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April 07, 2025 08:39 AM UTC

Jena Griswold Kicks Off Bid For Attorney General

  • 26 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Griswold’s campaign reporting a big initial fundraising haul, as Ernest Luning at the Colorado Springs Gazette reports:

Democrat Jena Griswold, the Colorado secretary of state, raised more than $185,000 in her first 24 hours as an announced candidate for attorney general in next year’s election, her campaign said Tuesday.

The sum appears to be a record for single-day donations received by a state-level candidate since Colorado’s current campaign finance system was established more than 20 years ago.

—–

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D).

From a press release this morning, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold is getting into the race to succeed term-limited Attorney General Phil Weiser, who is himself in the hunt for the 2026 Democratic gubernatorial nomination:

“I am running for Attorney General because Colorado needs a strong, proven leader in this critical moment,” said Griswold. “I’ll stand up to Donald Trump to protect our rights and freedoms. I’ll fight for working- and middle-class Coloradans, hold big corporations accountable, and safeguard our land, air, and water.”

Griswold’s campaign launches with the support of over 100 endorsers, including labor unions, current and former elected officials, and community leaders. Former Lieutenant Governor Gail Schoettler will serve as campaign chair.

Griswold was elected as Secretary of State in 2018 and reelected in 2022. Her accomplishments as Colorado’s Chief Election Officer include increasing drop boxes and in-person voting, implementing automatic voter registration, and providing voters with tools to track their ballot from mailing to counting. Griswold spearheaded legislation to criminalize threats to election workers and fake elector schemes, ban guns near voting, and increase penalties for those who compromise voting equipment. She also led legislation to crack down on fraudulent business records and business identity theft.

“Secretary Griswold is the strong leader we need as Attorney General,” said Schoettler. “As she always has, Jena will stand up to Donald Trump, MAGA extremists, and anyone who threatens the Colorado way of life. And as a woman, she’ll protect reproductive healthcare.”

Congressman Jason Crow said, “Jena Griswold will make an excellent Attorney General. She is tough, will fight for working Coloradans, and stand up against Trump’s extreme agenda.”

Griswold enters the race with a healthy list of endorsements from Rep. Jason Crow down through the ranks of state legislators and local officials. In a poll last December by Republican-leaning Magellan Strategies, at that time evaluating Griswold as a possible candidate for governor, Griswold scored the highest with Democratic and unaffiliated voters for favorable opinion among the candidates in that poll, recognition that came from her role in the Trump v. Anderson Supreme Court case.

Griswold faces Boulder DA Michael Dougherty and former House Speaker Crisanta Duran in the Democratic primary, the latter of whom we don’t see getting far in a three-way race.

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26 thoughts on “Jena Griswold Kicks Off Bid For Attorney General”

    1. She had some own goals that are on her.  I have mixed feelings on her candidacy.  I do think that we need an AG with election law experience, but her handling of the passwords leak was less than stellar.  Reserving judgment on her and Dougherty at this point. 

       

    2. I like Jena, but (full disclosure) I'm not sure I wouldn't like someone else here better?

      You're right about the bum rap.  Even so, Griswald will have a big chore doing something much more to actually combat that rap than just proclaiming "it's a bum rap," to have any chance at winning.

      1. Yeah.  I think she'd give herself a boost by saying "look, mistakes were made, and we have to acknowledge that and work to make sure that doesn't happen again."  She got too defensive when I think she could have quite easily owned the screwup and "scored points" in doing so.  Good lawyers, even AGs, know when to make a concession and admit an error (even if Pam Blondi would fire them for it).  We'll have to see how this campaign unfolds.  I'm not sold on Dougherty either.  As a defense attorney, I'm leery of elected DAs becoming AG.  Not always a good thing. 

  2. Here's Kyle Clark's skeet on the announcement. Clark gets a lot of views on social media and TV, and he's done some tough interviewing with her, but I'm not as worried about Clark as I am about GOP TV and literature in the general election. Perception matters when voters aren't intractably red or blue. Still, she's got legit experience and knows how to run a statewide race.

    Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) is running for AG after seven years in office marked by errors and bipartisan criticism from Colorado's county-level election officials

    1. This could be the Dems "Achilles heel." If she wins the nomination and if the GOP ran a serious, credible candidate, this could be the one statewide constitutional office they might pick off.

      But alas, we are talking about the Party of Dave Williams, Scott Bottoms, Lauren Boebert, Greg Lopez and Dr. Chaps & the Medicine Show, so there's a fairly good chance they'll come up with a nominee like Jenna Ellis for Attorney General. But if they nominated someone like Michael Rourke or Dan Rubenstein, they could give Jenna Griswold run for her money. 

      2. LBPoS- always quick to predict Democratic Doom, and the rise of the Moderate Middle. The only thing more certain is that LB will indignantly protest the idea that anyone anti-Griswold could possibly be sexist.

        1. All I did was point out that Griswold might not be ther strongest candidate for the Dems because of a problem which occurred in her curent job.

          This isn't the first time you went to town when I raise a question about whether a particular candidate was the best candidate to run.

          Remember back in August of last year, I simply questioned whether clearing the field for Kamala Harris was the best way to belatedly pick a replacement for Biden. You went to town screaming about how no one was going to deprive the most loyal constituency in the Democratic Party (i.e., black women) of their turn.  

          So, we had a coronation and annointed Harris as the nominee. And over the next three months we were treated to her world salad, Politics of Joy, "Nope, can't think of a single thing [which I would have done differently]," the pronoun stuff, the embarrassment that was Tim Walz, etc. The one thing that she should have been talking about – the economy – went unspoken.

          So, if you want to push the nomination of another flawed candidate to satisfy your fetish with guaranteeing representation by another protected class, have at it. 

          And since you brought up the accusation of sexism, I'll match my record of supporting women candidates against yours anyday. Caucused for Hillary Clinton for the nomination in 2008. Supported HRC in 2016 for the nomination and general election. Donated money to Amy Klobuchar in 2020.  Voted for Nicki Haley in the 2024 GOP primary. Donated money and voted for Kamala Harris in 2024.

          BTW, my personal preference for the Democratic nomination for AG – Alexis King – identifies as cisgender female. 

          1. You definitely have not been supporting progressive female candidates longer than I have, unless you were knocking doors for Pat Schroeder and Reverend Lucia Guzman in their first campaigns. You're not that old, and you were a Republican back then anyway, so would have been voting for their opponents.

            I see you're still going with the over the top rhetoric: "Screaming about" "satisfy your fetish"…(eww), etc. 

            Alexis King is not running for AG. But this is your old preference – pick someone who is not running for the office under discussion, and promote their hypothetical candidacy  as opposed to a real contender. 

            I know you got your wish for tax cuts…are you enjoying them in Mexico with your partner, as you said you would be with a re-elected Trump? You just drop in here occasionally to stir the shit.
             

    2. 10-4 on knowing how to run a statewide race. She was the first Dem to win a CO SoS election since 1958, then got reelected after one of those fuck-ups Clark mentioned.

      Still, the fuck-ups could leave her vulnerable in a race against a halfway sane Republican. Fortunately for the forces of good, the contemporary GOP only nominates gibbering, drooling, bedwetting trumpanzee clowns.

  3. Well, Jena vs. Jenna would be one for the ages, eh? In days of old I would've thought having a law license that's suspended in Colorado would have been a disqualifying factor, but not so sure anymore.

    1. If her license is suspended Jenna can't run for the office. Qualifications are:

      The attorney general must be at least 25 years old and an attorney in good standing licensed by the Colorado Supreme Court. Additionally, he must be a citizen of the United States and have been a Colorado resident for at least two years prior to election.

      Also the rule appears to say "he" – is that still binding? If so, then neither can run. Appears to have "he" in the wording for all the state offices. They haven't fixed this yet???

      2. The "he" thing should be fixed. It's in the Constitution so it would require a ballot measure, and the legislature could put it on the ballot with a resolution. I'm not sure where else in the Constitution this might occur though, maybe there are lots of male-centric pronouns throughout the whole thing!

      3. I did just check and at least the constitution's Article 4 (about the state's constitutional offices) is full of "he" and "his." I don't think it would be difficult to edit into something gender non-specific, and I'd hope that 55% of voters would be OK with it.

          1. Same as it ever was … "all men are created equal" covers everyone, doncha know.  AI Assist explains:

            The Constitution originally used male pronouns like "he" to refer to citizens, reflecting the societal norms of the time. However, over time, legal interpretations and amendments, such as the Nineteenth Amendment, have expanded the understanding of rights to include women, ensuring they are recognized as equal participants in the legal framework.

          2. The legislature actually has changed many "he/his" pronouns in state statutes. IMO it's probably best to take out pronouns and use something specific, like "the attorney general" instead of "he." Doing this in the constitution would make passages a little longer and maybe the language would be a bit clunkier, but we've definitely had women in the constitutional offices so I would think it's past time for a change in the constitutional language.

  4. I'm all in for Jena Griswold for AG. She is smart, a talented communicator, and a competent attorney. She faces extra scrutiny because she is young, female, and attractive, so people often assume that she must be a bimbo.

    I saw her speak first when she came to Brush, Colorado, for our Dems "Meet the Candidates" event. She was impressive then and is impressive now. I liked that she was all over the cable news channels promoting Colorado's election system as the gold standard. Mailed ballots, ballot drop boxes, same day registration, etc, fricking well is the gold standard, the most accessible and secure system in the country. It's a large part of why Colorado is a blue dot in a red ocean. Own that and be proud of that, Colorado, and celebrate the good communicators communicating that to the country.

    The password publishing was a setup, by Tina Peters’ cronies in CD3 . I don’t remember the exact name, but it was someone in the Colorado GOP who had access to the SoS website that planted the leaked passwords there. She was set up.
    Yes, Griswold could have had firewalls in place to prevent that, but it was not her own staff that put that out there. They were also secondary fail-safe passwords, which would not have allowed anyone access to confidential areas on the server, so no actual harm was done.

    Props to Pols for (finally) giving Griswold equal time and some fair press.

     

    1. No, “The password publishing was a setup” isn’t quite right.

      There may have been some glee in the announcement, but the legal investigation found a series of stupid moves, with no individual step being criminal, all the way back to the person putting the passwords into a hidden spreadsheet tab of a file not expected to be pushed beyond the person’s own work.

      Colorado Newsline: Denver DA won’t file charges over leak of Colorado voting system passwords By: Chase Woodruff – December 20, 2024

      1. "Glee"? You could call it that.

        I remember reading that one of the two Republican election clerks who knew about the published passwords had informed other GOP folks in Mesa County.

        In other words, rather than correcting the error and making the website secure, she spread the news around so that others could score points on it. I don't have the time or inclination now to unearth that reference, but it was definitely a thing. Or how likely do you think it is that the geniuses who met under a bridge to keep  grifter Williams in his Chair of the GOP role were scrutinizing the Secretary of State website for hidden passwords?

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