{"id":523,"date":"2026-06-11T11:03:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T11:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=523"},"modified":"2026-06-11T11:03:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T11:03:04","slug":"three-democrats-made-their-cases-for-attorney-general-while-jena-griswold-skipped-another-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=523","title":{"rendered":"Three Democrats made their cases for attorney general while Jena Griswold skipped another debate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Two Democrats vying for the chance to be Colorado\u2019s next attorney general would not commit to voting for Secretary of State Jena Griswold in November should she win the primary at a forum Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n

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Former federal prosecutor Hetal Doshi, Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty and David Seligman, a consumer and workers rights attorney, differentiated how they would approach the job of the state\u2019s top lawyer. All three took jabs at the fourth candidate, Griswold, who declined to participate in the forum, hosted by The Colorado Sun and the Colorado Health Foundation.<\/p>\n

Seligman said he would vote for Griswold if she is the Democratic nominee \u201cwithout hesitation.\u201d Doshi and Dougherty said they would need certain guarantees from Griswold; Dougherty said he would need a commitment from her that she would not skip candidate forums in the general election.<\/p>\n

All three candidates took issue with the characterization of Griswold as the front runner and downplayed concerns that staying in the race is essentially handing her the nomination because they would split the votes opposing her.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just a refusal to answer unscripted questions, it is also a lack of accountability for a record,\u201d Doshi said.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s about showing up and answering questions about our experience as lawyers and leaders, because if you\u2019re going to say you\u2019re taking Donald Trump to court, it can\u2019t be your first time walking into a courtroom, and you can\u2019t skip every candidate forum and debate where the people are owed answers from us,\u201d Dougherty said.<\/p>\n

Colorado\u2019s current attorney general, Democrat Phil Weiser, is term-limited and can\u2019t run for reelection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The winner of the June 30 Democratic primary will face the winner of the Republican primary, where El Paso County District Attorney Michael Allen and David Wilson, a lawyer who represented Tina Peters in an unsuccessful recount lawsuit, are competing for the nomination. Peters, a former Mesa County clerk, served nearly 20 months in prison for orchestrating an elections system security breach. Gov. Jared Polis commuted her sentence in a highly controversial move all three attorney general candidates said they objected to on Wednesday. She was freed this month.<\/p>\n

The attorney general manages an office of more than 650 employees, with a wide-ranging mandate to prosecute criminal cases, protect consumers and the environment, enforce antitrust and housing laws, represent state agencies and defend state laws in court.<\/p>\n

Doshi said she would go after white collar corruption, Dougherty said he\u2019d protect the environment, and Seligman said he\u2019d prioritize the rights of low-wage workers and immigrants in federal detention.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All called out what they said were abuses by the Trump administration motivating them to run for higher office.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis election is about hiring a lawyer for the people of Colorado,\u201d Seligman said. \u201cIt could not get more important than this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doshi, 47, of Denver, stressed her experience blocking corporate mergers and leading large teams of federal prosecutors taking on corporate corruption. She served as a deputy assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice during the Biden administration, where she led the antitrust unit. Before that, she was a federal prosecutor in Colorado for the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Dougherty, 54, of Boulder, touted his experience taking on cases of the King Soopers mass shooting, the Pearl Street firebombing and the Marshall fire. He has served as the district attorney for Boulder County since 2018 after working as an assistant district attorney in Colorado\u2019s first judicial district. Before that he was a lawyer in the Manhattan District Attorney\u2019s Office in New York. He served as Colorado\u2019s deputy attorney general in charge of the office\u2019s criminal section from 2010 to 2013.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Seligman, 43, of Denver, said he has dedicated his career to taking on corporate interests on behalf of marginalized people. Seligman is the executive director of Towards Justice, a legal nonprofit that specializes in workers rights. Before that, he worked as an attorney at the National Consumer Law Center in Boston.<\/p>\n

On much, the three candidates agreed. All said that the Taxpayer\u2019s Bill of Rights, the Colorado constitutional clause that restricts state spending, needed to be changed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All said elements of TABOR are unconstitutional, but Dougherty went a step further to say he would champion TABOR\u2019s elimination as attorney general.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will lead the charge to modify or eliminate TABOR, and that is going to take a statewide effort,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

All three candidates said the Colorado attorney general\u2019s office needed to do more to hold environmental polluters, including energy giant Suncor, accountable and go after tech companies for their impact on kids.<\/p>\n

Seligman said he would back a moratorium on data center development \u201cat least until we can figure out how to regulate these companies,\u201d he said. Seligman differentiated himself by saying he would be open to foundations or wealthy individuals funding positions at the attorney general\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cIn certain cases where AGs aren\u2019t staffed up to do essential work, like protecting the workplace health and safety of workers \u2026 public agencies have come together with foundations to fund really important work in AG offices, and I would be open to it, but mindful of the risks of corruption and engage outside experts to ensure that the corruption lines are crossed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dougherty called Polis\u2019 commutation of Peters\u2019 sentence \u201can absolute miscarriage of justice.\u201d But Doshi was the only candidate who said she was open to amending the clemency process to prohibit a governor from awarding clemency before the case\u2019s appellate process has been completely exhausted \u2014 but with a carve-out for claims of innocence.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommutation is to exercise mercy,\u201d she said. \u201cI would want to make sure that the exercise or the limitation on the governor\u2019s powers rooted out the opportunity for corruption or termination of a process in a preemptive way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doshi said she would strengthen protections for victims of crimes, red flag laws and white collar criminal statutes.<\/p>\n

Read more Our 10 favorite places in Colorado to see music, theater and the performing arts<\/a><\/p>\n

Dougherty also said he would beef up social media protections for kids.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hetal Doshi, Michael Dougherty and David Seligman staked out stances on TABOR, Trump and more<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-election-2026"],"yoast_head":"\nThree Democrats made their cases for attorney general while Jena Griswold skipped another debate - Colorado Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=523\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Three Democrats made their cases for attorney general while Jena Griswold skipped another debate - Colorado Relocation Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hetal Doshi, Michael Dougherty and David Seligman staked out stances on TABOR, Trump and more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=523\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colorado Relocation Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-11T11:03:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=523#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=523\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/144e01590ba7a61cfe6fd08a0fa7a482\"},\"headline\":\"Three Democrats made their cases for attorney general while Jena Griswold skipped another debate\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-11T11:03:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=523\"},\"wordCount\":1063,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=523#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/f81caef689b9c3dff29569bcf4d39924.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Election 2026\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=523#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=523\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=523\",\"name\":\"Three Democrats made their cases for attorney general while Jena Griswold skipped another debate - Colorado Relocation Report\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=523#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=523#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/f81caef689b9c3dff29569bcf4d39924.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-11T11:03:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/144e01590ba7a61cfe6fd08a0fa7a482\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=523#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=523\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=523#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/f81caef689b9c3dff29569bcf4d39924.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/f81caef689b9c3dff29569bcf4d39924.jpg\",\"width\":2500,\"height\":1788,\"caption\":\"The Colorado Sun hosts the Colorado Attorney General Candidate Forum at the Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs at the University of Denver on June 10, 2026. 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