Colorado Politics

 Colorado primary for governor: Meet the Democratic and Republican candidates

Colorado’s race for governor is wide open this year, with Gov. Jared Polis term‑limited and unable to seek reelection. Five candidates are competing for a spot on the November ballot, setting up one of the most closely watched primaries in...

 Colorado Attorney General Democratic primary: Meet the candidates

One of the most closely watched contests on the June primary ballot is the four‑way Democratic race for Colorado attorney general. With Attorney General Phil Weiser term‑limited and running for governor, attention has shifted to the candidates vying to replace...

 ‘A warrior for us all’: Colorado leaders mourn former state Rep. Lois Landgraf

Former state Rep. Lois Landgraf, a veteran advocate and influential Republican voice in El Paso County for more than a decade, died June 1 at 74, prompting an outpouring of remembrances from colleagues and community leaders. A celebration of life...

 Colorado Supreme Court shuts down ‘new form of representation’ in postconviction cases

While unrepresented defendants in postconviction proceedings are permitted to have a court-appointed attorney investigate and augment their claims, that is not the case when a private lawyer authors the original petition, the Colorado Supreme Court decided on Monday. In contrast...

 Trump and Macron play nice at G7 summit opening

President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron avoided any public tussles over foreign policy at the opening events of the G7 summit in Evian, France, on Monday. The two leaders have had a complicated relationship during Trump’s second term...

 Colorado State Shooting Association files constitutional challenge to firearms dealer law

A firearms group has filed a lawsuit challenging a recently signed law expanding regulations for firearms dealers in Colorado. House Bill 26-1126 clarifies that firearms dealers must hold both a federal and state license to operate. The bill also allows the...

 Ethics panel frustrated as Colorado Rep. Joseph refuses to appear without subpoena

The Colorado House Ethics Committee voted unanimously on Monday to subpoena a legislator from Boulder to appear at its June 23 hearing on the complaint involving another state representative accused of misusing caucus funds. Rep. Junie Joseph, D‑Boulder, to appear...

 Colorado justices walk back appeals court’s expansion of rezoning via ballot box

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday that rezonings of planned-unit developments cannot occur through a vote at the ballot box, reversing an appellate decision that found such changes were fair game for a popular vote. In contrast to traditional,...

 Colorado Supreme Court recognizes right to self-defense in workplace

The Colorado Supreme Court recognized on Monday that there is a right to self-defense in the workplace for which employers may not terminate workers so long as they lawfully exercise that right. The court’s majority in the 5-2 decision cautioned...

 Colorado Supreme Court heads toward summer recess, newest justice authors first opinion | COURT CRAWL

Welcome to Court Crawl, Colorado Politics’ roundup of news from the third branch of government. The state Supreme Court is in the process of releasing a large batch of opinions as it heads toward its summer recess in July, plus...

 Wildlife office kills wolf linked to dozens of livestock deaths in Colorado

Wildlife officers shot and killed a wolf believed to be responsible for killing at least 22 sheep over the past year in a remote northwestern county, according to a state agency. The animal came from the Copper Creek pack and...

 Vance says MOU between Iran and US ‘already signed’ digitally

Vice President JD Vance said a 60-day preliminary ceasefire extension between Iran and the United States was signed digitally ahead of in-person meetings to sign the deal in Europe later this week. “We already signed the deal digitally yesterday,” Vance...

 Supreme Court to hear challenge to indefinite detention of criminal immigrants

The Supreme Court announced it would take up a case deciding whether the federal government can hold criminal immigrants in detention indefinitely pending removal, adding to the immigration cases the high court has heard in recent years. The high court...

 Trump to meet with Middle Eastern leaders at G7 summit overshadowed by Iran and Ukraine wars

President Donald Trump will meet with Middle Eastern leaders in Evian, France, early Monday morning, where his efforts to finally end the Iran and Ukraine wars are likely to cloud all other topics of conversation at the G7 summit. In...

 Littleton commits loan, incentives for Manning-linked development

The Littleton City Council voted 4–3 to approve a public-private partnership for the First Street Farms development, a hospitality development linked to former Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning. The vote finalizes an agreement between the city and developer Gastamo Group...

 Flesh-eating cattle parasite spreads beyond Texas as new screwworm cases found | OUT WEST ROUNDUP

NEW MEXICO Screwworm spreads beyond Texas Three more cases of the New World screwworm have been confirmed, including one found in a dog in New Mexico, outside the main cluster in Texas, demonstrating the difficulty of stopping a resurgent pest...

 Denver City Council eyes lobbying regulations, restriction

Topping the agenda for the Denver City Council’s Monday’s regular meeting is a proposal that, if adopted, would amend the Denver Revised Municipal Code to increase regulation of lobbyists. This will be the second reading for Council Bill 26-0686. High-profile...

 Jeffco Public Schools: Boys on girls’ sports rosters were mascots, not athletes

Jeffco Public Schools this week said the boys the Trump administration claimed to have found on girls’ sports rosters were trainers, mascots and managers, not student-athletes. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights announced in March that a...

 Michael Dougherty is literally running for attorney general in Colorado Democrat’s 1st TV ad

Democratic attorney general candidate Michael Dougherty, the Boulder County district attorney, runs laps around the judicial complex in Denver that houses the office he’s seeking in a TV ad released Friday that includes a subtle dig at one of his...

 Group aims to add right to hunt and fish to Colorado Constitution

A group is seeking to make Colorado the 25th state in the nation with an established constitutional right to hunting and fishing through a proposed ballot initiative. Backed by the International Order of T. Roosevelt, a group dedicated to preserving...

 Colorado Politics Calendar June 15-21

CoPo’s weekly political calendar helps you find political and public policy events throughout Colorado. It includes candidate and issue campaign events, public policy meetings, court hearings, state and local party conventions, assemblies, debates, rallies, parades, speaking engagements, traveling dignitary appearances,...

 A primary brings out primal instincts | SONDERMANN

There are no Stanley Cup finals or NBA title showdowns involving local teams this June. In their place, we are inundated with primary election campaign ads. Coloradans can be excused for missing the diversion and alternate programming. But life can...

 Dem-GOP tension dominates 1,000-bill legislative session | A LOOK BACK

Forty-Five Years Ago This Week: “I can honestly say that until now, we got along well with the governor’s office,” said House Minority Leader Federico Peña, D-Denver. “We visited frequently with the staff. And you didn’t see certain legislators speaking...

 Hickenlooper lands endorsements from Elizabeth Warren, Ministerial Alliance in US Senate primary

U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper won endorsements this week from a progressive Democratic colleague and a coalition of metro-area African American faith leaders as voting began in Colorado’s primary election. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and the Greater Metro Denver...

 Colorado justices say insurers may access policyholders’ medical info in denied-benefits litigation

The Colorado Supreme Court declined on Monday to expand its narrow prohibition on insurance companies accessing policyholders’ medical information, clarifying that a dispute over an insurer’s bad-faith decision to deny benefits is the only situation where a company is limited...

 House District 14: Businesswoman, consultant square off in GOP primary

Firearms training company owner Ava Flanell will face Troy Vanderhule, the chief fundraising officer for Dobson Philanthropic, in the June 30 Republican primary for state House District 14, an area in northern Colorado Springs. Flanell was appointed to the seat...

 Federal judge wants Todd Blanche to swear in writing anti-weaponization fund won’t be revived

A federal judge maintained a block on the Department of Justice’s $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund Friday, despite the DOJ claiming they have abandoned the planned fund aimed at compensating allies of President Donald Trump and others who say they were politically targeted by...

 Colorado Supreme Court declines to loosen requirements for insurance company defendants

The Colorado Supreme Court declined last week to reconsider its longstanding expectations for insurance company defendants, and agreed that an insurer failed to properly raise its defenses against a policyholder’s breach-of-contract lawsuit. When an insured driver has an accident with...

 Teen defendant properly transferred from youth detention to jail, Colorado justices conclude

Colorado law required the transfer of a teenage murder suspect from youth detention to the county jail when he turned 18, the state Supreme Court ruled last week. Prosecutors have accused Issac James Lawrence of killing a younger boy and attempting to...

 US is escorting 20 tankers a night through Strait of Hormuz, Burgum says, easing oil strain

The U.S. Navy is escorting ships through the Strait of Hormuz despite the threat from Iran, guiding more than 20 crude oil carriers on some nights, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said. Some are ultra-large tankers that hold 2 million barrels...