Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Tuesday said he doesn’t regret his decision to commute the prison sentence of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, despite widespread condemnation from Democrats and some Republicans, who said it will embolden election conspiracy theorists ahead of the 2026 midterms.
“I think this will be remembered fondly,” Polis said at The Colorado Sun’s annual legislative recap event at the University of Denver. “The nation needs to have a reconciliation and healing.
“People know I’m a man of action,” he added. “I’m a bold person, I’m going to do things that I think are right, and that’s why people put me here. They want me to do things that I think are right.”
Peters, an ally of President Donald Trump who has touted election conspiracy theories, was convicted in August 2024 of orchestrating a security breach of her county’s election system in a failed 2021 attempt to uncover voter fraud. Polis on Friday cut Peters’ nine-year prison sentence in half and ordered her to be released on parole June 1, saying she was being unfairly punished for her political views.
In the days following his announcement, the outrage over the commutation has only grown in intensity, with some Democrats going so far as to call for his impeachment or censure.
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, who is running to replace Polis, said that he won’t consider appointing Polis to his seat should he win the governor’s race because of the Peters decision.
“I view the decision that he made with respect to Tina Peters as disqualifying,” Bennet said on CNN.
Peters was convicted in August 2024 of three counts of attempting to influence a public official; conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation; official misconduct; violation of duty; and failure to comply with an order of the Secretary of State.
Polis on Tuesday reiterated that he felt Peters’ sentence was too harsh for her crimes.
“So, what we looked at is sort of comparables for the sentencing on those, and frankly, there are public officials on nearly identical charges that get probation,” Polis said. “Some get a year, some get two years. We couldn’t find any that were nine years. And when you look at why that was cited by the judge, he effectively cited her courtroom antics slash speech.”
Polis noted that while many were outraged by his decision, others believe she did nothing wrong.
“What you’re not focusing on here are the millions of Coloradans who felt that a particular Coloradan was punished for her beliefs, and in a Colorado for all, that’s simply not the kind of Colorado we believe in,” Polis said. “Nobody should be punished for their beliefs, you should be punished for crimes.”
The governor said he was opposed to the Trump administration giving Peters money out of a $1.8 billion fund it wants to create to compensate people who feel they were targeted by the Biden administration’s Justice Department or other Democrats.
Vice President J.D. Vance said Tuesday that Peters was a prime candidate.
“That whole thing is completely bogus,” Polis said.
Finally, Polis brushed off the notion that commuting Peters’ sentence was a form of political suicide.
“I have no plans to run for anything,” Polis said, “but certainly this, like everything I do — people know I’m a man of action. I’m a bold person. I’m going to do things that I think are right, and that’s why people put me here.
Special session to censure, impeach Polis is extremely unlikely
Top Democrats in the legislature, speaking at The Sun event, said it’s highly unlikely the General Assembly will convene a special session — as some Democrats have called for — to try to censure or impeach the governor.
A special session can be called by the governor or through two-thirds support of each the House and Senate.
Since the governor almost certainly won’t call a special session to censure or impeach himself, that leaves things to lawmakers.
Both House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon, and Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez, D-Denver, said there was not two-thirds support in either of their chambers to call a special session. Democrats don’t have supermajorities in either chamber, meaning they’d have to get Republican support for a special session.
Many in the GOP had been calling on Polis to release Peters early.
“I think you’d have a hard time convincing Republicans to do anything on this specific issue,” House Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell, a Colorado Springs Republican, said at The Sun event. “I think most would agree with the commutation of that sentence.
McCluskie said she doesn’t think Polis’ actions rise to the level of impeachment.
“An impeachable offense includes high crimes, acts of malfeasance,” she said. “I do not believe this rises to that level.”
State Sen. Matt Ball, a Denver Democrat, said he was frustrated that the governor waited until two days after the legislative session ended to announce his decision on Peters, effectively leaving the legislature with no opportunity to respond.
All 66 Democrats in the legislature sent Polis a letter during the session, which ended Wednesday, urging him not to let Peters out early.
“I don’t think it’s good for his legacy,” Ball said.
Demonstrators disrupted Polis’ remarks
Polis’ remarks at The Sun event were drowned out by a small group of protesters who took the stage at the Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs and talked over much of his interview. Polis was not physically present in the room but was being interviewed via Zoom, which was broadcast on screens the demonstrators tried to block.
Nick Naris, 22, one of the protesters, told The Sun that Peters’ commutation pushed his group to upstage Tuesday’s event at DU.
“I think it’s unfair to real voters,” Naris said of Polis’ commutation. “It’s an unfair decision. I think most of us believe that, as well.”
What started as a protest of the Peters’ decision quickly became a platform for a range of grievances against the governor, who is term-limited and leaves office in January.
Naris, a University of Colorado Denver student, said he was with the group Climate Defiance, which “focuses on humiliating and calling out climate criminals.” Polis’ support of data centers, his cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and other issues put him on the group’s target list.
Polis could not hear the protests but was informed of the demonstration in the middle of his interview with Jesse Paul, The Sun’s political reporter and elections editor.
“It’s important to be civil, and obviously respect that, and obviously at the same time whoever’s doing that is not going to be like incarcerated or punished,” he said. “I hope they’re just politely asked to leave, and hopefully they will.”
Campus security escorted the protesters away after a 30-minute interruption
Colorado Sun public policy editor Justin George contributed to this report, as did freelance reporter Colleen Slevin.