Just when Colorado’s voters may think they have seen everything, Republican Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters announced on Monday that she is running for Colorado Secretary of State, for the Republican nomination against the incumbent Democratic Secretary of State Jenna Griswold. Peters continues to be the subject of ongoing federal, local, and state investigations. While she has officially announced, Peters has not yet filed the paperwork to formalize her candidacy.
Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters. Photo image courtesy of Colorado Politics.com.
The Mesa County clerk and recorder appeared to enjoy her 15 minutes of fame prior to the 2020 election, promoting conspiracy theories and refusing to acknowledge that she, herself had done anything wrong in tampering with the Mesa County election equipment.
Then last week she made headlines again when she kicked a Mesa County Sheriff who had arrived to serve a search warrant for her iPad. She was charged with allegations of obstruction. She is also under investigation for a possible felony attempt to influence a public servant. She is alleged to have recorded or attempted to record a court hearing against a judge’s order.
She made her announcement on the online podcast “War Room” hosted by Steve Bannon. Bannon is a former adviser to President Donald Trump. He has called Peters “a hero”, and is also facing criminal contempt charges. His were issued by a federal grand jury; a result from his non-appearance before the Jan. 6 congressional investigation committee.
“I want to keep elections local. I want to fight against the Biden and the radical left to take over our vote, and I am the wall between your vote and nationalized elections,” said Peters.
Peters cannot run for both Secretary of State and Mesa County Clerk and Recorder at the same time.
Election watchers say her claims are nonsense, but she has a following among the conservative right-wing, and certainly is on speaking terms with the My Pillow Guy, Mike Lindell. She is under a state grand jury investigation for allegedly tampering with Mesa County election equipment and official misconduct. Peters, who now faces several ethics and campaign finance violations, was removed by Griswold from administrating the 2020 election.
It was after Peters refused to agree to more Mesa County election security, or to distance herself from n untrue statement she made about Dominion voting machines, that Griswold in a written campaign statement said Peters was “unfit” to serve as secretary of state. She added that Peters was a “danger to Colorado elections,” and said that “Colorado needs a Secretary of State who will uphold the will of the people; not one who embraces conspiracies and risks Coloradans’ right to vote.”
Peters joins an already crowding Republican field to run in the June 28 Republican primary. Also running is former Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder Pam Anderson, who has said she doesn’t accept the right-wing lies about the 2020 election).Anderson responded to the announcement by issuing a call for a “return to professionalism” in the office and a vow to serve as a “fair referee” of Colorado elections.
Mike O’Donnell, who attacked the security of Dominion Voting machines, is also running, and he says he is certain that non-citizens must have voted in the Colorado elections. The third Republican candidate for secretary of state, David Winney, while not making statements that Trump won, has said he would ask for a “comprehensive forensic audit for all 2020 elections in Colorado.”
Peters decision to run adds to the rumor mill that talk show/podcaster hosts continue to spin, that Trump won the election no matter the evidence to the contrary. In fact, this morning, The Denver Post reported that on Bannon’s show he said that while Colorado may not be a battleground state “yet, but it should be.”
With Peters’ legal troubles mounting, it remains to be seen if that Secretary of State paperwork will actually be filed.
I like the question from Jeff Zaring about being Sec’y of State in jail! It’s funny, but what are the penalties for what Tina Peters did?
Texas’ Attorney General Dan Paxton is under indictment for a number of charges and the great state of Texas and its crazies will probably re-elect him again! He’s facing 99 yrs in prison, so if he’s convicted I assume he can’t serve as attorney general. Although, Donald Trump served as president, so who knows any more.
I would appreciate the details about what charges Tina Peters is facing (I know she was stripped of her duties as an election official) and possible penalties; can AVV staff write this for us? If it’s what the crazy mob thinks is just the Socialists overreacting, then she will get a lot of donations (from Boebert’s followers, etc.) for her campaign. What will save us — hopefully — is that there are two reasonable candidates running and I think either of them will get more votes than T. Peters.
When we get more information about the charges Peters is facing and the penalties that might apply, AVV will surely write about it.
Sidney Powell is finally admitting that the claims she made about election fraud may not be real, and I wonder how a rabid Trump supporter like Peters, who seems to have broken the law because she believed so hard in an obvious charlatan like Powell, feels now?
Used? Like a fool? No, she is so far gone into the right-wing nutso echo chamber that she thinks she’s got a chance to be elected Secretary of State! Maybe she made her announcement before she saw the news today that Powell has essentially admitted, in a court filing, that she is full of crap when it comes to every ridiculous claim she has made regarding the election. Or maybe Peters just sees that Republican primary contests these days are often a fight to see who can be the dumbest and the meanest, who has the biggest flag, and who owns the most guns, and she figured why not give it a try when the bar is so low that even people like Boebert and Greene can get elected?
Can you be Secretary of State while you’re in jail for violating election laws, though?