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

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. A Democrat, she is the 39th Colorado Secretary of State, serving since January 8, 2019. She is the first Democrat to be elected Secretary of State of Colorado since 1958.

Early life and career

Griswold was born in a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...

, 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 Urb ...

, 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. Founded as a seminary by a territorial l ...

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

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 Carey Law, or Penn Law; previously University of Pennsylvania Law School) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Phi ...

with a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

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. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

in 2011, and worked for President

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

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

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

John Hickenlooper John Wright Hickenlooper Jr. ( ; born February 7, 1952) is an American politician, geologist, and businessman serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from Colorado since 2021. A mem ...

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 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. St ...

. She defeated the incumbent Republican Wayne Williams 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 Suffrage, eligible to Voting, vote must register (or enroll) on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted ...

. 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. Griswold won a second term in the 2022 election, defeating Republican Pam Anderson, a former county clerk and recorder from Jefferson County, with 55 percent of the vote. On September 6, 2023, six voters filed a lawsuit in Colorado state district court seeking to prevent Trump from appearing on the state's Republican presidential primary due to his alleged role in the

January 6 United States Capitol attack On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., was attacked by a mob of supporters of Donald Trump, President Donald Trump in an attempted self-coup,Multiple sources: * * * * * * * * * * * * * two months afte ...

, naming Griswold as the

respondent A respondent is a person who is called upon to issue a response to a communication made by another. The term is used in legal contexts, in survey methodology, and in psychological conditioning. Legal usage In legal usage, this term specificall ...

in her official capacity as Colorado Secretary of State. Judge Sarah B. Wallace ruled that Griswold must keep Trump on the ballot but stated that Trump engaged in insurrection by standard of

preponderance of the evidence In a legal dispute, one party has the burden of proof to show that they are correct, while the other party has no such burden and is presumed to be correct. The burden of proof requires a party to produce evidence to establish the truth of facts ...

, the first time a judge has explicitly stated Trump incited the January 6 Capitol attack, The plaintiffs appealed the ruling and the

Colorado Supreme Court The Colorado Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Colorado. Located in Denver, the court was established in 1876. It consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices who are appointed by the Governor of Colorado from a ...

ruled in a 4–3 ''per curiam'' decision that Trump is disqualified from the primary ballot, reversing the district court's ruling. The

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

later ruled that individual states cannot prevent a candidate from appearing on a presidential ballot. On April 4, 2024, a resolution proposed by Republicans to impeach Griswold was introduced to the Colorado House of Representatives. The impeachment articles cited Griswold's comments about

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

leading up to the Supreme Court hearing of '' Trump v. Anderson'', and the incorrect claim that Trump was not on the ballot for the Colorado presidential primary. On April 9, 2024, the impeachment articles failed in the House Judicial Committee.

Other political ventures

In 2019, it was reported that Griswold was considering a bid for

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

in the 2020 election against Republican incumbent

Cory Gardner Cory Scott Gardner (born August 22, 1974) is an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Colorado from 2015 to 2021. A Republican, he was the U.S. representative for Colorado's 4th congressional district from ...

. She launched an exploratory committee for the position in July 2019. Griswold ultimately declined to run. From 2019 to 2025, Jena Griswold chaired the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State. The group notably helped bolster Democratic Secretary of State candidates in battleground states in 2022 in a successful attempt to defeat Republicans that were election deniers. She was succeeded in 2025 by Cisco Aguilar.

2026 Colorado Attorney General campaign

Griswold was term-limited from running for re-election as secretary of state in 2026. On April 7, 2025, she announced that she would run for

Colorado Attorney General The Attorney General of the State of Colorado is the chief legal officer for the United States, U.S. Colorado, State of Colorado and the head of the Colorado Department of Law, a principal department of the Government of Colorado, Colorado state g ...

2026 Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 – Bulgaria is expected to adopt the euro and become the 21st member state of the eurozone. * January 6 – The 2025 Jubilee will end on this day. * February 5 – The New START Treat ...

, seeking to succeed

Phil Weiser Philip Jacob Weiser (born May 10, 1968) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the 39th Attorney General of Colorado since 2019. He is the Hatfield Professor of Law and Telecommunications, executive director and Founder of the Sil ...

, who is also term-limited.

Personal life

Griswold is Jewish. In May 2024, she married her fiancé, Mario Cañedo. Griswold and Cañedo have one son, who was born in August 2024. 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, experienc ...

Electoral history

References

Sources

*
Anderson v. Griswold
' (No. 23SA300) (Colo. Dec. 19, 2023).

External links

Government websiteCampaign website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Griswold, Jena Colorado Democrats Jewish American people in Colorado politics Jewish American women in politics 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 Colorado politicians 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American Jews