Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) faced intense backlash from Colorado Democrats on Wednesday for granting clemency to former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, who was convicted on charges of election interference in the 2020 election. The Colorado Democratic Party approved a measure to censure Polis after the governor made Peters, who was serving out a nine-year prison sentence, eligible for parole on June 1. The vote, approved by 90% of the Democratic Party’s State Central Committee, means he will not be allowed to participate as an honored guest, speaker, or recognized representative of the party at party functions. The development came after President Donald Trump repeatedly called on the Democratic governor to release the election clerk, and her legal team raised concerns about the safety and health hurdles she said she has faced in jail. “Reducing her sentence now, under pressure from Donald Trump, is not justice,” the Colorado Democratic 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 State Central Committee finds that Governor Jared Polis’s decision to grant clemency to Tina Peters materially harmed the Colorado Democratic Party’s institutional credibility and efforts to defend democratic institutions and election integrity,” the statement continued.
