Colorado Democrats voted Wednesday to censure Gov. Jared Polis for commuting the prison sentence of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, an election denier who had been serving nine years in state prison for tampering with voting systems.
The move by the state party marked a rare public rebuke of the Democratic governor by members of his own party. Peters, who was convicted in 2024 of four felony and three misdemeanor charges related to a breach of voting systems in the county, had her sentence reduced by Polis last Friday.
According to the Colorado Democratic Party, the decision came under pressure from Donald Trump and does not reflect the values of the party. “Reducing her sentence now, under pressure from Donald Trump, is not justice,” the party said in a statement. “It sends a message to future bad actors that election tampering has consequences, unless you’re friends with the president. That’s a dangerous and disappointing precedent to set.”
Polis reduced Peters’ nine-year sentence, saying her term was disproportionate to the crime. She will now be eligible for parole on June 1. The commutation drew immediate backlash from state and national Democrats who viewed it as undermining accountability for efforts to challenge the 2020 election results.
Peters was alleged to have used another person’s security badge to grant access to someone associated with MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, a prominent election denier. Her case had been one of the highest-profile among those involving 2020 election deniers, and her release was championed by Trump, who symbolically pardoned her in December.
A state appeals court found last month that Peters’ sentence was improper and directed that she be resentenced. Polis’ office defended the decision as based on the facts of the case. Eric Maruyama, a spokesman for Polis, told NBC News that the governor “made his decision based on the facts of the case and what he believed was the right thing to do.”
“Sometimes the right thing isn’t the popular thing with everybody,” Maruyama said. “Democracy is strongest when disagreement is met with debate and dialogue, not censorship.”
The censure means Polis will not be able to participate as an honored guest, speaker or officially recognized representative of the Colorado Democratic Party at party-sponsored functions. The party’s statement emphasized that the clemency decision “does not reflect the values, institutional positions, or democratic commitments of the Colorado Democratic Party.”
Peters has since said she “made mistakes” and was sorry for having participated in the breach. Supporters of the commutation have pointed to the appeals court ruling as justification for revisiting the length of her original sentence.
The controversy highlights ongoing divisions within the Democratic Party over how to handle cases involving election integrity challenges from 2020. While Polis acted on what his office described as a review of proportionality, critics within the party see the move as sending the wrong signal about accountability for tampering with voting equipment.
Officials said the breach involved granting unauthorized access in Mesa County, though details of the full investigation remain tied to the criminal proceedings that led to Peters’ conviction. The nine-year sentence had been among the longer ones handed down in cases connected to post-election challenges.
With Peters now set for possible release in June, attention turns to how the censure will affect Polis’ standing within the state party ahead of future events and elections. The party has made clear that the governor will face restrictions on his role in official Democratic gatherings as a result of the vote.
Broader reactions from national Democrats have echoed the state party’s concerns, though some observers note that clemency decisions often spark debate across party lines when they involve high-profile cases. Polis’ office has not indicated any plans to revisit the commutation despite the censure.