The Colorado State Democratic Party expressed strong disapproval of Gov. Jared Polis’s decision to release Tina Peters from prison, reflecting widespread dissatisfaction among Democratic voters. This decision, centering around a prominent election denier, has caused notable tension within the party.

On May 20, 2026, Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, faced censure from his own party. The root cause was his commutation of the prison sentence of Tina Peters, a supporter of former President Trump. Peters had been serving a nine-year sentence for tampering with voting machines. The state party’s central committee meeting on Wednesday saw 89.8 percent of its members supporting the censure.

Tina Peters was one of the most recognizable election deniers in prison, linked to attempts to discredit the 2020 election results. She was accused of trying to show that the voting machines she managed were used to manipulate the election outcomes.

Democratic leaders, along with some Republicans in Colorado, had lobbied Gov. Polis for months, urging him to decline Peters’s request for clemency. They cited concerns over her potential threat to election integrity, even considering her age, 70, and lack of prior felony convictions. Despite these appeals, Polis argued that her sentence was overly severe. He believed her convictions were related more to her political views on election fraud rather than the crime itself.

Eric Maruyama, speaking for Gov. Polis, responded to the party’s censure. He issued a statement saying, “sometimes the right thing isn’t the popular thing with everybody.”