The two Democratic candidates vying to be Colorado’s next secretary of state, State Sen. Jessie Danielson and Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder Amanda Gonzalez made their pitch to Democratic primary voters at the state party’s DemFest on Saturday.
About 1,500 voters gathered at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts to hear from candidates. Colorado Democrats are locked in competitive primary races for governor, attorney general, secretary of state and the 8th Congressional District among others.
Danielson and Gonzalez agree on policy and the priorities such as supporting election clerks, and fighting misinformation and disinformation around elections, as well as pushing back against false claims from President Donald Trump and his critiques of mail-in voting.
Most voters said they haven’t yet made up their minds about the secretary of state’s race. Out of dozens of Democratic primary voters interviewed by CPR, only one was engaged enough in the campaigns to have a clear favorite.
“I'm leaning towards Jessie Danielson,” said Jackie Burhans of Monument. “Jessie Danielson has a broader vision, sort of the legal construct.”
She added that while she appreciates Gonzalez’s experience and competence, she thinks this moment in time calls for a bigger vision.
“Our democracy is under threat, and I just want that bigger legal view of not just how to run what we've got, but how to strengthen it and make it better,” she said.
Though most voters remain undecided on the secretary of state’s race, they agreed on the vital importance of the role, which is charged with running a free and fair election system for Colorado. For Christine Tanner of Denver, protecting the right to vote and election integrity in Colorado are her biggest concerns.
“With the elections coming up, I think there's going to be a lot of shenanigans and it's going to be hard,” Tanner said.
Tom Niland of Denver showed up at Dem Fest with his three sons, Shay, 11, Theo, 8, and Jackie, 6, in tow.
“I wanted to take the boys and get a little taste of democracy, and why it's important for us.” he said, adding that he’s concerned about his children’s future.
“As a father of three under-12-year-old boys, I have to be hopeful,” Niland said. “But it's a very scary time and we need to hold out and turn the House in November, turn the Senate.”
Leanne Harper of Parker said she’s terrified by what she described as a weakening democracy.
“It feels as if we're losing it,” she said. “The Supreme Court decisions, disenfranchising people, taking away voter rights, cheating and making everything partisan and nothing's for the good of the country.”
The two candidates had a chance to address voters’ concerns during a secretary of state’s forum discussion that lasted 30 minutes.
On why they want to be Colorado’s top elections official
Danielson:
“How many people like same day registration? How many like vote centers where you can go in and fix any problems that you might have with your ballot or register? You like that? How many of you like mail-in ballots? Awesome. Automatic voter registration. How many of you like that? Well, let me tell you something, folks. I did that. I built the system that Donald Trump loves to hate and I am the one that the Denver Post trusted to be the tough fighter to protect that system and make sure that we continue to have the gold standard of election law all across the country.”
Gonzalez:
“I've run elections for more voters than there are in the entire state of Wyoming. The second thing I want you to know is that I am the only attorney in the race. There is a reason that the last four secretaries of state have all been attorneys, and that is because we are going to need every tool in the toolbox to defend our democracy over the next several years. I also want you to know that I'm the only person in this race who has run a large governmental organization. I oversee an office with a $20 million budget, 900 election workers during a presidential election, and 115 full-time employees. For reference, the Secretary of State's Office is 145. I'm so excited and ready to engage on this fight in day one.”
On Tina Peters’ commutation and early release from state prison
Gonzalez:
“Tina Peters was a travesty because what it says to the election deniers that are regularly already in my office, already making threats against election workers and your democracy is that threatening our elections has no consequences and that is not OK. Every single day we are seeing increased threats against our democracy and it is the role of the Secretary of State to make sure that we are protected. Here's the thing we have to keep in mind, folks. This is all by design, right? They want to keep this drumbeat of election, mis- and disinformation because they know they are going to lose in ‘26 and ‘28, and this is about building the case for when they try and tell you that those elections were rigged, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And so as secretary of state, that means creating the infrastructure to support clerks. It means making sure that we have accurate communications so that voters are not confused, not disenfranchised, and their voices are heard. The end.”
Danielson:
“This is part of why my candidacy became very, very necessary. We need someone in the role of the Secretary of State's Office who has the relationships and the experience of operating at the statewide level to connect with the county clerks across the state, to genuinely invest in their wellbeing and respond thoroughly and rapidly to the needs on the ground. From day one in this candidacy, I got in my car and I drove and I sat with clerks with Democrats just like yourselves and community leaders from all across Colorado to understand what they need and how to push back. You're right, these comments are not unique to Tina Peters, but what Polis did was give that green light and so again, you need someone who has that statewide high level experience of having crafted the laws that do protect us from Trump's attacks and the relationships to enforce them in real time, and I'm the only one in this race that has that.”
On threats against election workers
Danielson:
“The Secretary of State's office is absolutely essential for protecting the systems that we have in place. This is why we need someone in this role with statewide experience, the knowledge and the experience of having crafted and passed the law that all 64 counties use to implement and administer their elections. That's what I've done. I have the relationships from across the state, whether you're in La Plata or Larimer, to take care of business and to really support the counties and the voters that they represent. You need someone in this office who leads with integrity to constantly and consistently communicate back to the electorate about what their rights really are in the face of Donald Trump's attacks, chaos and lies.”
Gonzalez:
“I have experienced firsthand what this looks like. It looks like employees in my office being doxxed. It looks like people who do the data entry for voter registration, not feeling safe to tell their neighbors and friends what they do for a living. It looks like before you run for this office asking your friends and family, ‘Could I stay with you for more than a month?’ If I get more death threats, I am ready because I have the experience actually defending this. The secretary of state is our democracy defender-in-chief. When I talk to teachers, I often say, ‘This is like a principal and you want somebody who has classroom teaching experience.’ I have stood up to election deniers. I had an election denier show up in my office with a list of 23,000 voters that they wanted off our voter rolls, and it was my legal theory that put the foot down and said, ‘Absolutely not. Are we disenfranchising Colorado voters?’”
On why they want to continue to do this work despite threats
Gonzalez:
“I'm not a career politician and running for office was actually never on my bingo card. I was the executive director of a nonpartisan voting rights nonprofit called Colorado Common Cause where I wrote the law that doubled the number of drop boxes. I wrote the law that created automatic voter registration. I wrote the law that dramatically expanded the number of counties that have to translate their ballot. I have spent my career strengthening and fighting for our democracy, and in 2020 and 2018, I ran the state's largest nonpartisan election protection effort. So I was training hundreds of attorneys every year to protect voters if they were experiencing voter suppression. And in those years, every election administrator I knew got some version of a death threat, but that is the goal, is to talk good talk and threaten good people out of running for these offices. It is about intimidating you all to not stand up for your democracy, and we all know that we cannot do that.”
Danielson:
“Threats to my own personal safety are not new. I got my start — for those of you who don't know — in political work as an organizer for NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado, which is now known as Cobalt, so even back in the early 2000s and late ‘90s, I had pictures of my own license plate emailed to me when I was parked at my apartment. So I've had death threats levied against me for a long time. It's nothing new. I think what's new is that elections officials are being targeted at a much higher rate and a much more alarming rate, and that the folks on the ground who either volunteer or work as election judges are also being victimized in this way. It just has a chilling effect on our democracy, and that's what I really care about as far as my family's concerned. I have taken precautions, which I wish I never had to consider. I have a 4-year-old boy and an 8-year-old daughter, but I think because I have a 4-year-old boy and an 8-year-old daughter, I need to be able to look them in the eye every day and say, ‘You stand up for what's right and protect this country, even though there may be some consequences or some risks, it is worth it.’”