Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder Amanda Gonzalez will run for Colorado secretary of state in 2026, she introduced Monday morning.
Gonzalez, a Democrat, is the primary major-party candidate to announce her intent to hunt the state’s most sensible election task. Present Secretary of State Jena Griswold, additionally a Democrat, is term-limited from working once more.
In an interview, Gonzalez mentioned she’d emphasize vote casting get entry to and construction accept as true with in elections. She cited her enjoy working elections for one of the most state’s biggest counties and prior enjoy working Colorado Commonplace Reason, a vote casting rights advocacy group.
“You wish to have so that you can accept as true with folks that you just’re electing to make excellent choices, even in unexpected cases, and I need folks to grasp who I’m,” Gonzalez mentioned. “And that’s anyone who has been combating tirelessly for vote casting rights for a long time.”
She additionally famous the date of her announcement — the fourth anniversary of Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to disrupt the 2020 election certification. It’s a reminder that “our democracy is fragile and we need to combat for it,” Gonzalez mentioned.
The fourth anniversary additionally comes as participants of Congress get ready to certify Trump’s 2024 election win, returning him to the White Area later this month.
“We all know that we have got some other Trump presidency looming, and we additionally know the type of injury that his politics can do,” Gonzalez mentioned. “However I feel what provides me hope is that we additionally know that Colorado has and will proceed to cleared the path ahead. That we will be able to select democracy and that we have got noticed Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated (electorate) right here select to reinforce insurance policies that give a contribution to our truly excellent elections.”
Gonzalez used to be elected to the Jefferson County place of business in 2022. She manages the county’s motor car places of work, marriage licenses, public actual property data and elections.
In that function, she additionally advocated for adjustments to state election legislation. She highlights adjustments that required jails to provide in-person vote casting to inmates, lots of whom have now not been convicted of any crime and are eligible to vote, and to extend the choice of poll drop containers and different accessibility measures.
Gonzalez has additionally publicly defended Griswold towards accusations the outgoing secretary is just too polarizing. In March, Gonzalez described the task as being the “democracy-defender-in-chief.”
Sooner than that, Gonzalez led Colorado Commonplace Reason, a pro-democracy advocacy group. There, Gonzalez helped draft Amendments Y and Z, which created Colorado’s impartial redistricting commissions after electorate handed the measures in 2018.
If elected, Gonzalez will be the first Latina to carry the place of business, in line with her marketing campaign.
The entire statewide officeholders are term-limited, making all 4 places of work — governor, legal professional basic, secretary of state and treasurer — open contests. Lawyer Basic Phil Weiser introduced his candidacy for governor final week, making him the primary high-profile determine to claim for subsequent 12 months.
Keep up-to-date with Colorado Politics via signing up for our weekly e-newsletter, The Spot.