Colorado Secretary of State candidate comes to Aspen on ‘listening tour’

Colorado State Sen. Jessie Danielson has traversed the state in the five weeks since she announced her campaign to oversee the state’s elections and came to Aspen last week to meet constituents. 

Running to succeed Democrat Jena Griswold — Colorado’s current Secretary of State who will conclude her final term in the position come January 2027 — Danielson has traveled from county-to-county to meet voters and listen to election needs. The Democrat met last week with Pitkin County Clerk and Recorder Ingrid Greuter and was featured as a “distinguished speaker” at the Pitkin County Democratic Party annual dinner. 

“If I’m going to go out and earn people’s votes,” Danielson said, “I better go out and meet them where they’re at.”

She said her goal is to uphold the Colorado election system in the wake of threats from the Trump administration.

“We’re always revisiting and improving the systems that we’ve built, but I think right now the primary task does need to be to protect it,” she said. “And I mean, from the Trump administration and the Republicans in Congress.”

She was first elected to public office in November 2014, beginning four years of service in the Colorado House of Representatives and serving part of her tenure as speaker pro tempore. She was elected to the Colorado Senate in 2018 and reelected in 2022. She currently represents Jefferson County’s District 22 and serves as chair of the Business, Labor & Technology committee as well as the vice chair of the Agriculture & Natural Resources committee. 

Before public office, she was the Colorado State Director of America Votes, a progressive nonprofit committed to protecting voter rights. In 2013, she helped pass the Voter Access & Modernization Elections Act, which authorized same-day voter registration, required nearly all elections to be accessible through a mail-in ballot system, and lowered the required days of Colorado residency to register as a voter from 30 to 22.

“I don’t just know the systems,” Danielson said of Colorado voting, “I helped build them.”

While in the state legislature, she helped pass the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, which aimed to prevent gender-based pay discrimination. She said she also fought for workers’ rights, striving to shift the balance in the state statute away from billionaires and toward “our friends and neighbors across this state that drive our economy.”

“You have the right to earn a living wage,” she said. 

She added that she helped raise the minimum wage, aided health care workers, raised teacher pay, and more while in the state legislature.

“If you’re a worker out there, we’ve probably partnered together on policy,” she said. 

She also believes in helping the aging community “age with independence and dignity.”

Since announcing her campaign, Danielson has been endorsed by a number of groups, including the Colorado Education Association, Conservation Colorado, Planned Parenthood Votes Colorado, Cobalt Advocates, Colorado Professional Fire Fighters, Colorado Democratic Senate Campaign Fund, and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe. 

“Based on Sen. Danielson’s experience, proven record on issues important to the Tribe and commitment to defending the Tribe’s sovereignty, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe supports her candidacy,” the Southern Ute Indian Tribe stated in July. 

A fourth-generation Coloradan, Danielson grew up 15 minutes north of Greeley. She graduated from University of Colorado Boulder.

Jefferson County Clerk Amanda Gonzalez, a Democrat; Melissa Richards, an unaffiliated candidate; as well as Cory Parella and Ross Taraborelli, both Republicans; are currently in the race with Danielson for Colorado Secretary of State.

Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.