It’s in that last office where chances for a miniature Republican revival in the state’s ultra-blue landscape are highest, University of Colorado Boulder law professor Douglas Spencer said. With its law-and-order focus, the post could be seen even by some Democrats as suitable for a party switch, he said.

And before current two-term Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat, was elected in 2018 during a blue wave election, Republicans Cynthia Coffman and John Suthers held the post for 14 years running.

“It’s more likely Republicans could pick up this seat than any other state office,” Spencer said.

First, voters participating in the major parties’ June 30 primaries will pick the nominees who will face off in the November election. Here’s a look at the six candidates vying for the seat on either side, in the order they’ll appear on each ballot.

Democratic candidates

Jena Griswold |

Griswold, the second-term Colorado secretary of state, leads in name recognition and fundraising — on both sides of the aisle. Through late May, the Democrat had raised nearly $1.9 million, which was nearly twice that of the second-highest fundraiser in the race, fellow Democrat Hetal Doshi.

Griswold, 41, holds up her record of going after President Donald Trump and his administration almost everywhere she goes, a tried-and-true strategy in a state where the president is deeply unpopular. It’s also an approach embraced by her Democratic opponents, who are unanimous in their criticism of Trump’s foreign policy, immigration crackdown and environmental deregulation.

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

In the primary race, Griswold’s legal resume has come under attack. She is a lawyer but has done less litigating than her Democratic opponents.

Griswold often talks about her role in her current office in holding former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters accountable for her criminal role in an election equipment security breach following the 2020 election. Peters was recently released from prison after Gov. Jared Polis granted her clemency.

She also points to her efforts to keep Trump off the Colorado ballot in 2024 because of his role in the events that led to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, as well as her refusal to “hand over Coloradans’ sensitive voter data to the federal government.”

David Seligman |

The executive director of the , Seligman positions himself at the left edge of the Democratic field, with a heavy focus on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and oligarchy.

“We don’t need ICE,” the Denver native said. “What ICE has turned into, it would be one of the most well-funded armies in the world.”

A Harvard Law School grad, Seligman says on his campaign website that Towards Justice “stands up in court for nurses, rideshare drivers, meatpackers, Amazon workers, veterans, teachers, federal employees, grocery workers, renters buried in junk fees from the biggest landlords in the country and working families drowning in medical debt to massive hospital systems.​”

“I use the law to fight for people,” he told The Post.

Seligman, 43, says corralling ICE and addressing Colorado’s “crushing affordability crisis” will be among his top priorities as attorney general. “Billionaire oligarchs who are ripping us off in this state” are at the heart of the problem, he said.

“We’re going to hold them accountable in bold ways,” he said.

Seligman also slammed the Environmental Protection Agency as ineffective under Trump, and he highlighted the Suncor oil refinery in Commerce City as a business that is “making us sick and getting away with it.”

Michael Dougherty |

Boulder County’s district attorney for the past half-dozen years, Dougherty has the most prosecutorial experience — nearly 30 years — among the six candidates running. He was the lead prosecutor in the 2021 Boulder King Soopers mass shooting and the 2025 Pearl Street Mall antisemitic firebombing cases. Both resulted in convictions

Before landing in then-Attorney General John Suthers’ office to head up the DNA Justice Review Project in Colorado, Dougherty, now 54, worked as a prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York City, where he led the sex crimes unit.

His courtroom experience is critical to being able to discern which cases are worth bringing to trial, he said, a skill Colorado’s next attorney general will need to have. The AG’s office most often files civil or enforcement cases.

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

Other priorities Dougherty identifies are protecting the rights of working people, prosecuting hate crimes, holding polluters accountable, shutting down scams and curbing fraud.

Hetal Doshi |

A former assistant U.S. attorney in Colorado, Doshi focused on pursuing cartels, fraudsters and scammers. The Democrat also considers herself a bulwark against the Trump administration’s attempts to dismantle many of the nation’s environmental regulations.

“With the federal rollback of environmental protections, we’re at real risk of pollution and other impacts on our air, water and land,” she said. “I’m best positioned to fight for Colorado and fight federal lawlessness because I’m the only former federal prosecutor in the race.”

More recently, Doshi served as deputy assistant attorney general during the Biden administration, overseeing the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.

Doshi, 47, said she would be “very comfortable” taking the Trump administration to court as attorney general but would also want to “look inward and make sure the work of Colorado is still happening.” Weiser has sued or joined suits against the White House dozens of times since Trump started his second term last year.

“I’m mindful that every time we sue the Trump administration, that takes time,” she said.

Doshi wants to tackle healthcare fraud and hold ICE accountable in Colorado, saying that “all options are on the table” for dealing with the immigration enforcement agency.

“Prioritization of the deportation of criminals is not what’s happening today,” she said.

Republican candidates

Michael J. Allen |

On the other side of the ledger, Allen, the El Paso County district attorney in Colorado Springs, said no one should count out a Republican recapture of the attorney general’s office.

“I’m not as convinced it’s as deep blue a state as people say,” said Allen, a Colorado native. “Colorado voters are very discerning and smart. People have an appetite for change.”

Allen, 54, a U.S. Navy veteran, has been a prosecutor for more than two decades and has served as the Fourth Judicial District’s district attorney for six years. He created an election integrity unit and an organized crime unit, and he credited a motor vehicle theft team in his office with slicing auto theft cases in half in his jurisdiction last year.

He also prosecuted the Club Q mass shooting case as a hate crime, securing the second-longest prison sentence in Colorado history. Allen looks warily at efforts by Colorado’s Democratic Party-dominated legislature in recent years to ease punishment for convicted criminals.

“A lot of criminal justice reform has eroded the accountability of the criminal offenders,” he said. “And it’s undeniable that crime has an impact on affordability.”

David Willson |

The other Republican in the race is David Willson, a retired U.S. Army attorney who has also represented parents in neglect and dependency cases for the past decade. He ran against Allen in the El Paso County district attorney’s race in 2024 and lost.

Willson, 62, said Weiser is wasting taxpayer money litigating the Trump administration as much as he has.

“This is just that ‘let’s get Trump’ attitude, rather than doing good for the citizens of Colorado,” he said. “I can’t imagine what there are (that many) issues to sue over.”

As attorney general, Willson said he would “defend the (state) laws that I believe are constitutional,” without elaborating further on what those are. Colorado has protections for abortion and legal marijuana, both of which Willson opposes, in its constitution.

On his campaign website, Willson says Islamic Sharia law must never come to Colorado and that porn in schools must be eradicated — an apparent reference to books that some parental groups have found objectionable or inappropriate for young students. Allen, he said, hasn’t done enough to look into the issue.

“I would have investigated those books,” Willson said. “I would have made an issue of it and it would have gone away.”

The race pits state Sen. Jessie Danielson, 48, of Wheat Ridge, against Amanda Gonzalez, 41, the Jefferson County clerk and recorder. They are seeking to replace Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who is term-limited.

The Libertarian Party also has a contested primary race with 33-year-old , an engineer from Holyoke, running against , a 25-year-old entertainer and music DJ from Highlands Ranch.

The Republican primary is uncontested. The Democratic and Libertarian winners in November will face , who calls himself the “Red Flame of Liberty” and is a self-described “Dark MAGA” candidate — a nod to Elon Musk.

While the secretary of state cannot single-handedly change Colorado’s election system, the position is increasingly under scrutiny because of Trump’s attacks on vote-by-mail states, and his insistence on nationalizing elections rather than leaving the states to decide how to administer them. As the top state executive responsible for elections, the person holding the office sits on the frontline of Trump’s actions to challenge mail voting.

On the campaign trail, and have touted their backgrounds in advocating for voters’ rights as both worked for political interest groups before running for office. Both said any claims about a stolen 2020 election are lies, and both said they want to keep Colorado’s vote-by-mail system.

Danielson’s political involvement began at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she volunteered as a student for . She eventually became the abortion-rights group’s state political director.

From there, she moved to , a progressive voter-rights organization, where she served as state director for Colorado and Minnesota. In that role, Danielson helped write Colorado’s mail-in ballot laws, fundamentally changing how people in the state make their voices heard.

As a two-term state senator, Danielson sponsored several voter-rights bills at the state Capitol, including one that ensured people who are blind or physically unable to write can vote in private by filing out electronic ballots. She also worked with other Democrats to create an automatic voter registration system in Colorado.

Danielson said she is the best candidate because she has worked on voting rights as the leader of a nonprofit and as a state senator. In those roles, she has earned the trust of county elections officials of all parties.

Trump has threatened Colorado’s vote-by-mail elections, and the next secretary of state must defend the state’s system, she said.

“I have worked to Trump-proof these elections for years, and I’m going to keep doing it when I’m the next secretary of state,” Danielson said. “We need someone with experience and knowledge of our voting system to defend against these attacks from Trump.”

Gonzalez was elected in 2022 as the Jefferson County — a role that puts her in charge of running elections in a county with 430,000 active voters. As county clerk, she also supervises the county’s motor vehicle offices, issues marriage and liquor licenses and records real estate transactions.

“You have to know the system in order to protect it,” Gonzalez said. “I’m the only person in this race from any party who has experience running secure elections and fending off interference from outsiders. This job is not legislative. It’s operational. It’s an executive position.”

Gonzalez, who has a law degree from the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law, became involved in election law as executive director for , another voting rights group. Gonzalez said she pushed Colorado’s elections administrators to translate ballots into other languages so people who do not speak English as a first language could better understand their Blue Books and ballots.

While the secretary of state’s role as an elections supervisor takes center stage, the job also comes with the responsibility of managing business filings for companies and tracking charitable nonprofits. The office also licenses notaries.

Gonzalez said her experience running the Jefferson County clerk’s office puts her in the best position to manage all the roles the secretary of state plays.

The secretary of state’s election is the first contested statewide race for the Libertarian Party since 2020, when two men competed for Sen. John Hickenlooper’s seat.

Neither Libertarian candidate running for secretary of state has elected experience.

Vadney said he chose to run because of a lifelong interest in politics and that voting is an important issue for him. He does not believe the 2020 election was stolen, but would urge Colorado lawmakers to return the state to in-person voting.

Vadney has a criminal record that he says was connected to a mental health breakdown and alcohol abuse. He pleaded guilty to third-degree assault of a police officer and criminal mischief in connection with a December 2021 incident. He served three years on probation, and the criminal mischief charge was expunged after he finished his sentence. Vadney told The Denver Post he no longer drinks alcohol and has received counseling.

Astley said he would neither affirm nor deny the inaccurate claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Instead, he said that, as an engineer, he needs to see proof before he decides.

“I’m not able to speak to that because I haven’t seen any documents about it,” he said.

Astley said he would push for a hybrid mail-in voting system. Voters would receive ballots by mail but would need to return them in person and show a government-issued ID, he said.

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.

Under , election officials can begin mailing ballots 29 days before an election, and drop boxes must accept ballots for 22 days before Election Day, each an increase of seven days. The bill, which Polis signed Monday, also gives the governor the authority to declare an emergency when the state cannot “strictly comply” with its own election code.

And it establishes a committee that could be convened in such an emergency to help draft new rules “to ensure the proper administration of an election.”

The measure comes amid mounting worries that President Donald Trump — who has castigated mail-in ballots and the country’s election system in general — may attempt to interfere with the November midterm elections. Last week, the U.S. Postal Service proposed requiring states to turn over lists of voters who received mail-in ballots, .

In March, Trump signed of verified eligible voters and to restrict mail-in voting.

“Coloradans deserve to cast their ballot without barriers, and this new law safeguards against federal interference in our elections and makes it easier to vote,” Rep. Emily Sirota, a Denver Democrat who sponsored the bill, said in a statement. “Whether you’re voting in-person, using a drop box or mailing in your ballot, this law aims to make voting more accessible to every voter.”

The new law won’t affect this year’s June 30 primaries. County clerks are set to begin mailing ballots for that election to voters beginning Monday.

As HB-1113 made its way through the Capitol, it was passed along party lines, with Republicans all voting against the measure.

Through the changes made in the new law, Colorado’s governor — either Polis or his successor — could declare a disaster in response to election problems “from any natural cause or cause of human origin,” according to the bill. The expanded definition of disaster will be repealed in 2031 under the law.

The measure also prohibits election officials in the state from providing election records and similar material to anyone who isn’t authorized to receive them. Colleges and universities in the state will be required to send their students more information about voting, including the hours of operation for polling locations and where ballots can be dropped off.

HB-1113 includes language that would block a candidate from appearing on the ballot if they’re seeking a term that goes beyond their office’s limits — like a third presidential term.

“It is more important than ever to fortify our elections from Trump’s federal interference,” Secretary of State Jena Griswold, the state’s highest-ranking election official, said in a statement. “With this new law, we will send out ballots and open drop boxes earlier, strengthen the prohibition of voter interference, and prohibit any candidate seeking a third term of the Presidency from appearing on Colorado ballot.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Peters, 70, left the La Vista Correctional Facility in Pueblo before the press arrived early Monday morning, her attorney said, just over two weeks after Polis cut short her sentence and ordered her swift release.

In an interview on after leaving prison, Peters said she “still (has) a fight to clear my name and bring out the truth for why they came after me the way they did.” She reiterated her baseless claims of election fraud and said her prison term was “retribution.”

Peters thanked Trump, to whom she’d written two letters while inside the Pueblo facility. She said she intended to focus on her health and was interested in advocating for criminal justice reform after her experience in prison.

“I’d been promised so many times, you’ll be out in two weeks, two weeks, two weeks,” Peters said. “…I really didn’t believe it, but I’ve always had hope. God’s always given me the hope and the strength to endure.”

Under the terms of her release, Peters must undergo cognitive behavioral therapy, receive a mental health assessment and take prescribed medications, according to a copy of her parole agreement obtained through a public records request.

Unless waived by her parole office, she must get a job or enroll in full-time educational courses, and she has to participate in a community corrections program and cannot possess firearms, alcohol or drugs.

The agreement also references, but doesn’t detail, a restraining order and directs Peters to comply with it. She is also prohibited from leaving the state without the permission of her Grand Junction parole officer. Public records indicate Peters did not receive a parole hearing before her release. Her parole agreement was signed May 28.

State officials completed a pre-parole investigation of her home last week and identified no issues, according to her internal prison file.

Last month, Peters’ legal team filed an appeal with the state Supreme Court in a bid to have her convictions overturned.

Dan Rubinstein, the Mesa County district attorney who prosecuted Peters, said Monday that he was unaware of Peters’ parole conditions. He otherwise declined to comment.

“Tina wants everyone to know that it is easy to lose one’s freedom, but it is difficult to endure. She is grateful to all of her friends, reporters, attorneys and loved ones for being so true through the period,” Peters attorney Peter Ticktin said in a statement.

Peters was sentenced to a total of nine years in jail and prison in October 2024. She was convicted of four felonies and three misdemeanors after she disguised a former professional surfer associated with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell so he could access Mesa County’s election systems.

An ally of Donald Trump, Peters’ conviction and incarceration became a rallying cry for the president and his election-conspiracist allies in the years after her conviction and in the 16 months since Trump returned to office.

Peters “is grateful to President Trump for never giving up on her, never quitting, and for fighting for her.  Without his efforts, she would still be behind bars,” Ticktin wrote in his statement.

Peters’ release had long been expected: Polis had publicly mused that her sentence was too long, and his office had discussed her commutation with other officials, including the judge who sentenced her. Other state officials became resigned to the seeming imminence of a Polis commutation.

Late last year, the Trump administration sought to transfer her into federal custody. When that failed, Trump publicly blasted Polis. He then vetoed legislation that would’ve funded a water pipeline in southeast Colorado, and his administration moved to gut Boulder’s National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Several Democratic officials accused Trump of retaliating against the state because of Peters, and when Polis’ commutation was announced, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert told 9News that “

In the weeks since Peters’ commutation, some federal funding has flowed to projects involving the state. Tens of millions of delayed dollars for the Colorado River were released last month. On Monday, Polis’ office announced that $1.8 million for small business development — which had also been held up — had been released.

In a statement Monday evening, Polis spokesman Eric Maruyama said the state had been “working with our federal delegation for months to get this funding restored.” He said he could not comment on why the funding was withheld or why it was released now.

Throughout the first months of the year, Polis had continued to float the idea that Peters’ sentence was harsh. Amid pressure from incensed lawmakers and other elected officials, his office privately told legislators that the governor would wait to make a decision on her sentence until an appeals court weighed in.

In April, the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld Peters’ convictions but ordered that she must be resentenced, finding that her trial judge had based part of his original sentence on Peters’ speech. Polis’ commutation came several weeks later and leaned on the court’s reasoning.

The governor argued that Peters had been unfairly sentenced based on her constitutionally protected speech and that he didn’t want to wait for her appeals and resentencing to be concluded because they would take too long.

“Tina Peters should be punished for what she did,” Polis wrote in a blog post Sunday. “She should not receive additional punishment for what she believed or said.”

Polis’ decision has sparked sharp recrimination from other Democrats. He was censured in an overwhelming vote by the state Democratic Party’s central committee, .

The criticism continued Monday.

In a statement, Secretary of State Jena Griswold called Polis’ decision to commute Peters’ sentence “an affront to our democracy, the people of Colorado and election officials across the country.

“It sends a dangerous message about accountability for those who would attack elections,” Griswold wrote. “Peters’ release also will embolden the election denial movement; since the grant of clemency, she has continued to spread election falsehoods and conspiracies.”

In her interview with Bannon on Monday, Peters defended Polis and criticized the “horrible media” for its coverage of the commutation.

Both the governor and the Editorial Board cited concerns around Peters’ protected speech being considered in sentencing. The Court of Appeals recently affirmed her convictions of four felonies and three misdemeanors, and indeed noted concern that her free speech rights were improperly considered in the initial sentencing. On that basis, the panel of judges directed that Peters be re-sentenced in District Court.

The judicial system is specifically designed to address the constitutional rights of defendants, including their First Amendment rights. And the system was working as designed here: Peters appealed and was in the process of obtaining relief. Rather than let that process unfold, Polis took matters into his own hands, even going against the recommendation of his own clemency advisory board, . He should have respected the judicial process already underway.

Peters was incarcerated because of her numerous crimes, which caused incalculable harm to our democracy. Peters deliberately compromised her own voting equipment in 2021 to try to validate Trump’s big lie about the 2020 election. From her seat of authority, she breached the systems voters entrusted to her and undermined the fundamental pillars of our democracy.

Polis’ decision comes at a precarious moment. Across the country, election officials have faced escalating threats, harassment, and intimidation, much of it driven by persistent falsehoods about elections.

Clemency for Peters emboldens the election denialism movement and will intensify the threat environment that election officials face in conducting our work. And it confirms Trump’s sinister instincts that if he pushes hard enough, even blue states may bend to his will. Further, it sends the message to those who would attack our elections that they may escape accountability, be it on the federal or state level.

Accountability matters. It is how we ensure that no one is above the law. This grant of clemency erodes faith in that very premise.

Still, despite Peters, Colorado remains a national leader in secure and accessible voting. Election officials across Colorado continue to do their jobs with professionalism and integrity, ensuring that every eligible voter can participate and every valid ballot is counted. They will keep doing so in 2026 and beyond.

This grant of clemency sends a dangerous message. And it risks leaving a lasting mark, not just on Colorado but on the broader effort to defend free and fair elections. It is more important now than ever that we strongly and ardently protect the nation’s democratic institutions.

Jena Griswold serves as Colorado’s 39th secretary of state. Molly Fitzpatrick serves as Boulder County clerk and recorder and is the former president of the Colorado County Clerks Association.

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The condemnations were swift, with some officials saying the decision undercut the integrity of the nation’s elections. Outcry came mostly from Polis’ fellow Democrats, who had roundly urged and pleaded with the governor not to interfere with the prison sentence for the former Mesa County clerk, but also from a coalition of county clerks.

Word of the impending decision had begun to travel earlier in the day Friday, and by the time Polis’ office released a statement that included Peters on a list of other commutations, an array of officials had readied blistering reactions.

The Colorado County Clerks Association wrote that the state’s election officials were “furious, disgusted and deeply disappointed by the governor’s decision.”

“This is now Gov. Polis’s legacy,” the clerks’ association wrote. “He will not be able to run from it or redefine it later. When given the opportunity to stand firmly for the rule of law, for the integrity of Colorado’s elections, and for the public servants who defend them, he chose a different path. This decision is shameful.”

Shad Murib, the chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, said the commutation “sends a message to future bad actors that election tampering has consequences, unless you’re friends with the president.” The Democratic leadership of the state House and Senate wrote that they “strongly opposed” Polis’ move. The leaders of the Colorado AFL-CIO and Colorado WINS, which represents state employees, both condemned Polis’ decision in separate statements.

And U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper said Polis’ action sent the wrong message, writing in a statement: “Tina Peters is guilty as sin and a disgrace to Colorado.”

Polis, who is in his final year in office after two terms, announced that Peters would be released on June 1. She has been incarcerated since October 2024, but the Colorado Court of Appeals threw out her more than eight-year prison sentence last month. She had not yet been resentenced.

Some Colorado elected officials praised Polis’ decision.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican who has long defended Peters, wrote : “(Gov.) Polis and I have had many conversations regarding Tina’s unjust punishment and her release. My heart was filled with joy when he called me today to share this great news!”

Republican state Rep. Scott Bottoms, who is running for governor, wrote on social media that Polis “did the right thing” by commuting Peters’ sentence. If elected, he pledged to give Peters a full pardon.

State Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, another Republican running for governor, said Polis’ action might have been premature.

“The court process was still ongoing,” she said, “and I believe this matter would have been best handled through the judicial system rather than through executive action. I would have preferred to allow the judicial process, under which the trial judge has been ordered by the appeals court to revisit his sentencing of Ms. Peters, to run its course before considering a commutation.”

The League of Women Voters of Colorado, in a statement, said Peters was “not a sympathetic figure caught in a legal gray area.”

“Coloradans take election security seriously because it matters,” the group said. “Our elections are administered by dedicated, nonpartisan officials who work with integrity and professionalism to ensure that every vote is cast and counted lawfully. Governor Polis’s decision diminishes the weight of their work and sends a troubling message: that the consequences for betraying the public trust can be negotiated away.”

In an interview Friday, Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, accused Polis of bowing to Trump, who has repeatedly called for Peters’ release and has taken several punitive actions against the state in recent months.

“We’re just seeing a lot of favors curried to lawlessness, and what I worry about is, in a time where the federal justice system is crippled through this corrupt federal administration, our state judicial system has to work,” Griswold said. “There has to be some checks to lawlessness.”

Sen. Katie Wallace, a Longmont Democrat who’d organized a March letter from lawmakers urging Polis not to touch Peters’ sentence, said that the governor’s decision amounted to “wanton disregard for the safety of our elections.”

“He’s doing it before her new sentence is even given again,” Wallace said. “The courts are under an order to resentence Tina Peters, and he doesn’t know what he’s forgiving.”

Every Democratic lawmaker in the state legislature signed the letter, and some had privately discussed voting to censure Polis if he altered Peters’ sentence. But the legislative session ended Wednesday, ending lawmakers’ ability to consider a formal condemnation.

“It feels very intentional, his timing, and we resent that because we are a co-equal branch of government here,” Wallace said. She acknowledged that Polis had pardon and commutation powers outside of the other branches of state government, but she said his timing was “nefarious.”

The Democratic candidates vying to succeed Polis, Attorney General Phil Weiser and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, both criticized the decision. Weiser called the move “mind-boggling and wrong as a matter of basic justice.”

Sen. Cleave Simpson, the state Senate’s top Republican, issued a careful statement Friday that refrained from praising or criticizing Polis.

“As Republicans, we support the rule of law, due process, and accountability,” he wrote. “We recognize that many Americans remain concerned about election trust and government response. Listening to these concerns is essential.”

At least one high-ranking elected official appeared pleased with Polis’ decision: In a social media post Friday afternoon, Trump wrote, “FREE TINA!”

In a letter to Peters, Polis wrote that she will “be released on parole effective June 1, 2026” — in just over two weeks.

The commutation, which was announced in a group of 44 clemency actions Friday afternoon, reduced Peters’ original sentence of nearly nine years, which was thrown out last month, to about 4.5 years. Polis’ action, coming after more than a year of pressure from President Donald Trump — and several actions taken targeting the state — risked the appearance that he was bending to Trump’s demands. But in an interview with The Denver Post ahead of the announcement, the governor was resolute.

Peters, the former Mesa County clerk, has been a public supporter of election conspiracies rooted in Trump’s reelection loss in 2020. But Polis said that “just because somebody believes the Earth is flat — just because somebody believes in conspiracy theories — does not mean that they should receive a harsher sentence for a very specific crime.”

Polis’ action drew swift reaction from other elected Democrats. Attorney General Phil Weiser, in an interview, called the commutation “an insult,” “mind-boggling” and “a threat to the rule of law.” And Secretary of State Jena Griswold called Polis’ decision “an affront to democracy” and accused the governor of “selling out our state justice system to cave to a vengeful president.”

Griswold, the state’s top elections official, said in an interview that she’d had one conversation with Polis about his decision — and it occurred at 2 p.m. Friday, less than an hour before the news broke.

“It tells a lawless president that if he pushes hard enough, he’ll get his way,” she said. “And that is dangerous for the rule of law.”

Polis’ action also drew condemnation from the Colorado County Clerks Association, which said in a statement: “We are furious, disgusted, and deeply disappointed by the Governor’s decision. We have met with him privately to make our position unmistakably clear: Tina Peters deserves the accountability imposed through Colorado’s judicial system, and the Governor should, at the very least, respect that process and allow it to fully play out before intervening.”

Trump, for his part, quickly on his platform Truth Social: “FREE TINA!”

Last month, the Colorado Court of Appeals reversed Peters’ eight-year prison term, which was part of an overall nine-year sentence, and ordered a Mesa County judge to resentence her. But that hasn’t yet happened, and Peters’ attorneys also still have time to further appeal her convictions.

Peters, 70, has been serving her sentence since October 2024. She would’ve been eligible for parole in late 2028 under her original sentence — notwithstanding the appeals court’s reversal.

Griswold noted that, following Trump’s mass pardoning of Jan. 6 rioters last year, Peters was among the few people still serving prison time for crimes related to election interference and conspiracies. Her release had been a key priority for those who still back Trump’s baseless election claims, with Peters and her supporters repeatedly referring to her as a political prisoner and as a whistleblower.

For months, Polis had publicly hinted that he would reduce Peters’ sentence. On Friday, Polis quoted from the recent appeals court’s decision, which said Peters’ original sentence was wrongly based on her exercise of protected free speech, to defend his clemency decision.

She will remain a felon under the commutation, and Polis argued that even her shortened sentence was harsher than what her co-defendants received — just not unduly harsh.

While Peters has not publicly shown contrition for her crimes, Polis said she did so in her clemency application. His office previously denied a public records request for that application.

“It’s important to get past our emotions, which I share, about election conspiracy theories,” Polis said. “I condemn them. I condemn any acts of threats or violence against our incredibly talented election workers on both sides of the aisle.

“And it’s important to look at, as we do in any case, the facts of the case — and make sure that we live in a society that upholds the value of freedom of speech, and that even when somebody holds incorrect and unpopular opinions, that speech is not held against them in a sentencing.”

Dan Rubinstein, the Mesa County district attorney who prosecuted Peters, called Polis’ decision arrogant and “irresponsible.” He also questioned the timing of the decision, given that the district court judge had not yet issued a new sentence for Peters.

“That process was still underway, yet the Governor chose to substitute his judgment for the courts, the sentencing judge, and the Mesa County community that bore the consequences of Ms. Peters’ actions,” Rubinstein, a Republican, said in a statement. “It is especially troubling that notoriety, political pressure and powerful allies appear to have produced special treatment that ordinary defendants would never receive.”

Three legal experts also told The Post that the timing of Polis’ decision was odd, with resentencing still pending. These industry-watchers said they could not think of another state-level case in which someone was given clemency in the middle of such proceedings.

To Jonathon J. Booth, an associate professor of law at the University of Colorado, the governor’s actions can best be compared to Trump pardoning the Jan. 6 insurrectionists for their roles in the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“We have a choice whether we want to punish these actions harshly or not,” he said. “It seems Polis and Trump are on the same side of that question.”

‘I made mistakes,’ Peters says

After the commutation was announced, a statement by Peters that was posted to social media said: “I made mistakes, and for those I am sorry.”

She acknowledged misleading Griswold, the secretary of state, to give another person unauthorized access to county voting equipment, and she promised “to avoid the mistakes of the past.”

“Upon release, I plan to do my best through legal means to support election integrity and based on my own personal experiences to elevate the cause of prison reform to help ensure the detention system is more fair and equitable for people of all ages,” Peters wrote.

Directly above her apology on X was a pinned post from March declaring, “SOS Jena deleted election records! This is why the dems don’t want to get rid of the machines and pass the Save America Act! This is why they won’t turn over the voter data! They cheat and Tina Peters caught them!”

A jury found Peters guilty in August 2024 of providing a person outside the clerk’s office — who was affiliated with noted election-denier Mike Lindell — with access to Mesa County’s voting systems after the 2020 election, as part of Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud.

The former clerk was convicted of three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty and failing to comply with the secretary of state.

Polis’ decision comes two days after the annual state legislative session adjourned — meaning that the governor appeared to have timed the commutation for when Democratic lawmakers, who had blasted him for even considering intervening, could no longer take any action to formally condemn him. Polis is term-limited, so lawmakers will not convene for another regular session until after he has left office.

‘Gov. Polis’ legacy’? Colorado officials blast Tina Peters sentence reduction, resulting in release soon

Lawmakers sent the governor a letter in March, urging him not to release Peters early, and some had discussed holding a formal vote to censure him if he went ahead with commuting or pardoning the former clerk. Some lawmakers were told Friday morning that Polis planned to make an announcement about Peters' sentence later in the day.

"This is a slap in the face to everyone who actually cares about election integrity and an independent judiciary," Rep. Steven Woodrow, a Denver Democrat, said Friday afternoon after Polis' announcement. "The governor should be ashamed. He cowered to bullies and our democracy is weaker today as a result."

The commutation was also apparently not communicated well in advance to various outside officials, including Rubinstein.

Matt Crane, the executive director of the clerks association, said Polis' office "went dark" on Thursday afternoon as rumors began to spread about impending action. Polis finally called shortly after 2 p.m. Friday for a brief conversation, he said, before hanging up to make a public appearance.

"It����ap incredibly discouraging when he’s more worried about the optics and legacy and interviewing with reporters, rather than the stakeholders who are going to be impacted most," Crane said. He added that he'd "heard from some clerks who've questioned: 'If nobody is going to have our backs, and we’re in this alone, why should we keep doing it?' "

Polis said Friday that "my judgment is not based on what I hear from other people," whether it was from people who wanted Peters' sentence upheld, lessened or wiped away. That included the Republican president, who has claimed to pardon Peters -- a power he does not have for state-level convictions -- and who said on New Year's Eve that he hoped Polis and others would "rot in hell" for Peters' sentence.

Around that same time, Polis' office sought input on Peters' clemency application from District Court Judge Matthew Barrett, who sentenced Peters. In a Jan. 13 letter to the governor obtained by The Post, Barrett wrote that Polis' chief legal counsel had spoken with him about the application, . Barrett wrote that he had "carefully considered" Peters' personal circumstances before sentencing her, as well as "her lack of accountability."

"I chose a sentence in roughly the midpoint of the presumptive ranges that this state's General Assembly has set," the judge wrote.

He told the governor that he would respect whatever decision Polis made and that he trusted any decision would be made "for the right reasons."

"I'm hopeful that my decision today will restore the confidence that the people of Colorado have that, regardless of their political opinions or beliefs, they will receive equal justice under the law," Polis said Friday.

The initial response from high-level officials went in the opposite direction.

At a debate earlier this month, both Democrats hoping to succeed Polis in the governor's office -- Weiser and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet -- agreed that Peters' original sentence was appropriate. In a statement after the news broke Friday, Bennet said he "vehemently disagrees" with the commutation.

"Lawlessness only breeds more lawlessness," Bennet said. "With President Trump continuing to attack Colorado, we must do everything we can to stand strong for our institutions and the rule of law.”

Weiser said the governor gave him a short heads-up that he had made his decision. About 30 minutes after the news was public, Weiser said he was still "somewhat in shock that it actually happened."

Decision announced with other actions

Polis announced Peters' commutation as part of a slate of clemency decisions on Friday. In addition to Peters, Polis commuted the sentences of eight other inmates, including people who had been sentenced to life in prison without parole for murder charges, and pardoned 35 people.

One of these individuals, Brandin Eugene Kreuzer, will be released on parole June 1 after serving 15 years of a 50-year sentence following a 2010 conviction for shooting a Douglas County deputy during a monthlong crime spree.

Polis also commuted the sentence of Matthew Aldaz, who sued the governor in 2020 over allegations that COVID-19 posed a significant health risk behind bars. Aldaz had served 13 years in prison for second-degree murder. He will be released on parole June 1.

Polis has typically announced commutations and pardons around the holidays at the end of each year, which he did not do in December amid renewed pressure from the Trump administration.

He says he is still reviewing other clemency applications and plans to announce others before he leaves office in January.

Despite the intense public and private pressure and months of open consideration for granting Peters clemency, Polis said other commutations, particularly those in cases involving the loss of life, were much harder decisions.

In the 19 months since she was sentenced, neither Peters nor her legal team had shown any contrition publicly -- at least before Friday -- for the conduct that led to her felony convictions. Indeed, just last week, her supporters , in which she calls herself a political prisoner and repeats election conspiracy theories.

Peters received at least four negative write-ups during her first year in prison. In January, surveillance footage showed Peters grabbing and shoving a fellow inmate during a brief scuffle in a prison common area. Peters was later found not guilty of assault but was found guilty of a lesser charge.

As he has faced pressure from the president, Polis has said he would not release Peters as part of any sort of deal with the Trump administration. Other officials, including Bennet, have accused Trump of retaliating against the state for its refusal to release Peters.

Since last fall, federal officials announced the dismantling of Boulder's National Center for Atmospheric Research, while Trump vetoed a bipartisan bill to help pay for a water pipeline in southeastern Colorado, and his administration halted and stripped federal funding for state programs.

Federal officials have also threatened to undercut the state's wolf reintroduction program, hampering an effort that's been embraced by Polis' husband, Marlon Reis.

It was unclear if Polis' commutation decision would ease or reverse any of those moves. A request for comment sent to the White House on Friday was met with a simple response: a link to Trump's brief pro-Peters Truth Social post.

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

If we’re serious about participation, fairness, and legitimacy, this must be the last time we rely on them — especially when the stakes are this high.

Let’s start with a simple, telling fact: the last time a competitive Democratic candidate who won the caucus and assembly process also went on to win the primary for U.S. Senate or governor was Ben Nighthorse Campbell in 1992 — 34 years ago. That’s not a system working. That’s a system deeply disconnected from voters.

Caucuses exclude the vast majority of voters. Even in a high-energy cycle like 2026, participation barely scratched the surface. Roughly 15,000 Democrats showed up statewide — out of more than a million eligible primary voters.

This small number of participants means a tiny, highly motivated slice of activists effectively determines which candidates advance. At the same time, the ordinary voters — those with jobs, childcare responsibilities, disabilities or scheduling conflicts — are largely excluded. The message to those voters is clear: you don’t get a voice.

A system that filters candidates based on a razor-thin fraction of the voting population cannot credibly claim to reflect the will of the party’s voters. That’s not representative democracy, it’s gatekeeping.

Caucuses impose unnecessary barriers to participate. Unlike primaries — where voters can cast ballots by mail or at convenient polling locations — caucuses demand hours of in-person or virtual participation at fixed times. For the Denver Democratic Assembly, check-in began at 9:30 a.m., and some participants were still there at 6 p.m. trying to support their candidates of choice. That’s not civic engagement—it’s a test of endurance with a high dose of disenfranchisement. A grassroots democratic form of government should encourage and lower barriers to participate.

The 2026 process didn’t just exclude — it broke down. Despite good-faith efforts to modernize through an app, the result was chaos. The system crashed under heavy use, causing confusion and potentially costing delegates their votes. Entire counties couldn’t complete voting on time.

In La Plata County, voting had to be pushed to Monday night — effectively disenfranchising anyone who couldn’t come back because of work obligations, child care issues or other obligations. In Arapahoe County, participants couldn’t even advocate for their preferred state House candidates, only elect delegates to the county.

News outlets reported that in some cases, party activists waited hours to vote, while others went home and could not participate. Across the state, people waited hours. Some left in frustration. Others weren’t sure if their votes were ever counted.

Fiona Boomer, campaign manager for Democrat Trisha Calvarese in the 4th Congressional District, expressed concern about whether their supporters were able to cast their ballots.

In Denver, delegates were given conflicting instructions; many told voting would be remote, causing many to leave before voting was finally done on site. A supporter of attorney general candidate Jena Griswold described her frustration in attending a Denver caucus and staying almost eight hours in hopes that the technology would work. Iris Halpern, a state house candidate, also expressed concern over caucus attendees leaving throughout the day. That’s not democracy, that’s dysfunction and shutting voters out.

And perhaps most concerning, the caucus system is easy to game. When outcomes depend on a small, insider-driven process, manipulation becomes easier — not harder. We’re already seeing bad actors openly discuss ways to exploit the system by misrepresenting support to sabotage candidates.

At its core, the caucus system concentrates power in the hands of a small group of insiders and activists. It’s a direct vote. It’s a multi-step delegate process that rewards those with the time, access, and familiarity to navigate party machinery. As a result, outcomes diverge sharply from actual voter preferences.

Consider 28-year-old Democratic Socialist candidate Melat Kiros, who is running for Congressional District 1. Kiros outperformed Rep. Diana DeGette in the Denver delegate vote by nearly a two-to-one margin.

Kiros posted an outrageous and offensive digital ad with an image saying centrist Democrats “fellate Israel” and “suck (expletive).” There is a difference between being anti-establishment and not supporting Israel as opposed to outrageous, radical views laced with antisemitism.

Kiros’s records speak for themselves and illustrate how extreme radical candidates are not only out of touch with Colorado Democrats but also with our state values, too. Yes, 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.

Caucuses may have made sense in another era. They do not today. And, they help explain the growth of the disgruntled unaffiliated voters — who, by the way, aren’t allowed to participate in caucuses — and make up 53% of Colorado voters.

If we believe in expanding participation and reflecting the will of voters — not just a tiny fraction of activists — then the conclusion is unavoidable: It’s time to retire the caucus system and let voters decide.

Doug Friednash is a partner with the law firm Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber and Schreck.

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