April 07, 2025 08:39 AM UTC

Jena Griswold Kicks Off Bid For Attorney General

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• 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.

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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.