Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who is term-limited, is running to be Colorado’s next Attorney General.
She made the announcement on Monday. Griswold said Colorado needs a strong leader in this critical political moment, and that she’d make it a priority to stand up to the Trump administration.
“I can't tell you what the lawlessness will be in two years, but I guarantee you that Trump and his associates will continue to undermine the rule of law and disregard our constitution,” Griswold told CPR news.
Like Griswold, Colorado’s current Attorney General, Phil Weiser, is also term limited, leaving his office open next year. He has announced a run for Governor. Two other Democratic candidates have already declared in the AG race: former state House Speaker Crisanta Duran and Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty.
Griswold grew up in Estes Park and had never ran for office before defeating a Republican incumbent in 2018 to become the state’s top election official. She has a B.A. in Politics and Spanish Literature from Whitman College in Washington state and a J.D from the University of Pennsylvania. She lives in Louisville.
Over her seven years in office, Griswold has had a high profile role in Colorado politics. The 2020 presidential election in particular put Griswold front and center in the national debate over election security and false claims of widespread fraud. Reflecting on that time, she said she protected Colorado from threats by “MAGA extremists.”
But her outspoken political stances have made her a polarizing figure. She’s been hailed by many on the left for fighting right-wing conspiracies, but many Republicans argue the person tasked with overseeing elections should strive to be more politically neutral.
Republican lawmakers tried unsuccessfully to impeach Griswold last year, after she voiced strong support for a state supreme court decision removing President Trump from Colorado's 2024 primary ballot. Throughout that case, though, Griswold followed the orders of the court, and complied with the U.S. Supreme Court's eventual ruling that votes for Trump should be counted.
“I followed the constitution and argued Trump should not be eligible for President because he engaged in insurrection, despite receiving death threats to myself and threats to my family,” Griswold told CPR News. “I'll never be afraid to stand up to Trump. As Attorney General I’ll fight back against Trump, Elon Musk and others.”
Griswold has also at times faced blowback for the operation of her office. There were calls for her resignation after it came out just before the last election that BIOS passwords for ballot tabulation machines across the state had been posted for months in a hidden tab on a spreadsheet on the Secretary of State’s website.
Griswold blamed the situation on a former employee and said the public should not let it erode their confidence in the vote. An outside investigation concluded the passwords “were posted mistakenly, unknowingly and unintentionally,” but did violate some policies.
Throughout her tenure, Griswold has been active in legislation at the statehouse. She pointed to her efforts to increase the number of drop boxes and vote centers across the state, and to pass laws against threatening election workers.
She said if elected Attorney General she would work with state lawmakers to address the year-and-a-half backlog for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to process sexual assault DNA evidence. She’d also push for a state law to require a two month turnaround time. Right now there is no requirement in state law, but CBI’s guidelines say evidence should be tested within six months.
“It's not okay to allow perpetrators of rape and sexual assault to run freely in communities because there's a backlog at CBI. It's also not okay to potentially have incorrect evidence that leads to prosecutions. This is a major issue that I think an Attorney General should work towards fixing with the legislature and the next governor,” she said.
Griswold’s campaign unveiled a number of endorsements Monday, including from 20 Democratic state lawmakers and Democratic Congressman Jason Crow.
