Colorado will be punching above the state’s weight Tuesday when the Senate launches only the fourth impeachment trial of an American president, with two of the state’s congressional Democrats set to argue Donald Trump incited a mob to attack the Capitol last month as part of an attempt to overturn the election.

Lawyers for Trump – the only president to be impeached twice – dismiss the trial as “political theater” and plan to argue it’s unconstitutional to hold the proceedings against a private citizen. In addition, they contend in preliminary filings that Trump was merely exercising his First Amendment rights and wasn’t to blame for the deadly riot on Jan. 6.

Among the nine House Democrats named to prosecute the former president are U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette, representing Denver for a 13th term, and Joe Neguse of Lafayette, serving his second term.

DeGette said the “managers,” as they’re known, intend to “finish the job” started by the House on Jan. 13, when 10 Republicans joined every Democrat to impeach Trump on a single article for “incitement of insurrection.”

The lone Coloradan who has been in their shoes, Democratic U.S. Rep. Jason Crow of Aurora, told Colorado Politics that he’s had discussions with DeGette, Neguse and other managers about their approach to the upcoming trial, drawing on his experience prosecuting the first impeachment case against Trump in the Senate a year ago.

DeGette, who worked as a civil rights attorney before election to Congress, and Neguse, an experienced litigator and former head of Colorado’s Department of Regulatory Agencies, were appointed to the high-profile positions by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Also named were U.S. Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Ted Lieu of California, Joaquin Castro of Texas, Eric Swalwell of California, Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania and Stacey Plaskett of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Both Coloradans played pivotal roles when the House first impeached Trump in late 2019, with DeGette presiding over the chamber for a daylong debate ahead of the impeachment vote and Neguse helping lead the charge in the House Judiciary Committee.

DeGette was one of the first lawmakers to call for impeaching Trump as the dust was still settling after the then-president’s supporters stormed the Capitol and delayed the formal certification of President Joe Biden’s win.

Neguse was one of the Democrats leading the argument on the House floor against Republican attempts to reject Arizona’s electoral votes when the rioters overtook the Capitol. He also participated in Judiciary Committee work on the article of impeachment, drafted by Cicilline, Raskin and Lieu.

“This armed mob did not storm the Capitol on any given day, they did so during the most solemn of proceedings that the United States Congress is engaged in,” Neguse told The Denver Post. “Clearly the attack was done to stop us from finishing our work.”

Crow said the lawmakers prosecuting Trump’s second impeachment will be operating under a very different set of circumstances than he and his colleagues faced.

“You have the pandemic, first of all, so it’s going to be a different logistical set-up, but this is also an extremely different situation,” he said.

“You have a crime here, and the courtroom is actually the scene of the crime, and you have the jurors and the prosecutors that are victims of the crime. And the crime was conducted on live TV in front of the American people, where everybody saw what happened.

“I think it’s going to be really critical that they establish context. People know largely what happened, but what led us to that point, I think, is really interesting. That didn’t happen overnight; there was lead-up and buildup to that moment. Telling that whole story will be really important.”

Crow dismissed the argument put forth by Trump’s lawyers that it’s unconstitutional to impeach a former president, and he said he wasn’t discouraged that 45 Republican senators have already voted that they consider this impeachment trial unconstitutional.

“This argument has no standing,” Crow said. “It doesn’t pass the common-sense test or pass legal muster.”

Not only was the first impeachment trial in U.S. history of a former senator, he said, but Trump’s argument didn’t make any sense.

“Just the idea that you can’t try a president after that president leaves office would basically mean that presidents can do anything they want to do in the last couple months of their term and there’s no recourse for it,” Crow said. “That can’t possibly be the case. There’s no December or January exception to impeachment and the oversight of Congress, so that just doesn’t pass the common-sense test, either.”

Crow said he thinks there’s a chance some Republican senators can be swayed by the trial.

“I don’t think I would be in this business, doing politics, without being optimistic and thinking there was always a path to get things done and to achieve a goal,” he said. “One of my sayings is, today’s a good day to do the right thing, and tomorrow will be too.”