Jena Griswold

Griswold was born in a Jewish family in Toledo, Ohio,^[3][4][5] and moved to Estes Park, Colorado, at the age of 10. She graduated from Estes Park High School in 2002. She graduated from Whitman College, magna cum laude, with a Bachelor of Arts in politics and Spanish literature in 2006.^[1] She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School with a Juris Doctor in 2011.^[6] In 2006, Griswold was awarded the Watson Foundation Fellowship,^[7] and in 2009, the Penn Law International Human Rights Fellowship.

Griswold moved to Washington, D.C. in 2011,^[8] and worked for President Barack Obama's 2012 campaign as a voter protection attorney.^[9] In June 2013,^[10] Governor John Hickenlooper appointed Griswold as Director of Special Projects^[11] in the Office of the Governor, serving as his lobbyist in Washington, D.C.^[12] She served in that role until August 2015, after which she worked at the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing as a Temporary Aide until leaving government employment in May 2016.^[11]

In the 2018 general election, Griswold ran for Secretary of State of Colorado.^[9] 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^[13] and the first woman from the Democratic Party to ever hold the office.^[14]

Griswold has prioritized campaign finance reform and increasing voter registration.^[15] 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.^[16][17]

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.^[18]

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 role in the January 6 United States Capitol attack, naming Griswold as the respondent in her official capacity as Colorado Secretary of State.^[19] 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,^[20] the first time a judge has explicitly stated Trump incited the January 6 Capitol attack,^[21] The plaintiffs appealed the ruling^[22] and the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in a 4–3 per curiam decision^[23] that Trump is disqualified from the primary ballot, reversing the district court's ruling.^[24] The Supreme Court of the United States later ruled that individual states cannot prevent a candidate from appearing on a presidential ballot.^[25]

On April 4, 2024, a resolution proposed by Republicans to impeach Griswold was introduced to the Colorado House of Representatives.^[26] The impeachment articles cited Griswold's comments about Donald Trump 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.^[27]

In 2019, it was reported that Griswold was considering a bid for United States Senate in the 2020 election against Republican incumbent Cory Gardner.^[28] She launched an exploratory committee for the position in July 2019. Griswold ultimately declined to run.^[29]

From 2019 to 2025, Jena Griswold chaired the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State.^[30][31] 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.^[32] She was succeeded in 2025 by Cisco Aguilar.^[33]

Griswold is 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 in 2026, seeking to succeed Phil Weiser, who is also term-limited.^[34]

Griswold is Jewish.^[35] Griswold married Mohamed Enab in May 2014.^[36] In May 2024, she married her fiancé, Mario Cañedo.^[37] Griswold and Cañedo have one son, who was born in August 2024.^[38] Griswold lives in Louisville, Colorado.^[1]