Democratic Governor Censured by Own Party for Freeing Trump Ally Convicted in Election Scheme

AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File

The Colorado Democratic Party censured Governor Jared Polis (D) on Wednesday in a stinging rebuke of his decision to grant Tina Peters early release from prison.

Peters, a former Mesa County clerk, was convicted in Colorado state court in 2024 on seven counts, including four felony charges, after she conspired to breach her county’s voting systems in 2021. She was sentenced to nine years in prison.

“I’m convinced you would do it all over again if you could,” the judge told her at sentencing. “You’re as defiant as a defendant as this court has ever seen.”

Last week, Polis granted Peters clemency and said she will be released on June 1, after President Donald Trump repeatedly demanded she be freed. Peters was convicted after the jury found she conspired with associates of election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell in a harebrained attempt to prove the 2020 election was rigged against Trump. In justifying granting her clemency, the governor has made several misleading claims about Peters’ conviction, prompting a lengthy fact check from CNN.

On Wednesday, the Colorado Democratic Party voted overwhelmingly to censure Polis.

“This is not a small policy disagreement at all whatsoever,” Zane Schichtel, a Democrat from Montezuma County, told The Colorado Sun. “I think it is a direct rebuke of the principles of accountability and election integrity that uphold our democracy, and as such, we need to treat it for the serious matter that it is.”

Trump had repeatedly called on Polis to commute Peters’ sentence. In December, the president went so far as to grant her a “pardon,” which he cannot do because she was convicted of state crimes, and not federal ones.

“Tina is sitting in a Colorado prison for the “crime” of demanding Honest Elections,” Trump posted on Truth Social at the time. “Today I am granting Tina a full Pardon for her attempts to expose Voter Fraud in the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election!”

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!