Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis was censured by his own party Wednesday night for his decision to grant clemency to election denier Tina Peters.
The Colorado Democratic Party voted to rebuke the governor over his decision to free Peters.
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“Reducing her sentence now, under pressure from Donald Trump, is not justice,” the state party said in a statement. “It sends a message to future bad actors that election tampering has consequences, unless you’re friends with the president. That’s a dangerous and disappointing precedent to set.”
The former Mesa County clerk is set to be freed from state prison on June 1, after Polis’ commutation cut her sentence in half. A jury convicted Peters of conspiring with allies of President Donald Trump to breach voting systems in her county in 2021, in hopes of proving his 2020 fraud claims.
State Democrats said they formally censured the governor “for conduct inconsistent with the Colorado Democratic Party’s commitment to democratic institutions, election integrity, and public accountability.”
The party added: “Until further action by the State Central Committee or Executive Committee, Governor Jared Polis shall not participate as an honored guest, featured speaker, or officially recognized representative of the Colorado Democratic Party at Party-sponsored events and functions, including but not limited to the Obama Gala and DemFest.”
A spokesperson for Polis said in a statement Wednesday the governor did what he thought was right based on the facts of the case, adding, “Sometimes the right thing isn’t the popular thing with everybody. Democracy is strongest when disagreement is met with debate and dialogue, not censorship.”
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Peters’ impending release is a victory for Trump and the right-wing election denier movement, which hails her as a hero who was unjustly prosecuted. Trump has waged a long pressure campaign against Colorado over Peters’ incarceration. She is the last Trump ally still in prison for 2020 election-related crimes.
Polis’ decision to free Peters garnered bipartisan condemnation from Colorado officials. His decision came after she acknowledged for the first time since her 2024 conviction that she “made a mistake” and “misled” Colorado election officials.
Witnesses testified at Peters’ trial that in 2021, she gave people affiliated with pro-Trump conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell unauthorized access to the election offices in Mesa County, where she was the clerk. Witnesses said they made copies of sensitive election data so they could audit the 2020 results.
Last month, a state appeals court upheld Peters’ criminal convictions. However, it ordered the trial judge to re-sentence her, finding that he improperly based part of the punishment on Peters’ protected speech about elections, violating her First Amendment rights.
Polis previously told CNN he agreed with that ruling, saying, “I hope that Democrats don’t sacrifice our deeply held belief in free speech because of political expediency or disregard for what people are saying. There should be no consideration of what we say, how unpopular it is, how inaccurate it is in sentencing or in criminal proceedings.”
Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado said Wednesday night he supported the state party’s decision.
“The Democratic Party must fight for democracy and the rule of law. We must be consistent, courageous, resolute, and willing to call out our own when they fall short,” he said in a statement.
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