maxwell, who was for her role in Epstein's sex-trafficking crimes and is serving a 20-year prison sentence, hired a Denver law firm to assist in her criminal defense. She frequently wired thousands of dollars from the Wells Fargo bank at 1700 Broadway to pay her legal fees.

However, that firm -- -- sued Maxwell, her brother, Kevin Maxwell, and her husband, Scott Borgerson, in 2022, alleging she failed to pay $878,000 for their work.

The firm received a $986,644.03 default judgment against the Maxwells in December 2022.

Efforts to reach the firm's representatives were unsuccessful, and it is unclear whether the debt was paid.

Preferred destination for the jet set

The Epstein files paint a picture of how Colorado is a preferred destination for the jet set as they travel across the country for business and recreation, and how wealthy and powerful people network with each other, either through financial investments, real estate, business retreats or philanthropy.

For example, , a Swedish-American businesswoman, at least three times invited Epstein to fundraisers on behalf of U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Denver Democrat. There was nothing in the Justice Department files that indicated Epstein ever responded to those invitations.

In her emails to Epstein, which were first reported by the , Ehnbom praised DeGette's interest in science and her role as a congresswoman.

In a 2011 email exchange between Ehnbom and Epstein, she asked Epstein if he planned to be in New York for an upcoming "Stem Cell gala" and, if so, asked if he would be interested in meeting DeGette.

"She is one of the few people in congress who who has a scientific agenda and she is good person -- want to meet her?" Ehnbom wrote.

Epstein did not mention DeGette in his reply: "Im still in paris„ who is the brazilian„ and where is my swedish wife?"

Jack Stelzner, a spokesman for DeGette, said the Denver congresswoman met Ehnbom through her work on biomedical research. DeGette was unaware of who Ehnbom was inviting to fundraisers, including Epstein, he said.

"Congresswoman DeGette was not aware of her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein," Stelzner said. "Jeffrey Epstein did not attend any of those fundraisers."

In multiple emails and text messages, Esptein and his associates discussed their Colorado vacations and how they loved visiting the mountains.

His staff also occasionally booked vacations for people, but it is unclear who was traveling, such as a December 2015 ski trip to Aspen for unidentified girls -- as they were referred to in an email -- who were staying in a lodge and taking lessons.

The horror within the Epstein saga is what happened to the teenage girls and young women who were trapped in his sex-trafficking ring.

Epstein's 2019 indictment for a sex-trafficking conspiracy said he recruited girls as young as 14 to have sex acts with him at his homes in Manhattan, Palm Beach, Florida, and other locations. He paid them hundreds of dollars in cash and often paid them to introduce him to friends.

Pursuit of justice

The files provide a picture of what the victims' lives were like in the fallout of Epstein's crimes and as they struggled to cope with what had happened.

In 2015, Guiffre, one of Epstein's most vocal accusers, was followed by British media inside a southern Colorado Walmart and needed the store's security to help her leave through a back door. And when she and her family returned to their home in Penrose, they found their back door open.

"They had been taking high security precautions, so that seemed very unusual," Guiffre's lawyers wrote in an email to U.S. attorneys. "Brad and I believe that this may be Epstein (or his associates) signaling that VR should not talk."

Guiffre, who was at times identified as Victoria Rogers, also accused Alan Dershowitz, one of Epstein's lawyers, of sexual assault. She later withdrew her allegation, but not before an extended legal battle unfolded. Epstein's legal team accused her of "hiding out" in Colorado as they battled over whether she would give a deposition in Colorado or Florida.

Guiffre died by suicide on April 25, 2025, in Australia. A posthumous memoir of Guiffre's experience -- -- was published in October.

In November, Guiffre's brother, Sky Roberts, and his wife, Amanda Roberts, talked to the media about the Epstein files, saying they wanted them released to bring justice for his sister and other victims, according to new reports.

“We’re here for our community. And this isn’t just a singular moment for Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell survivors. It����ap for every single survivor, every single person that suffered at the hands of abuse, sexual abuse and trafficking,” Amanda Roberts in Colorado Springs.