FYI ... Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold joins Democratic primary for attorney general - Denver Gazette
Thomas Clayton
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold joins Democratic primary for attorney general
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold speaks in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 8, 2024, in Washington, ahead of the court hearing arguments on a Colorado case to decide whether Donald Trump would be ineligible for the 2024 ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The court later ruled unanimously that Trump would remain on the ballot.
(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced Monday that she is seeking the Democratic nomination for attorney general in next year's election, promising to "stand up to Donald Trump to protect our rights and freedoms."
"Attorneys general are on the front lines of defending our rights and our freedoms, which are under massive attack from Elon Musk and Donald Trump," Griswold told Colorado Politics prior to her campaign launch. "And I have a proven track record of standing up to MAGA extremists and Donald Trump over the last six and a half years of serving as secretary of state, and I hope to continue that as attorney general."
Added Griswold: "I think we're at a tremendous risk nationally when there's a president who does not believe in an actual law and order. I'm running for attorney general because Colorado needs a strong, proven leader in this critical moment, and I'll stand up to Donald Trump to protect our rights and freedoms. I've done it before; I'm going to continue to do that."
The 40-year-old attorney, who faces term limits as secretary of state after the 2026 election, becomes the third Democrat running for the office held by term-limited fellow Democrat Attorney General Phil Weiser, who is running for governor.
In February, Democrats Michael Dougherty, the Boulder district attorney, and Crisanta Duran, a former speaker of the Colorado state House, launched campaigns for attorney general. Political newcomer Connor Pennington is the only Republican to have filed paperwork to run for the seat so far.
At the same time she announced her run, Griswold unveiled endorsements from more than 100 current and former Colorado elected officials, labor unions and community leaders, including U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, state House Majority Leader Monica Duran, former U.S. Reps. Yadira Caraveo and Betsy Markey, Arapahoe District Attorney Amy Padden and the chairmen of the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes. Former Lt. Gov. Gail Schoettler is Griswold's campaign chair.
When Griswold won election to her first term as secretary of state in 2018, she became the first Democrat elected to the office since 1962 and the first Democratic woman to hold the seat. She won reelection in 2022 by a double-digit margin.
Griswold's tenure in the position, which oversees the state's elections, has been marked by public clashes with Trump, including high-profile roles on both sides of a 2023 lawsuit brought by Republican and unaffiliated voters that sought to keep Trump from appearing on Colorado ballots, citing a constitutional provision that bars insurrectionists from running for certain federal offices.
"When the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump had engaged in insurrection, I followed the Constitution and argued that Trump should not be eligible for president because he's an insurrectionist, despite receiving death threats from extremists," Griswold said in an interview, adding that she didn't regret supporting the state court's decision, which the U.S. Supreme Court reversed unanimously.
"Ultimately, the Supreme Court will make decisions, and officials should follow those decisions," Griswold said, noting that she kept Trump's name on last year's primary ballot throughout the appeals process, as the state's high court had ordered. "But I think fighting for the rule of law, for the Constitution, for our justice system, is always a good thing to do."
Griswold faced heavy criticism and calls to resign last fall from the Trump campaign, state Republicans, the state's Libertarian Party and some county clerks after it was revealed just days before the November election that hundreds of voting equipment passwords had been published online by the Secretary of State's Office in a spreadsheet that was viewable by the public.
A third-party investigation determined that Griswold's office violated state data security policy in the breach but concluded the mistake was "unintentional." Additionally, an investigation launched by Denver District Attorney Beth McCann, a Democrat, decided not to pursue criminal charges, describing the password leak as having happened "in error" but not "knowingly."
Griswold told Colorado Politics that her office handled the password leaks appropriately, despite criticism from some county election officials who charged that Griswold hadn't communicated adequately with them as her office worked to resolve the potential security issue.
"The 2024 election was secure," Griswold said. "More than 3.2 million Coloradans had their voice heard. We took immediate action to address the situation. This never posed an immediate security threat to our elections, and the matter has been thoroughly investigated and put to rest. I am proud of the work I've done as secretary of state, and I'm running for attorney general to continue to protect our rights and freedoms."
Griswold noted that since taking office, she's championed making it easier for Coloradans of all stripes to vote.
"As secretary of state, I've led multiple laws to increase voting access and increase voting security. That includes more drop boxes, more in-person voting, guaranteed access on college campuses and on tribal lands and automatic voter registration," she said. "I've worked over the last six and a half years to make sure that voting rights for every eligible person — Republican, Democrat, unaffiliated, whether you live in a big city or you live on the tribal lands of the Southern Ute or Ute Mountain Ute — that you have your rights protected and our democracy preserved, and I'm absolutely proud of the work that we have done along those lines."
Born in Ohio, Griswold grew up near Estes Park before attending and graduating from Whitman College in Washington state, after which she earned a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She worked as a voter protection attorney on Barack Obama's 2012 reelection campaign and was later named director of then-Gov. John Hickenlooper's Washington office, serving as a liaison for the state with the federal government.
"There are times that were hard to make ends meet, there were times we were on food stamps," Griswold said, recalling her childhood in rural Colorado. "I vividly remember going to the Larimer County Food Bank in Estes Park. I was the first person in my family to go to a four-year college and law school, and that background matters, because as attorney general, I'll always stand up to corporations for illegally taking advantage of everyday people. I'll protect workers, stand for the middle class, stand for working people, because at the end of the day, I know what it means to struggle, and we need to make sure that Coloradans can live the best life possible."
Griswold and her husband, Mario, live in Louisville with their 8-month-old son.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold speaks in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 8, 2024, in Washington, ahead of the court hearing arguments on a Colorado case to decide whether Donald Trump would be ineligible for the 2024 ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The court later ruled unanimously that Trump would remain on the ballot.
(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced Monday that she is seeking the Democratic nomination for attorney general in next year's election, promising to "stand up to Donald Trump to protect our rights and freedoms."
"Attorneys general are on the front lines of defending our rights and our freedoms, which are under massive attack from Elon Musk and Donald Trump," Griswold told Colorado Politics prior to her campaign launch. "And I have a proven track record of standing up to MAGA extremists and Donald Trump over the last six and a half years of serving as secretary of state, and I hope to continue that as attorney general."
Added Griswold: "I think we're at a tremendous risk nationally when there's a president who does not believe in an actual law and order. I'm running for attorney general because Colorado needs a strong, proven leader in this critical moment, and I'll stand up to Donald Trump to protect our rights and freedoms. I've done it before; I'm going to continue to do that."
The 40-year-old attorney, who faces term limits as secretary of state after the 2026 election, becomes the third Democrat running for the office held by term-limited fellow Democrat Attorney General Phil Weiser, who is running for governor.
In February, Democrats Michael Dougherty, the Boulder district attorney, and Crisanta Duran, a former speaker of the Colorado state House, launched campaigns for attorney general. Political newcomer Connor Pennington is the only Republican to have filed paperwork to run for the seat so far.
At the same time she announced her run, Griswold unveiled endorsements from more than 100 current and former Colorado elected officials, labor unions and community leaders, including U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, state House Majority Leader Monica Duran, former U.S. Reps. Yadira Caraveo and Betsy Markey, Arapahoe District Attorney Amy Padden and the chairmen of the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes. Former Lt. Gov. Gail Schoettler is Griswold's campaign chair.
When Griswold won election to her first term as secretary of state in 2018, she became the first Democrat elected to the office since 1962 and the first Democratic woman to hold the seat. She won reelection in 2022 by a double-digit margin.
Griswold's tenure in the position, which oversees the state's elections, has been marked by public clashes with Trump, including high-profile roles on both sides of a 2023 lawsuit brought by Republican and unaffiliated voters that sought to keep Trump from appearing on Colorado ballots, citing a constitutional provision that bars insurrectionists from running for certain federal offices.
"When the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump had engaged in insurrection, I followed the Constitution and argued that Trump should not be eligible for president because he's an insurrectionist, despite receiving death threats from extremists," Griswold said in an interview, adding that she didn't regret supporting the state court's decision, which the U.S. Supreme Court reversed unanimously.
"Ultimately, the Supreme Court will make decisions, and officials should follow those decisions," Griswold said, noting that she kept Trump's name on last year's primary ballot throughout the appeals process, as the state's high court had ordered. "But I think fighting for the rule of law, for the Constitution, for our justice system, is always a good thing to do."
Griswold faced heavy criticism and calls to resign last fall from the Trump campaign, state Republicans, the state's Libertarian Party and some county clerks after it was revealed just days before the November election that hundreds of voting equipment passwords had been published online by the Secretary of State's Office in a spreadsheet that was viewable by the public.
A third-party investigation determined that Griswold's office violated state data security policy in the breach but concluded the mistake was "unintentional." Additionally, an investigation launched by Denver District Attorney Beth McCann, a Democrat, decided not to pursue criminal charges, describing the password leak as having happened "in error" but not "knowingly."
Griswold told Colorado Politics that her office handled the password leaks appropriately, despite criticism from some county election officials who charged that Griswold hadn't communicated adequately with them as her office worked to resolve the potential security issue.
"The 2024 election was secure," Griswold said. "More than 3.2 million Coloradans had their voice heard. We took immediate action to address the situation. This never posed an immediate security threat to our elections, and the matter has been thoroughly investigated and put to rest. I am proud of the work I've done as secretary of state, and I'm running for attorney general to continue to protect our rights and freedoms."
Griswold noted that since taking office, she's championed making it easier for Coloradans of all stripes to vote.
"As secretary of state, I've led multiple laws to increase voting access and increase voting security. That includes more drop boxes, more in-person voting, guaranteed access on college campuses and on tribal lands and automatic voter registration," she said. "I've worked over the last six and a half years to make sure that voting rights for every eligible person — Republican, Democrat, unaffiliated, whether you live in a big city or you live on the tribal lands of the Southern Ute or Ute Mountain Ute — that you have your rights protected and our democracy preserved, and I'm absolutely proud of the work that we have done along those lines."
Born in Ohio, Griswold grew up near Estes Park before attending and graduating from Whitman College in Washington state, after which she earned a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She worked as a voter protection attorney on Barack Obama's 2012 reelection campaign and was later named director of then-Gov. John Hickenlooper's Washington office, serving as a liaison for the state with the federal government.
"There are times that were hard to make ends meet, there were times we were on food stamps," Griswold said, recalling her childhood in rural Colorado. "I vividly remember going to the Larimer County Food Bank in Estes Park. I was the first person in my family to go to a four-year college and law school, and that background matters, because as attorney general, I'll always stand up to corporations for illegally taking advantage of everyday people. I'll protect workers, stand for the middle class, stand for working people, because at the end of the day, I know what it means to struggle, and we need to make sure that Coloradans can live the best life possible."
Griswold and her husband, Mario, live in Louisville with their 8-month-old son.
 | Tom Clayton Communication and Media Specialist, Public Affairs |
| Commissioners' Office 200 W Oak St, Fort Collins, 80522 | 2nd Floor W: (970) 498-7005 tcla...@larimer.org | www.larimer.org |