#phil weiser

Kevin Robillard at HuffPost:

State Attorney General Phil Weiser won the Democratic nomination for governor of Colorado, upsetting Sen. Michael Bennet in the latest example of Democratic voters rebelling against the party’s establishment. CNN and NBC News both projected Weiser’s victory as he led Bennet 55% to 45% shortly before 10 p.m. Eastern, with about 77% of the vote counted. The triumph makes Weiser a strong frontrunner to win the governorship in November in a state which has become reliably Democratic at the presidential level. Bennet, a former schools chief in Denver who made an ill-fated bid for the presidency in 2020, was seen as the frontrunner at the start of the race, at one point uncorking a 31-point lead in polling last summer. But Weiser was able to keep pace with the senator’s fundraising and contrasted Bennet’s record of voting eight times for Trump’s cabinet nominees with his own record of suing the administration more than 60 times over immigration, environmental and other policies.

It became clear an upset was possible in the final weeks, when Bennet loaned his own campaign $1 million and a pro-Weiser super PAC released a poll showing him with a substantial lead. While the race was not particularly ideological — both Weiser and Bennet are broadly mainstream liberals — Bennet’s loss is likely to be seen as further evidence the party’s rank-and-file are rising against its leadership following Trump’s 2024 election victory. If Weiser wins, he’ll replace outgoing Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat whose libertarian leanings often led him to take a softer line towards the Trump administration on some issues. He spoke fondly of parts of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA movement, and commuted the sentence of Tina Peters, an elections official-turned-conspiracy theorist whose freedom became a personal cause of Trump’s.

In the Colorado Governor’s race to succeed termed-out Gov. Jared Polis (D), AG Phil Weiser beat Sen. Michael Bennet in the Democratic primary.

via justice for Elijah McClain on Instagram

Matt Shuham at HuffPost:

President Donald Trump on Monday demanded that Tina Peters — a key supporter who was behind one of the most significant election security breaches in years — be freed from incarceration in Colorado, where she’s serving a yearslong prison sentence. Peters is a former county clerk found guilty on seven counts by a jury of her peers in state court last year. In a Truth Social post Monday night, Trump referred to Peters’ prosecution as “a Communist persecution by the Radical Left Democrats to cover up their Election crimes and misdeeds in 2020.” He attacked Colorado’s Democratic attorney general, Phil Weiser, and demanded the Justice Department “take all necessary action to help secure the release of this ‘hostage’ being held in a Colorado prison by the Democrats, for political reasons.” Trump said Peters, who he called an “innocent Political Prisoner,” had “worked to expose and document Democrat Election Fraud” — repeating his yearslong lie that he didn’t actually lose the 2020 election but, rather, was the victim of an impossibly complex, nationwide fraud scheme. What Peters actually did — while working as the elected county clerk in Mesa County, Colorado — was allow a computer analyst associated with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell into a secure in-person software update for the county’s election machines, in yet another unsuccessful effort to sow doubt about Joe Biden’s 2020 win. The analyst, former pro surfer and RVCA founder Conan Hayes, attended the software update, using the name and recently issued office badge of a Mesa County local. Images of the update process, known as a trusted build, were later shared online and at a 2021 “symposium” on the 2020 election results hosted by Lindell — around the same time state officials arrived at the Mesa County clerk’s office to investigate. Ultimately, a Colorado jury convicted Peters on four felony counts (three counts of attempting to influence a public servant and one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation) and three misdemeanors (official misconduct, violation of duty and failing to comply with the secretary of state). Peters was acquitted on three felony counts, one each of identity theft, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation and criminal impersonation.

The case represents one of the most significant U.S. election breaches to result from Trump’s attack on the voting process. Prosecutors described Peters as “a fox guarding the henhouse,” and Colorado Judge Matthew Barrett sentenced her to nine years behind bars, calling her a “charlatan” who’d peddled election “snake oil.”

[...]

‘A Grotesque Attempt To Weaponize The Rule Of Law’

Despite the strong evidence, conviction and sentence against Peters — or maybe as a result of them — the Trump administration has since March made some unusually aggressive moves to help Peters. That month, the Justice Department took the unusual step of filing a statement of interest in a federal court case Peters has filed to challenge her ongoing detention while she appeals her state conviction. “Reasonable concerns have been raised about various aspects of Ms. Peters’ case,” the filing read, urging the court’s prompt and careful consideration of Peters’ habeas corpus petition. The filing also said the Justice Department was reviewing Peters’ conviction under an executive order from Trump concerning federal law enforcement — specifically whether Peters’ case was “oriented more toward inflicting political pain than toward pursuing actual justice or legitimate governmental objectives.”

The state of Colorado is suing a local sheriff’s deputy, accusing him of aiding federal immigration agents with the arrest of a college student with an expired visa. Attorney General Phil Weiser says the deputy violated state laws that ban state and local government employees from cooperating with federal officials on immigration enforcement. Weiser joined Geoff Bennett to discuss the…

Political News: As Attorney General, Phil Weiser Will Fight for Colorado’s Way of Life

DENVER, CO – Conservation Colorado Executive Director Kelly Nordini released the following statement on the election of Phil Weiser as attorney general:

Conservation issues played an incredibly important role in this year’s race for attorney general.  From day one, Phil Weiser prioritized Colorado values and pledged to address climate change, protect our lands and water, and ensure our state’s…