Jena Marie Griswold (born October 2, 1984) is an American attorney and politician from the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

. A Democrat, she is the 39th

Colorado Secretary of State The secretary of state of Colorado is the secretary of state of the state of Colorado in the United States. The office is one of five elected constitutional offices in the state. The current secretary of state is Democrat Jena Griswold. Structur ...

, serving since January 8, 2019.

Early life and career

Griswold was born in Toledo, Ohio, and moved to

Estes Park, Colorado Estes Park is a statutory town in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 5,904 at the 2020 United States Census. Estes Park is a part of the Fort Collins, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Front Range Urban Cor ...

at the age of 10. She graduated from Estes Park High School in 2002. She graduated from

Whitman College Whitman College is a private liberal arts college in Walla Walla, Washington. The school offers 53 majors and 33 minors in the liberal arts and sciences, and it has a student-to-faculty ratio of 9:1. Whitman was the first college in the Pacific ...

magna cum laude with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

in Politics and Spanish Literature in 2006. She graduated from the

University of Pennsylvania Law School The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Law or Penn Carey Law) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is among the most selective and oldes ...

with a Juris Doctor in 2011. In 2006, Griswold was awarded the Watson Foundation Fellowship, and in 2009, the Penn Law International Human Rights Fellowship. Griswold moved to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in 2011, and worked for President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

's 2012 campaign as a voter protection attorney. In 2013,

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

John Hickenlooper John Wright Hickenlooper Jr. (; born February 7, 1952) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Colorado since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 42nd governor of Colorado from 2011 to 20 ...

appointed her to be his liaison to the federal government.

Secretary of State of Colorado

In the 2018 general election, Griswold ran for Secretary of State of Colorado. She defeated the incumbent

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Wayne Williams Wayne Bertram Williams (born May 27, 1958) is an American convicted murderer and suspected serial killer who is serving life imprisonment for the 1981 killing of two men in Atlanta, Georgia. Although never tried, he is nonetheless believed to be ...

in the November 6 general election to become the first elected Democratic Secretary of State in Colorado since 1963 and the first woman from the Democratic Party to ever hold the office. Griswold has prioritized campaign finance reform and increasing

voter registration In electoral systems, voter registration (or enrollment) is the requirement that a person otherwise eligible to vote must register (or enroll) on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted to vote. The r ...

by encouraging non-citizens to register to vote. She filed suit to prevent Tina Peters from being able to oversee elections in Mesa County in 2021 and 2022 due to her attempt to interfere in the

2020 U.S. presidential election The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and the junior U.S. senator from California Kamala Ha ...

. Griswold won a second term in the 2022 elections, defeating Republican Pam Anderson, a former county clerk and recorder from Jefferson County, with 55 percent of the vote.

Personal life

Griswold lives in

Louisville, Colorado The City of Louisville () is a home rule municipality located in southeastern Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 21,226 at the 2020 United States Census. Louisville began as a mining community in 1877, experienced a ...

. Griswold is Jewish.

Electoral history

References

External links

Government websiteCampaign website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Griswold, Jena Colorado Democrats Jewish American people in Colorado politics Jewish women politicians Living people People from Estes Park, Colorado People from Louisville, Colorado Political campaign staff Political staffers Secretaries of State of Colorado University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni Whitman College alumni 1984 births 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American Jews