Jena Griswold and Michael Allen clash over experience, Trump in Colorado attorney general debate

Colorado’s two candidates for attorney general spent their first, and likely only debate on Wednesday night defending their records in a race where experience has been a defining issue in the Nov. 3 election.

Democrat Jena Griswold, Colorado’s secretary of state, and Republican Michael Allen, the district attorney for the Colorado Springs area, fielded a slate of policy questions ranging from litigation over the Colorado River to enforcing the state’s new artificial intelligence regulations.

But they often used their response as an opportunity to lob attacks on one another’s background — and to stand up for their own — as they sparred before an audience of roughly 250 during a debate hosted by The Colorado Sun at the University of Denver Campus.

Audience members listen as Democrat Jena Griswold and Republican Michael Allen face off during a Colorado attorney general debate at the Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs at the University of Denver on Wednesday, October 14, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post) “I’m the only person that’s in this race today who knows how to fight in a courtroom,” said Allen, 54, a 20-plus-year attorney who says Griswold is woefully unqualified to be the state’s next chief law enforcement officer.

Griswold, whose legal resume mostly consists of working for a Washington-based law firm from 2011 to 2013 — most of which was prior to taking the bar exam, according to reporting by CBS News Colorado — countered that in her role as the state’s top elections official, she has taken on the issue that matters most to voters: holding President Donald Trump accountable.

“What we have seen is Republicans, like Michael Allen, and MAGA try to discredit me year after year after year, attack after attack, because I have had the backbone to stand up to Donald Trump,” said Griswold, 42.

Democrat Jena Griswold speaks during a Colorado attorney general debate against Republican Michael Allen at the Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs at the University of Denver on Wednesday, October 14, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post) Griswold has sought to tie Allen to Trump, who is deeply unpopular in Colorado, and cast the Republican prosecutor as a threat to the state’s ongoing lawsuits against the federal government.

Colorado’s current attorney general, Phil Weiser, a Democrat, has to date launched or joined nearly 90 lawsuits against the Trump administration — dealing with everything from frozen federal funds to attempts to restrict mail voting — since early 2025. Weiser is term-limited and running for governor this year.

While Allen has characterized many of Weiser’s lawsuits as politically motivated, he’s largely avoided specifying which, if any, he’d dismiss if elected the next attorney general.

The only lawsuit he called out as problematic was Weiser’s challenge to Trump’s relocation of Space Command from Colorado Springs to Alabama, which Allen believes is within the president’s authority.

Republican Michael Allen speaks during a Colorado attorney general debate against Democrat Jena Griswold at the Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs at the University of Denver on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post) He said he’s prepared to stand against the Trump administration in court, if he has to, but that legal action should never be a political decision.

On several key issues, Allen and Griswold found common ground.

Both want to hold users of artificial intelligence accountable if and when they violate the state’s new law regulating how the technology is used. Both also want to use the attorney general’s office to fiercely defend Colorado’s water rights amid negotiations with six other states over the future of the Colorado River.

On other issues, the candidates’ political differences were more apparent.

Griswold said she wants to work with the legislature to pass a stricter assault weapons ban than the one created by lawmakers last year, which requires new training and licensing requirements for certain gun purchases.

Allen wants to take a tougher approach to crime and convene state grand juries to go after multijurisdictional organized criminal rings engaged in fentanyl distribution and human trafficking.

But the tensest moments came during debates about credentials, and who is qualified to lead an office of around 700 lawyers and staff.

Griswold accused Allen of “lying” about her legal record, and said that the attorney general’s role is not to be in court, but instead to set the legal direction for the office.

“The AG is not a trial attorney,” she said.

Allen said Griswold “misled Colorado voters” when she claimed she had argued a lawsuit at the U.S. Supreme Court that sought to keep Trump off Colorado’s 2024 ballot. Griswold was a defendant in the case, and an attorney representing her made oral arguments.

The hour-long debate’s most explosive moment came at the tail end, when Griswold attributed threats on her life during her time as secretary of state to “MAGA and Republicans like (Allen).”

The comment broke the audience’s mostly tempered demeanor and sparked a torrent of gasps and boos, as well as some cheers.

“Any threat against a public official or any of you is absolutely wrong and I’ll stand with you shoulder to shoulder to fight,” Allen said. “But what she just did shows you the lack of her character and the fact that she is not equipped to be your Colorado attorney general.”

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