Colorado Dems Want To Censure Gov. Jared Polis For Commuting Sentence Of Election Denier

Colorado Democrats now want to censure Polis for commuting the 9-year sentence of former Mesa County Clerk and election denier Tina Peters.

May 21, 2026 - 20:03

Colorado Dems Want To Censure Gov. Jared Polis For Commuting Sentence Of Election Denier

legislature — Source: Hyoung Chang / Getty

Last year, President Donald Trump claimed to have issued a “full pardon” to Tina Peters, a former Mesa County, Colorado, clerk who was sentenced to nine years on state charges related to election interference during the 2020 election. Of course, it should’ve been expected that a U.S. president — who proves nearly every hour on the hour that he doesn’t know how anything works — would believe that he, as the leader of the federal government, has the power to pardon state crimes, just as it should’ve been expected that Peters, another intellectually deficient election denier, would request that a state court honor the president’s legally nonexistent pardon.

What one might not have expected was that Colorado’s Democratic governor would go ahead and commute the sentence of an election fraud propagandist, who was sentenced to nine years in prison for using someone else’s security badge to give access to the Mesa County election system to an affiliate of My Pillow CEO and fellow election fraud propagandist Mike Lindell. However, that’s exactly what Gov. Jared Polis did, and now Colorado Democrats want to censure him for it.

From NBC News:

“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.”

Last Friday, Polis reduced former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters’ nine-year sentence, saying her term was disproportionate to the crime. Peters will be eligible for parole June 1.

The move sparked backlash from state and national Democrats.

The Colorado Democratic Party said in its statement Wednesday night that Polis’ clemency decision “does not reflect the values, institutional positions, or democratic commitments of the Colorado Democratic Party.”

For six years now, it has been evident that far too many people just don’t think it was as big a deal as it was that Trump responded to losing a free and fair election in 2020 by launching a propaganda campaign full of thoroughly debunked lies about the election being rigged, and that a myriad of Republican elected officials and appointed officials, such as Peters, were ready and willing to help him disenfranchise tens of millions of voters in order to perpetuate those lies and keep a wannabe dictator in power.

The response by Colorado Democrats won’t mean much on an official level, as censures are largely symbolic declarations of disapproval that hold no actual power, but Polis’ decision is the kind of thing that can get a politician primaried once an election rolls around that puts their positions up for grabs.

Jussayin.