But though some of their party, it’s far less certain if that discontent is strong enough — or focused enough — to pull off a seismic upset against Hickenlooper, the former brewpub owner and onetime Denver mayor and Colorado governor now finishing his first term in the Senate.

Gonzales’ progressive bona fides in Denver and the state Capitol will have to overcome Hickenlooper’s experience, his comparably vast fundraising and the inherent advantage that comes from being a fixture of Colorado’s political scenery.

“There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of collective outrage at Colorado’s incumbents — like John Hickenlooper, like (fellow U.S. Sen.) Michael Bennet,” said Seth Masket, a political scientist at the University of Denver. “We’ll see what actually happens in the election. But that����ap really Gonzales’ best ticket to office — if there’s a lot of anger for incumbents seeming too complacent nationally or not willing to fight hard enough against the Trump administration.”

Gonzales, a 43-year-old two-term state senator from Denver, has framed her candidacy in large part as a progressive critique and challenge to the Democratic Party’s more moderate standard-bearers, like Hickenlooper.

“Does Colorado want to continue with more of the same, go-along-to-get-along politics?” said Gonzales, whose legislative work has focused on immigrant rights and progressive staples like tenant protections. “… Over the past six years, (Hickenlooper) has not met that moment in responding to (voters’ economic) pain — versus my track record, where I have shown up, done the work, advanced progressive and durable policy that has made concrete impacts on people’s lives.”

Hickenlooper, in contrast, repeatedly spoke of his candidacy — and his desired return to office — as laser-focused on responding to President Donald Trump. In a phone call last week, he didn’t acknowledge Gonzales and sidestepped a question about anti-incumbency feelings among Democratic voters.

He said his campaign was about “fighting back” against the president and responding to healthcare cuts and the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. He highlighted his own extensive experience as mayor and governor, and his work in helping to pass the

“Right now, with Trump in office, that����ap what we need,” said Hickenlooper, who raised $40.7 million in 2020 on his way to defeating Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner. “We need that experience of being focused on his lawlessness and combating his reckless attacks on our traditions, on the American way.”

The primary election is June 30, and mail ballots will be sent to voters beginning Monday. Both Democratic and unaffiliated voters can weigh in on the race.

The winner of the Democratic contest will face off in November against state Sen. Mark Baisley, of Woodland Park, who is running unopposed in the Republican primary.

In a nod to the progressive messaging adopted by both Hickenlooper and Gonzales’ campaigns, Baisley said they appeared to be trying to “out-liberal the other person.” He, too, was hoping to harness voter dissatisfaction — albeit in a far more conservative direction — to fuel what would be an upset win in November.

“There has been such a long run of single-party control in Colorado that everyone’s realizing that their freedoms have been curtailed in an enormous way,” he said.

Hickenlooper seeks a final term

Now age 74, Hickenlooper’s potential second term would end a month before his 81st birthday. He has already said he wouldn’t run for a third term, and he told The Denver Post that he would serve the entirety of his second term, should he be reelected.

“We’re going to have to rebuild better,” he said of his plans for a second term, echoing a slogan from the early years of Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration. He has called for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be overhauled, and he’s backed broad reforms to the agency’s practices. “That����ap part of what I’m committing to, in my six years — I think we cannot just build back what we had, but build back in a much better form from what we should’ve had.”

Gonzales has served in the legislature since her election in 2018. A Yale University graduate, she was an organizer and worked for a prominent immigration law firm in Denver.

She said she would support “Medicare For All,” a proposal that typically means single-payer health insurance coverage for all Americans in a program run by the government. To achieve its passage and other reforms, she would advocate for ending the Senate’s filibuster, the rule that requires at least 60 senators to agree to end debate and move to a vote. She supports expanding the U.S. Supreme Court and instituting term limits for both justices and federal lawmakers.

She said she would not support U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York to continue on as the Democratic leader. She also said she would not support sending any military aid to Israel.

“I’m not only going to talk about standing up to Trump,” she said. “I also want to share the vision where all Coloradans can thrive.”

Hickenlooper said he supported giving Americans “universal (health insurance) coverage” but did not commit to supporting Medicare for All specifically. He highlighted to increase healthcare pricing transparency.

He said he was open to court reforms that would include term limits and a set number of appointments per presidential administration. Asked about Schumer, he said that he didn’t think the New York senator wanted to continue as minority leader and that other, younger lawmakers were interested.

He noted that the filibuster had prevented some Republican priorities from passing under the Trump administration, but he said he wasn’t “ruling out addressing the filibuster.” In 2021, he said he wanted to “change the filibuster” to pass voting rights legislation.

Hickenlooper recently voted against sending bulldozers and some munitions to Israel. Campaign spokesman Jess Cohen��said Hickenlooper “would continue to vote against weapons that fuel the war,” which Cohen said included the conflicts in Iran, the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

Scant polling has been released about the race. showed Hickenlooper with a 32-point lead — 45% to 13% — over Gonzales, with his other challengers in the low single digits. Thirty-seven percent of respondents were unsure.

But the race tightened significantly after the respondents — 739 likely Democratic primary voters — were read “neutral-to-positive” biographies of the candidates. Those biographies were not included in the poll release. The results had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Gonzales faces name ID disparity

When it comes to fundraising, meanwhile, Hickenlooper has been dominant.

, the most recent reporting deadline, he had raised $5.7 million in total contributions and had more than $4 million in the bank. Gonzales, who entered the race in December, had raised $443,000 by March 31 and had just over $114,000 on hand, .

The fundraising disparity will make it harder for Gonzales to increase her name recognition across the state, already at a deficit against a well-known figure like Hickenlooper. Hickenlooper is taking the race seriously enough that he’s running ads to support his campaign, Masket noted. But the strength of his name recognition alone presents a formidable challenge.

“That’s hard, particularly against someone like Hickenlooper, who’s been in public life in Denver and Colorado for several decades now, and he was a popular governor, a popular mayor,” he said. “That’s very hard to overcome.”

Gonzales has criticized Hickenlooper’s support for several Trump cabinet nominees; , the third-most among Democratic senators.

He voted against 13 cabinet nominees last year, according to Ballotpedia, and Hickenlooper said he’d voted against 96% of Trump’s appointments overall. He said he wouldn’t vote again for any of the nominees he did support.

“I thought they would push back on the president,” he said. “I thought that a good executive — even a bad executive — if they get a senior staff that challenges them and pushes back, they make better decisions. … And yet this group of appointees, not one of them have come outside their shell and pushed back.”

To offset the fundraising disparity in the campaign, Gonzales has launched a statewide tour, and she earned her place on the ballot at the party’s statewide assembly earlier this spring. (Hickenlooper initially participated before withdrawing from the assembly process, instead filing petitions to make the ballot.)

Last month, Gonzales appeared , a leftist personality who has backed progressive Democratic candidates in other states. On Wednesday, Gonzales’ campaign announced that she and Melat Kiros, who is hoping to ride a similar upset wave and unseat longtime incumbent U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette of Denver, would participate in a Denver rally with Piker on June 14.

But winning the attorney general’s race won’t come easy if her Democratic primary opponents have anything to say about it.

Ask them, and they’ll say Griswold is guilty of false advertising, is under-credentialed for the job, has skipped multiple campaign debates and forums, or is simply on a laddered quest for higher and higher office — with ultimate aspirations to land in the governor’s mansion.

For months, the best-known candidate in the race, who’s a lawyer but hasn’t done as much litigating as her competitors, has been a magnet for attacks.

“(Attorney general) is one of the most important offices to fight for the future of our country,” said David Seligman, 43, who heads up the nonprofit public interest law firm Towards Justice and is one of three Democrats taking on Griswold in the June 30 primary. “It’s too important to be a stepping stone.”

Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty, another primary candidate, attacking Griswold for falsely claiming that she argued the lawsuit at the U.S. Supreme Court that aimed to keep Donald Trump off Colorado’s 2024 presidential ballot. The court later ruled against that lawsuit, which was brought by Republican and unaffiliated voters. Griswold was a named defendant due to her position and filed a brief in support of the ballot challenge, and an attorney representing her was allotted time in arguments.

“The woman who argued the case at the Supreme Court was not Jena Griswold,” Dougherty told The Denver Post. “I would expect someone to call me out if I said I handled a case when I didn’t.”

Griswold, 41, called it “unfortunate” that her Democratic opponents had gone negative, saying the field should be “laser-focused on the problem ahead of us — it’s the Trump illegality.”

“As secretary of state, I helped lead the fight to defend democracy against (President) Donald Trump, and as attorney general, I’ll stand up to Trump and MAGA extremists to protect our democracy and fundamental rights,” she said.

Griswold cited her record of holding former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters accountable for her criminal role in an election equipment security breach following the 2020 election. Peters was released from prison earlier this week after Gov. Jared Polis granted her clemency in May.

She also pointed to her efforts to keep Trump off the Colorado ballot following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, “despite facing death threats,” as well as her refusal to “hand over Coloradans’ sensitive voter data to the federal government” after Trump retook the White House last year.

“The most burning issue is protecting Coloradans, our state and doing our part to protect the nation from Trump’s lawlessness,” Griswold said. “I’m going to do everything in my power to stop this administration from breaking the law and hurting our state.”

Griswold has a sizable target on her back because she is the candidate holding the most prominent position in the Democratic pack. The only statewide officeholder in the contest, she’s raised nearly twice as much money as her nearest competitor — $1.9 million as of Monday, the most recent filing deadline.

Two Republicans — El Paso County District Attorney Michael Allen and attorney David Willson — are facing off in their own primary at the end of the month for their party’s nomination for the November general election.

‘She’s a politician’

While Griswold has more name recognition than her Democratic opponents, a distinct advantage in a down-ballot race, University of Colorado at Boulder law professor Douglas Spencer said that doesn’t mean she has the contest wrapped up.

Griswold, he said, has cast herself in a political light — in large part by intensely focusing on Trump. (Griswold mentioned Trump or his administration 20 times during a 15-minute interview with The Denver Post for this story.)

It’s a focus she has been criticized for in her current role as chief overseer of elections in Colorado. While potentially strategic in a battle for a strictly political post like governor, such outspokenness may rub voters the wrong way if they’re looking for a more law-and-order approach from their attorney general, Spencer said.

“It is the chief law enforcement office, and the office gives you discretion over which cases to bring or not bring,” he said. “Some voters may say, ‘Let the political people go after Trump on the political front.’ Griswold’s biggest strength is probably her biggest weakness — she’s a politician.”

How much that will be a liability is uncertain in a state like Colorado, where the dislike for the president runs particularly deep and is borne out in Trump’s repeated losses in the state over the last three presidential election cycles.

The current attorney general, Phil Weiser, has aggressively gone after the Trump administration since he returned to office early last year. Weiser, who is term-limited from running again, has either brought directly or joined other states in filing 65 lawsuits against the White House over a multitude of issues, including immigration, federal funding cuts and tariffs.

In nearly half of those actions, the plaintiffs have won a preliminary injunction against the administration or a favorable ruling, said Lawrence Pacheco, a spokesman for Weiser’s office.

Weiser, a Democrat, is running for Colorado governor against U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet in the primary. Griswold said she would keep up his robust pace of resistance to Trump if she succeeds him in his current office.

“I will absolutely continue to keep this administration at bay,” she said.

Her Democratic opponents share Griswold’s revulsion toward the man in the White House, but they say it matters how litigation is pursued. And that’s where courtroom experience comes in, they say.

Dougherty, who worked as a prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office before moving to Colorado to head up the DNA Justice Review Project of then-Attorney General John Suthers, a Republican, said Griswold lacks courtroom experience.

“As a leader, you should be willing to do the work you’re asking others to do,” he said.

Dougherty, 54, 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.

It’s not just a matter of bringing cases, Dougherty said, but of figuring out which will most likely result in successful outcomes.

“Do we have enough evidence to take Donald Trump to court? That’s a decision that requires legal experience and leadership,” he said. “I believe the next AG has to have legal experience and integrity.”

Hetal Doshi, a former federal prosecutor in Colorado, said on-the-ground experience is crucial. Her pursuit of cartels, fraudsters and scammers as an assistant U.S. attorney wouldn’t have been as effective without courtroom experience in front of a jury, she said.

“We just can’t risk having that type of figurehead leader instead of a real leader,” said Doshi, 47, who later served as deputy assistant attorney general overseeing the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.

And candidates have to show up for the voters — Doshi said Griswold has missed a number of recent debates.

“The failure to show up and not answer people is a failure of accountability,” she said. “You, as the voter, are entitled to know what I think.”

Griswold makes her case

As secretary of state, a mom and an attorney general candidate, Griswold said she’s had a full schedule.

Still, she said she’d attended nine forums as of late May and held 10 town halls. Two of her opponents, she said, “bought their way on to the ballot” — a reference to through the petition process rather than the caucus system. Griswold and Seligman secured their spots through the party’s state assembly.

Griswold, who is a 2011 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, acknowledges that she is not a career litigator but says the job of attorney general doesn’t require that.

“We are fortunate that Colorado has an attorney general’s office that is full of literally hundreds of legal experts on all aspects of Colorado law,” she said. “The AG is not the lead trial attorney — it’s the person setting the legal direction and managing a very large organization.”

The Colorado Attorney General’s Office has just over 700 lawyers and staff.

Her lists Griswold as having been a litigation associate for two years at the law firm in Washington, D.C., more than a decade ago, where she “practiced general litigation with a focus on Latin America and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.” She has also worked in the offices of then-Gov. John Hickenlooper — as a liaison between his administration and the federal government — and U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette.

Griswold said voters want someone to stand up to Trump and appreciate the perspective she brings from growing up in a working-class family and living through many of the challenges Coloradans face.

“I’m the candidate best-equipped to deliver for Colorado voters,” she said.

Griswold’s biggest stumble as secretary of state came days before the November 2024 election, when it was revealed that partial voting system passwords had inadvertently been leaked online months earlier. An investigation found that her office violated two state information security policies that contributed to the release of the passwords, but it absolved her and her staff of wrongdoing.

In March, on the day of the Democratic state assembly, Griswold faced allegations from a former employee who publicly accused her of creating “a hostile and volatile workplace” and a “climate of fear of retaliation” as secretary of state. That employee, Reese Edwards, served as the office’s director of government and public affairs in 2019 and 2020.

He wrote in a statement that he was speaking on behalf of six other “former executive and senior level staff” at Griswold’s office who “fear retaliation and retribution for their jobs and their careers.” They were not identified in the statement.

“They fear what she might try to do to them if she gets her hands on the most powerful judicial position in Colorado,” Edwards wrote.

Griswold declined to address the situation during her interview with The Post. She said she oversees an office of more than 150 employees with a $50 million budget and is “really proud of everything that the staff has accomplished.”

Spencer, the law school professor and an election law scholar, said voters will have to cut through the campaign noise and decide a fundamental question when it comes to who will become their next attorney general.

“Are we choosing somebody we trust to wield discretion in a way that will benefit our state and protect the rule of law?” he said.

Colorado’s Republicans have an excellent choice for attorney general on the primary ballot this June – Michael Allen.

Allen, a Navy veteran, has served as the district attorney for El Paso and Teller counties since 2020, elected twice to serve one of the largest judicial districts in the state as the top prosecutor.

He has successfully handled some of the state’s most high-profile criminal cases, a testament to his ability to manage a large office that builds complex legal cases. Unaffiliated voters participating in the Republican primary will appreciate Allen’s non-partisan approach to the law, while Republicans will like his emphasis on fighting crime.

In the aftermath of the Club Q shooting, Allen did not play politics. There was an opportunity for him to waffle over whether the mass shooting was a hate crime, but instead, Allen brought additional charges of a “bias-motivated crime.” The man who killed five people and left 22 injured in a shooting that targeted an LGBTQ bar pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

But the attorney general’s office in Colorado does much more than criminal prosecutions – in fact, the focus of the office is on civil law, like prosecuting antitrust cases and enforcing labor laws, defending constitutional challenges to Colorado’s laws in a non-partisan way and handling complex appeals.

Allen says he is ready to step into this expanded role. After graduating from the University of Kansas Law School, Allen worked in the Kansas attorney general’s office, where he focused on consumer protection. Still, Allen emphasized that he would focus on crime in the AG’s office, especially sex trafficking.

“We know that the attorney general’s office has access to a statewide grand jury … and they can go after criminal networks,” Allen said. “When we are talking about human trafficking, we know that those are criminal networks that are prostituting people across jurisdictional boundaries. Use that grand jury to go after those criminal networks and actually effect change and turn this tide on human trafficking.”

Allen’s opponent in the race, David Willson, worked in the Navy for 20 years. He became a JAG officer using his law degree to prosecute lawbreakers, worked for a stint with a U.S. Attorney’s Office and then transitioned to private practice representing parents who had lost custody of their children.

Willson said part of his motivation to run for attorney general was to oppose Allen. The two had disagreed in El Paso County over a case involving library books.

Willson said Allen should have filed criminal charges against school officials . “Promotion of obscenity to a minor” is a criminal offense in Colorado.

Allen disagreed, explaining his decision: “The criminal justice system in the United States should not be weaponized against political or social opponents based simply on disagreements, and the misuse of the prosecution process only erodes trust in an essential function of our shared government.”

We do not think the intent of the law is to chill free speech but to prevent child sexual abuse and grooming. There was no evidence that any adult or student was using the material in that way. Ironically, many of these novels and graphic novels were written for the exact opposite purpose — to highlight the evil and lasting impact of child sexual abuse. Some of the novels were coming-of-age stories that included sexual exploration, but nothing obscene, although some of it was certainly gross.

We do not want an attorney general who would pursue this further.

And that makes our decision easy. We urge voters to support Michael Allen for attorney general in the Republican primary.

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One is a military veteran who pitches himself as a lifelong civic servant and recently tossed his name in the hat. The other is a political newbie who emphasizes his family’s deep Colorado roots and entered the race more than a year ago.

Both candidates — and — said in interviews that they decided to seek the Democratic nomination in the June 30 primary to challenge freshman U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd in response to overreach and corruption they see in the Trump administration. With little difference in their policy platforms — Kelloff even claimed Romero copied his — voters will have to look to their backgrounds to decide.

“This particular district is very large … it’s all these disparate economies: farming, ranching, tourism and steel production,” Romero said. “Because of all that, it’s hard to find some single thread that pulls everyone together. … (Voters) need to see someone that they can trust and they need to see a part of themselves in the candidate before them.”

Colorado’s 3rd District covers nearly half of the state, swooping��from the desert and canyons of the Western Slope to the high mountains in southern Colorado and the southern end of the Front Range in Pueblo.

Larger than the entire state of Pennsylvania, the rural district encompasses 27 of the state’s 64 counties and takes in vastly different towns, including Aspen, Grand Junction, San Luis and Durango.

The district in recent years has leaned Republican, though voter data show 23% of the district’s voters are affiliated as Democrats, 26% as Republicans, while nearly half have no party identification.

The district has not been represented by a Democrat since 2011, when former U.S. Rep. John Salazar lost to Republican Scott Tipton. Tipton was then ousted in the 2020 Republican primary by Lauren Boebert, who in 2024 moved across the state to instead represent the 4th Congressional District.

In the 2024 election, President Donald Trump won the 3rd District by a 10-point margin.

But voting tallies show that Republicans’ hold on the district is not absolute. In both 2022 and 2024, Democrat Adam Frisch came close to clinching the seat. The Aspen businessman lost to Boebert in 2022 by less than 546 votes. In 2024, Hurd won the seat with 51% of votes — nearly 20,000 more votes than Frisch, who earned 46% of the vote.

Seizing on frustration with Trump

Both Kelloff and Romero hope to ride the momentum of what they see as rising frustration with the Trump administration to flip the seat back to blue.

“We need to bring back leadership in Washington,” Kelloff said. “I’m running to hopefully lead with moral clarity. I think this is the most corrupt administration that we’ve ever seen in the history of America.”

Both candidates listed addressing the rising cost of living as their top priority. Other goals include protecting public lands and Western Slope water interests.

“There is an absolute public outcry on affordability and the cost of living and making ends meet for rural families and working-class families,” Romero said. “What our current administration has done is absolutely ignore that.”

In interviews, both candidates emphasized their ties to Colorado and — despite their business success and affluence as adults — more humble upbringings.

Kelloff’s family has lived in the district since 1893, though he grew up outside of Washington, D.C. He traveled back frequently to the Centennial State to visit family before moving to Aspen permanently six years ago.

Kelloff, 52, spent 30 years in the telecommunications industry and also co-founded Armada Skis. While he’s never won elected office, Kelloff said he has decades of experience forging deals and leading large teams in the business realm.

He announced his candidacy more than a year before primary ballots were set to be mailed out — starting today — so that he could spend time traveling the state, talking to voters. By January, he had visited all 27 counties in the district.

“I’ve been in this race for almost 13 months,” Kelloff said. “To win this seat, to flip this seat, you need a fighter to take on Jeff Hurd and win. That’s why I got in 13 months early to do the hard work.”

Romero, 61, grew up on the Gulf Coast of Texas and, after 11 years in the military, moved to the Roaring Fork Valley in 1996. He leads that has sold more than $50 million worth of property since 2023. His wife, Margaret, has worked as a local schoolteacher in the Roaring Fork Valley for 25 years.

Romero, who entered the race four months before the primary, emphasized his history of serving on local boards: two terms on the Aspen City Council, two terms on the Aspen School District board, two terms on the local fire district board and, now, serving his second term on the local water and sanitation board. He also served for six months as the chief economic development director in then-Gov. John Hickenlooper’s cabinet in 2011 and for three years on the state economic development commission.

“Twelve months of driving around in the district and taking some pictures here and there is all well and good,” Romero said of Kelloff’s campaigning, “but that does not erase the body of work and the experiences and know-how we’ve achieved over the last 30 to 35 years — sorry.”

Hurd is ‘not a headline-grabber’

Frisch, the Democrat who previously tried to win the seat, endorsed Romero on the day he announced his campaign. The two men served on the Aspen City Council together and the address for Romero’s campaign is the same as that for the Frisch now runs.

Whichever candidate wins the Democratic primary will need to educate voters on Hurd’s voting record, said Nick Voss, the chair of The incumbent operates more quietly than his predecessor, whose controversial statements and personal life routinely made news.

“He’s not a headline-grabber, like Lauren Boebert is,” Voss said.

This year’s race , who previously endorsed a Republican candidate looking to challenge Hurd in the primary after Hurd split from the Republican majority on tariff policy.

However, Trump in March re-endorsed Hurd and said he convinced the other Republican running against him, Hope Scheppelman, to and instead work in his administration, where she as an adviser for the federal .

“Together with (the Scheppelmans), we decided that Congressman Jeff Hurd, of Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, should in no way, shape, or form, be impeded from winning the District in that the Democrat alternative is a DISASTER for our Country,” Trump wrote in a March 20 social media post.

In April, a former state representative announced he would challenge Hurd in the Republican primary. served in the state House, representing Fremont County from 2021 to 2023.

Hurd, a Grand Junction attorney, , winning 41% of the vote to Hanks’ 29% in a crowded open race.

As of the most recent federal finance reporting, through March 31, Hurd had raised $3 million, compared to about $1 million by Kelloff and about $500,000 by Romero.

Both Democratic challengers have loaned significant money to their campaigns: Kelloff loaned $450,000 of his own money to his campaign and Romero loaned $280,000 to his.

The two Democrats running for Colorado Secretary of State are extremely close competitors when it comes to their experience, their understanding of election law and their dedication to ensuring the transparency of campaign finance information.

But state Sen. Jessie Danielson stands out for her vision for the office, her election reform chops and her earnest pledge to work with all of Colorado’s 64 election clerks.

The Denver Post Editorial Board met with both candidates competing in the June 30 Democratic Party primary, reviewed their resumes, listened to public forums and spoke to some of the state’s top election officials. Republican candidate James Wiley is uncontested in the primary, but there will be a Libertarian Party primary between Sean Vadney and Alex Astley. Colorado voters who are unaffiliated can pick which primary to cast their ballot in.

Danielson’s record impressed us.

Her opponent, Amanda Gonzalez, Jefferson County’s elected clerk and recorder, does have direct experience running elections, something Danielson lacks. Gonzalez has managed five elections over three years in Jefferson County. We could see how voters could be drawn to that record.

We also heard from leaders in Colorado’s elections, who asked not to be named, that Gonzalez’s effort to launch a clerk’s association for metro-area clerks would have diluted the voices of rural Colorado areas. We fear Gonzalez might have an uphill battle to win back the trust of some clerks.

But for 11 years – first as a representative and then as a senator – Danielson worked at the General Assembly to pass dozens of election-related laws. She demonstrated an incredible depth of knowledge of the rules that govern this state’s elections and would be adept at helping local election officials implement them for clean and precise elections.

In 2019, Danielson worked with three Democrats to pass a law creating an automatic voter registration process in Colorado, leading to increased voter registrations and participation.

Danielson was a prime sponsor of the Voting Rights for Voters with Disabilities Act that allowed electronic transmission of ballots for disabled voters. She has fought for laws that improved voting access for Colorado’s indigenous tribes.

Before she was elected, Danielson worked as the Colorado director of America Votes, a 501(c)4 that pushed along with other progressive organizations for Colorado to adopt same-day voter registration, several days of in-person early voting, and an all-mail ballot system reliant on voter service centers rather than neighborhood precincts.

The legislation passed in 2013 has been a resounding success.

Colorado’s election process is always growing and improving, too, and a willingness to make necessary changes for security, voter access and transparency is a key quality we were looking for in the next secretary of state. Danielson said she has helped with the annual “cleanup” bill at the state legislature to do that important work.

We asked both Gonzalez and Danielson if they would be willing to reconsider rules that allow Coloradans to register to vote using only a utility bill. Both candidates said no, explaining that they didn’t want to disenfranchise voters who didn’t have a Social Security number or any other form of photo ID or a birth certificate. Even though voters who use utility bills must register in person and complete an address verification process, we think it is far too easy for an AI system to quickly generate a fake utility bill for a fake person at a vacant house for this loophole to remain. Certainly, a creative method exists to help voters without any form of identification get essential paperwork that will help them in other aspects of their lives, too. The small change will lead to big gains when it comes to faith in our election system.

The next Secretary of State must be proactive in hammering down President Donald Trump’s pernicious lies about our election system. Trump does not offer thoughtful critiques of our election laws; he paints the whole system as fraudulent and insists that Democrats hacked election hardware and software in 2020 so he would lose.

Just this election cycle, we have interviewed candidates running for office who seemed surprised when we told them that hand-counted audits of Colorado’s paper ballot system routinely verify correct tabulation by electronic vote-counting machines. Also, records of voters who cast ballots (including their addresses) are open to public scrutiny. Colorado’s paper ballot system is also open for inspection under Colorado’s Open Records laws. Trump’s conspiracy theory holds no water.

Both Gonzalaz and Danielson are ready to fight back against Trump’s attack on democracy, and we appreciate their bravery in the face of the threats and harassment faced by our election officials.

Colorado needs a strong secretary of state who will cloak themselves in non-partisan facts. Danielson learned to be a tough leader at the state Capitol, and we trust her to head this important state-wide office at a critical time for democracy.

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Re: “Clemency for Tina Peters emboldens the election denialism movement,” May 24 commentary

As usual, the Democrats shoot themselves in the foot. Instead of condemning Donald Trump for involving us in a war of choice with Iran, tearing down the East Wing of the White House for his golden ballroom (he now needs taxpayer money to build), creating a slush fund for his cronies, and exempting himself and his family from any IRS audits, they censure Gov. Jared Polis, who is a fine governor.

Polis will leave his administration having walked a fine line with the Trump administration concerning ICE, and he has attempted to stop Trump from closing federal government programs in Colorado. Polis will leave with no scandals, no self-aggrandizements, no disgrace and no golden ballroom.

Tina Peters, a despicable woman who does not believe in democracy, yet was an election official, was given a harsh sentence (nine years) because she was not contrite at her sentencing. First, Polis reduced this sentence to 4.5 years. It is well known that if you behave well in prison, your sentence is reduced by about half, which means she should serve 2.25 years. She served 2 years. Being a nasty woman is not a crime. Big deal! Shame on Dems for censuring our fine, honest governor.

Gari Westkott, Lakewood

No, I am not happy about Gov. Polis commuting the prison sentence of Tina Peters. However, consider this:

In his letter to Peters, he did not pardon her. And the letter was dated on May 15.

On May 14, it was announced that the federal government would release $47 million in federal funding for Colorado water projects. The Trump administration initially froze $152 million in funding that the Biden administration had awarded the state to address drought.

This was blatant blackmail, courtesy of President Donald Trump. Gov. Polis didn’t have any wiggle room.

Show some mercy on our governor.

Mike Filion, Lakewood

Polis’ name will become a metaphor for failed integrity

I’m with all those who regret voting for Jared Polis. Unlike The Denver Post Editorial Board, the arguments for commutation fall flat with me, as they must with most Coloradans.

No, Jared. Freedom of speech? Even a middle school student would perceive a stark difference between someone who voices a bogus theory and someone who acts on it. And as Secretary of State Jena Griswold and Molly Fitzpatrick, Boulder County clerk and recorder, aptly point out, the courts are well attuned to the need to protect First Amendment rights and were already poised to provide Peters with eventual relief.

At least Polis cannot grant himself clemency for the damage to his legacy. I predict that his name will become a metaphor. There will be more local politicians who fail the integrity test and become treasonous to their constituents. In the future, each will risk being pejoratively described as a “Jared Polis.”

And metaphors have great life and longevity. Just ask Benedict Arnold.

Scott Newell, Denver

Are we better off as a country under Trump?

Re: “Hopefully Democrats won’t regain power for ‘a long, long time’,” May 24 letter to the editor

We all know the Democrats have made mistakes in the past, fair enough — but I would like to know what people now think about Donald Trump‘s commitment to put America First.

Has President Trump delivered on promises to improve the economy, reduce inflation, make groceries more affordable, and keep gas prices low? Just the opposite.

Has he avoided entangling the country in costly, destabilizing foreign wars with no clear strategic plan or likely path to success? Has he strengthened relationships with allies, reinforced confidence in American leadership, or discouraged countries from deepening their ties with China? Hardly.

Were tariffs implemented as part of a carefully designed strategy to strengthen key industries and create jobs? I don’t think so. His erratic, punitive and ultimately unconstitutional approach to tariffs has resulted in an economic mess of payouts to farmers and reimbursements.

And what public benefit comes from using our government to target Trump’s opponents, payoff Trump’s allies, reduce scientific research, attack universities, weaken environmental protections, pardon individuals convicted of fraud or other crimes, or build a ballroom? Do we have to break our own laws in order to address illegal immigration?

Ultimately, are we better off as a country, or is Trump the main beneficiary? Be careful what you wish for. And when someone constantly lies, maybe you should stop believing what they say.

Steve Brown, Denver

Melat Kiros for U.S. House in CD1

We are in this moment in our nation’s history, in part, because congresspeople like Rep. Diana DeGette have failed to meet the needs of the American people. Rather, they offer us “safe” and watered-down laws that are acceptable to their funders – the corporations and special interest millionaires who fund their campaigns and perpetuate the status quo.

President Trump is right about one thing – the system is rigged. It����ap rigged to make us think we have a choice, when in fact both parties — Democrats and Republicans alike — accept money from the same corporations and special interests. It����ap rigged to keep our legislators dependent on their contributions so they can stay in power and perpetuate the status quo.

This is why I support Melat Kiros for Congress in Denver’s 1st Congressional District and encourage your readers to learn about her before deciding who to vote for in the June 30 primary election. She is serious about reform. Her priorities include getting money out of politics in favor of public campaign financing, and she advocates for congressional term limits.

Importantly, Kiros walks the walk — she is running a grassroots campaign and is not accepting a penny from corporate PACS (unlike Rep. DeGette). She even studies reform and money in politics as she works on her Ph.D. ��Don’t let her age fool you; what she lacks in experience, she makes up for in intelligence and courage.

Charlene Parris, Denver

David Seligman for Colorado attorney general

I’m incredibly concerned about the many problems facing our state and our country. The lawlessness, corruption, hypocrisy and plain old evil coming out of the White House these days is astounding and overwhelming. We’ve already seen our elected leaders struggle to meet this moment and fight back. Too few people with the power to do something will stand up to the Trump administration and tell them to stop terrorizing our communities, abolish ICE, or use the law in creative ways to defend our communities.

We must elect people who are already experienced in doing that work and using their power. When the primary��ballots come in the mail for the June election, I will be filling out the bubble next to David Seligman’s name for attorney general. He’s the only one with experience actually defending people from fanatical immigration enforcement and going after state and federal agencies that violate our rights.

He’s sued over the immigrant detention facility in Aurora, stopped the state from sending our personal data to ICE, and been on the ground, side by side with people who are suffering the worst from these injustices for years, not because he’s running for office but because he knows it����ap the right thing to do. I hope you will join me on June 30 in voting for Seligman for attorney general.

Christine Soto,��Denver

Phil Weiser for governor; Bennet to remain in U.S. Senate

While watching the race for governor in Colorado, I am struck by the performances of the two Democratic candidates, Sen. Michael Bennet and Attorney General Phil Weiser. In the forums where they appeared together, the senator, surprisingly, came off as defensive and almost argumentative, while the attorney general was calm and thoughtful in providing specifics about his plans for leading Colorado. Those areas included housing, education, water rights, the economy, public safety, etc. I felt that Weiser showed that he has the experience and expertise to execute good policies, having done that in his capacity as attorney general.

Meanwhile, Sen. Bennet has a term of office to finish. The outlook for Democrats to take the House as well as the Senate in the upcoming midterms has shifted in their favor lately and should only get better in light of inflation, an unpopular war, and decreasing approval of the current administration and Republicans in Congress.

Squandering his Senate seniority and experience at this time, combined with his decision to appoint a newbie to replace him, should that opportunity arise, seems misguided at best and selfish at worst. His strength is writing policy, not executing it. We need Bennet to stay in the Senate and use his legislative expertise for the benefit of Colorado. That’s what we elected him to do.

Kim Creadick, Highlands Ranch

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Manny Rutinel, a state representative from Commerce City, deployed an attack line that he has been using for months on the campaign trail — that his opponent, former state Rep. Shannon Bird, voted against a 2025 bill that would have further curtailed immigration authorities’ access to government buildings, libraries and public schools in Colorado.

“I can’t tell you how much that hurt me and my family,” said the 31-year-old Rutinel, whose mother immigrated to the United States. “We need leaders who will stand up to Donald Trump.”

Bird, 57, said her opponent repeatedly has mischaracterized her vote, saying it happened during a committee hearing on the bill, which she said needed improvement before advancing to the full House. She fired back at Rutinel for his vote this session to pass the state budget, which included cuts to Medicaid to address a gigantic shortfall.

“I would absolutely not have voted to cut Medicaid,” she said.

Thursday’s event was organized and conducted by the Colorado Sun.

The candidates will square off on June 30 in the Democratic primary, with the winner going on to face Evans in November. Control of Congress is at stake in the midterms, with Republicans now holding a , with one independent and five vacancies.

Conspicuously absent from the stage in Greeley on Thursday was Evan Munsing, a Marine veteran who quit the race the day before, citing the stark financial advantages his two opponents hold.

Rutinel had outraised Munsing by nearly a factor of six, while Bird has brought in nearly three times the $600,000 or so Munsing had raised as of the end of March, according to the most recent campaign finance numbers posted with the .

Evans outguns them all, having raised nearly $4.3 million to Rutinel’s nearly $3.5 million at the end of March.

Bird and Rutinel also traded barbs on Bird’s decision to step down from the legislature in January to run for the 8th District, with Rutinel saying “she quit the legislature when her constituents needed her most.” Bird said she stepped down to put “150%” into her congressional campaign.

“I did not want a tax-funded salary while I was running,” she said.

The two candidates agreed on a number of things, including opposition to a federal ban on hydraulic fracturing to extract oil, support for a ban on oil and gas leases on federal land and support for a boost in the federal minimum wage.

The 8th Congressional District is home to many oil and gas operations.

On the subject of data centers, a hot topic, Bird and Rutinel said more guardrails are needed on the tech facilities, especially when it comes to their use of water and electric power. Bird said companies that build data centers have to account for their water use “so they are never competing with our limited water supply.”

Rutinel said data centers “should be using renewable energy as much as possible.”

Both candidates were in favor of exploring the idea of raising taxes on people making $400,000 to $500,000 a year to help pay for social programs. Bird said money being spent on the war in Iran, which she opposes, could be redirected to social programs in this country.

“We can afford so many programs, and don’t let the billionaires tell you otherwise,” Rutinel said.

The 8th Congressional District covers Greeley and a small chunk of Larimer County and then heads south into Adams County, taking in several suburban communities north of Denver, including Commerce City, Thornton and Northglenn. The district was created after the 2020 census revealed that population growth in Colorado merited adding an additional representative from the state to the congressional delegation in Washington.

It was deliberately drawn to be Colorado’s most politically competitive district, and in its first four years, it has had both a Democrat and a Republican in the seat. The Cook Political Report rates the 8th District as one of in the country this year.

The decision comes just over a month before the June 30 primary election, in which Munsing was to take on former state Rep. Shannon Bird and state Rep. Manny Rutinel, who had built up a ��as of the end of March, the most recent filing deadline for reporting contributions.

By contrast, Munsing had slightly more than $100,000 in cash on hand at the end of March.

“I launched this campaign based on a specific belief: that our political system is in need of serious reform and that political elites serve their own interests and those of the donor class rather than serving the American people,” he wrote in a news release.

But the Marine veteran and investment firm adviser claimed that the “same political class in Washington has already decided on their preferred candidates in this race and have begun to flood our TV screens with their dark money ads.”

The winner of the June 30 Democratic primary will take on incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans in November. Munsing said he would not endorse either of his two Democratic opponents at this time. He also said his name would still appear on the primary ballot, since that’s already been set.

In his announcement Wednesday, Munsing slammed his opponents for refusing to debate him, instead claiming they chose “multi-million-dollar paid communications and outside-spending political action committees over public engagement with voters.” He said he struggled to win the support of “Washington insiders” for his campaign as “an outsider with a record of military service, business experience, and serious commitment to reform.”

All three candidates were scheduled to debate at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley on Thursday evening.

Greeley marks the northern boundary of the 8th Congressional District, which stretches from Weld and Larimer counties down into Denver’s northern suburbs. It was formed as Colorado’s most competitive district following the 2020 census.

In its first two years of existence, the district was represented by Democrat Yadira Caraveo until she lost it to Evans in 2024.

The Cook Political Report rates the 8th Congressional District as in the country this year.

Both candidates are current elected members of the legislature. Throughout the debate, Bottoms, who has been a state representative for Colorado Springs since 2023, repeatedly referred to concerns about pedophilia rings but then said he had no way to back up his claims.

“The FBI is checking into all of that,” he said. “There’s no way I can prove this right now because I’m not a federal investigator … but we’ll see.”

Kirkmeyer of Brighton has served in the state Senate since 2020 and has been on the influential Joint Budget Committee since 2022. She leaned heavily on that experience throughout her responses Thursday.

“I’m the better candidate because I have the most experience and I’m qualified and I know how to get the job done,” she said. “I actually govern and run a multibillion-dollar budget in this state.”

During her time in the Democratic-majority legislature, she has, at times, reached across the aisle for policy-making. She during the 2026 legislative session, which ended Wednesday. Many of them were the product of the budget committee’s work and, in keeping with how that body works, included at least one Democratic sponsor.

“You have to work across the aisle to get anything done,” she said.

Bottoms is the lead pastor at the Church at Briargate, a Colorado Springs evangelical church. Bottoms is one of the most conservative members of the legislature. In four years in the Capitol, he has been the primary sponsor on one bill that became law — This year, he had no Democratic co-sponsors on the , and he was the sole representative on four of them. They focused on topics like restricting abortion access and gender-affirming care for minors. His fellow legislators rejected almost all of them after their first committee meetings.

“I don’t shy away from the scary kind of issues,” he said. “I’ve tried to pass many bills that have specifically to do with that leadership, grooming our kids, trafficking kids, parental consent, pedophilia.”

The debate was sponsored by The Denver Post, Denver7 and Colorado Public Radio. Last week, the same outlets also hosted a debate for Democratic candidates Attorney General Phil Weiser and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet.

Kirkmeyer, Bottoms or Victor Marx, a third candidate who didn’t participate in the debate Thursday, will take on Bennet or Weiser in the general election. The odds are unlikely that a Republican candidate will win that race, as the state has become increasingly blue in recent years. Gov. Jared Polis defeated Heidi Ganahl by more than 19 percentage points in 2022.

Still, the winner of the Republican primary is significant, in that the victor will show what direction the state’s minority party is headed. The Colorado GOP has had years of upheaval as its members have fought over what direction to take next.

Unaffiliated voters’ participation in primaries

A major point of contention for the state Republican Party has been whether unaffiliated voters should be allowed to participate in the party’s primaries. The candidates disagreed about that issue, among several others, during the debate Thursday.

Bottoms, who filed a lawsuit this month to block the unaffiliated voters said he believes the change would keep the system in line with the Constitution.

Kirkmeyer, who unsuccessfully ran to represent Colorado’s 8th Congressional District in 2022, said she wouldn’t support blocking unaffiliated voters because it would alienate unaffiliated and Republican voters and force the state to use only the caucuses — a system she said many voters aren’t familiar with.

The candidates also disagreed about whether the state’s voting system is secure. Kirkmeyer said she believes the system may need some new rules, like ID requirements, and that voter rolls should be cleaned up. But overall, she said, she believes it is secure. Bottoms said he wants to see lots of changes, including ending the state’s mail-in voting system and requiring IDs to vote.

Alignment with Trump

When moderators asked the candidates how they would differentiate themselves from Trump, the candidates took different approaches. Kirkmeyer said she disagrees with some of the president’s decisions that have impacted Colorado, like declining requests for disaster relief dollars and removing the Space Force headquarters from the state. She added that she would try to find ways to work with the president and remind him “we are all his constituents as well.”

Bottoms praised the president’s work but said he isn’t afraid to stand up to him if he doesn’t agree with his decisions.

“I’m a reformer. I do not mind looking at people in power,” he said.

Kirkmeyer and Bottoms mostly focused on their own experience and opinions throughout the debate but a few times directly clashed with one another. When discussing the state budget, Bottoms posited that widespread corruption is costing the state billions of dollars, adding that if he were elected he would “DOGE” all the departments — referring to the now-disbanded Department of Government Efficiency.

“We have hundreds of millions of dollars right now that are going to illegal immigrant abortions and transgender surgeries,” he said.

Kirkmeyer said his comments were untrue and asked him to directly point to where those items are in the budget. He didn’t directly answer.

“Pretty much everything Rep. Bottoms said is inaccurate,” she said to one of his responses.

The candidates disagreed about whether former President Joe Biden won the 2020 election. Bottoms said no while Kirkmeyer said yes. Both said Trump isn’t eligible to run for another term.

Bottoms secured the top spot on the primary ballot after he won the most support during the party’s state assembly in April. He won 45% of the 2,145 delegates present, with Marx coming in second. Kirkmeyer landed on the ballot through a signature-gathering process.

The primary will be June 30. The general election will be Nov. 3.

The third candidate on the Republican primary ballot, Victor Marx, didn’t attend but hosted his own livestream at the same time.

In their longest appearance together as competing candidates, the two men threw familiar pitches: Weiser touted the 64 lawsuits he has joined or filed against the Trump administration and the money those legal efforts have returned to the state. Bennet criticized the pressing affordabilty crisis that continues to plague Colorado and, in an oft-repeated line, he said the state’s leaders needed to “color outside the lines” to address it.

They also hit each other with familiar attacks, with Weiser opening the hour-long debate with a swipe at Bennet for voting for some of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees and arguing that the state’s senior senator should stay in Congress.

“This campaign comes down to a choice,” Weiser said. “The candidate of Colorado or the candidate who is from the Washington, D.C. establishment.”

Bennet initially sidestepped Weiser’s jabs, joking at one point that he was “grateful that Phil Weiser has become such a fan of my Senate service.” He later said that Weiser’s lawsuits against the Trump administration were political and were filed “later in your second administration.”

“I would say with respect to Phil’s observation about his closeness to being an insider in the state government,” Bennet said, “I’m speaking as a citizen of Colorado — I don’t think the state government has done very much to solve our housing crisis, to solve our childcare crisis, to solve our healthcare crisis, to solve the fact that for the first time in a generation, businesses are moving out of our state because they can’t succeed as well in Colorado.”

When given the opportunity to ask each other a question, Weiser criticized Bennet for his Cabinet votes. Bennet said he regretted voting for Energy Secretary Chris Wright but that he voted for Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins because the state needed support on wildfires. Bennet then pressed Weiser for saying he would take Trump’s first administration back “in a heartbeat”; Weiser agreed that Trump’s first term was “lawless” but that the president’s current administration is even worse.

The debate was an opportunity for Weiser, who polling has shown is less well-known than Bennet, to curb the gap in name recognition and highlight his ties to the state and his efforts to resist Trump.

“If you try to take away our rights, if you harm us, you’re going to have to go through me,” Weiser said.

Bennet, meanwhile, pressed his criticism of the disappearing American dream in Colorado and his belief that he would better positioned to fight “the battle for America” in Denver than in D.C.

If elected governor, Bennet will also select his own replacement in the Senate. He said he didn’t have a replacement shortlist, and he wouldn’t commit to providing any possible candidates to voters before primary ballots were mailed next month.

But when it came to policy questions, the two men frequently agreed. The debate was sponsored by The Denver Post, Denver7 and Colorado Public Radio, and the first question asked Bennet and Weiser to identify a policy position that separated them. They used that opportunity to offer introductory remarks. And when CPR’s Ryan Warner pushed them for an answer, Weiser said he had published policy plans on water and public safety and Bennet hadn’t. Bennet said he wanted to address affordability concerns while Weiser was focused on attacking his record.

Both said they were skeptical of overturning a state law that prevents municipalities from enacting rent control. Both supported expanding Peña Boulevard and called for “guardrails” around the use of license-plate-reader technology.

On six yes-or-no questions, they offered identical answers: Both supported efforts to redraw the state’s congressional map before the 2028 election, each said Colorado should lean more on nuclear energy, and they agreed that that state should exempt education funding from the state’s spending cap.

In shots at their would-be predecessor Gov. Jared Polis, both candidates said Tina Peters’ sentence wasn’t harsh and that they wouldn’t support the state’s “current path” of building more housing by leapfrogging local control.

(They also each said they wouldn’t wear a suit with sneakers, a below-the-ankle swipe at Polis’ fashion choices.)

The two men are looking to replace Polis, who is term-limited and will leave office early next year. Given Colorado’s decidedly blue hue, whoever wins the Democratic primary will be in pole position to next occupy the governor’s mansion. The next governor will find mixed fortunes: The state has significant — and unresolved — structural budget issues, with more Medicaid cuts on the near horizon.

Asked about the growth of Medicaid spending in the state, Bennet took another whack at Polis: “I don’t believe the current administration has done a very good job of administering Medicaid.” He called for “dramatically transforming” how the program works here.

On the other hand, a Gov. Weiser or Gov. Bennet almost certainly would be greeted by strong Democratic majorities in the state Capitol. As Polis has discovered, firm Democratic control doesn’t translate into a unified vision for the state. Still, it provides a smoother runway for a Democratic governor’s policy agenda — especially in a legislature that is looking to reset its relationship with the governor’s office.

On that front, Weiser highlighted his collaboration with other state officials and said he would sign a social media regulation bill that Polis vetoed last year; the measure would’ve required the platforms to better police themselves and ban users who violate either their terms of services or state law.

The primary election will be June 30. The Post, Denver7 and CPR will host another debate on May 14 for Republican gubernatorial candidates Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer and Rep. Scott Bottoms. A third candidate, Victor Marx, declined to participate.

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