2022 Colorado Attorney General election

2022 Colorado Attorney General election

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Nominee Phil Weiser John Kellner Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,349,133 1,060,866 Percentage 54.70% 43.01%

County results Congressional district results Precinct results Weiser:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90% Kellner:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90% Tie:     40–50%     No votes

Attorney General before election Phil Weiser Democratic Elected Attorney General Phil Weiser Democratic

The 2022 Colorado Attorney General election was held on Tuesday, November 8, to elect the Attorney General of Colorado. Incumbent attorney general Phil Weiser won re-election to a second term, improving on his 2018 results. ^[1]

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Phil Weiser, incumbent attorney general ^[2]

Results

Democratic primary results ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Phil Weiser (incumbent)	504,071	100.0%
Total votes			504,071	100.0%

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• John Kellner, district attorney for the 18th district court of Colorado ^{[4] [5]}

Disqualified

• Stanley Thorne ^[6] (running as independent)

Declined

• Jason R. Dunn, former United States Attorney for the district of Colorado ^[7]
• Mark Waller, former member of the Colorado House of Representatives from the 15th district ^[7]

Results

Republican primary results ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Kellner	504,631	100.0%
Total votes			504,631	100.0%

Independents

Candidates

Declared

• Stanley Thorne, attorney (write-in candidate) ^[8]

General election

Debate

2022 Colorado Attorney General debate

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Republican	Democratic
Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited  W  Withdrawn
					John Kellner	Phil Weiser
1	Aug. 2, 2022	Community College of Aurora	Maisha Fields Whitney Taylor	YouTube	P	P
2	Oct. 18, 2022	KUSA (TV)	Kyle Clark Marshall Zelinger	YouTube	P	P

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Sabato's Crystal Ball [9]	Leans D	November 3, 2022
Elections Daily [10]	Likely D	November 1, 2022

Endorsements

John Kellner (R)

Newspapers

• The Gazette ^[11]

Organizations

• NRA Political Victory Fund ^{[12] [13]}

Phil Weiser (D)

State officials

• Bernie Buescher, former Secretary of State of Colorado (2009–2011) ^[14]
• Cynthia Coffman, former attorney general (2015–2019) (Republican) ^[15]
• Rebecca Love Kourlis, former Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court (1995–2006) ^[16]
• Donna Lynne, former lieutenant governor of Colorado (2016–2019) ^[14]
• Jared Polis, Governor of Colorado (2019–present) ^[14]
• Dianne Primavera, lieutenant governor of Colorado (2019–) ^[14]
• Bill Ritter, former governor of Colorado (2007–2011) ^[14]
• Roy Romer, former governor of Colorado (1987–1999) ^[14]
• Dave Young, Colorado State Treasurer (2019–) ^[14]

State senators

• All 20 Democratic state senators ^[14]

State representatives

• Don Coram, incumbent state representative for the 6th district (Republican) ^[17]
• Russell George, former Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives (1999–2000) (Republican) ^[16]
• Cole Wist, former state representative for the 37th district (Independent) ^[16]
• Rob Witwer, former state representative for the 25th district (Republican) ^[16]
• All 61 Democratic state representatives ^[14]

Organizations

• End Citizens United ^[18]
• Everytown for Gun Safety ^[19]
• Let America Vote ^[18]
• NARAL Pro-Choice America ^[20]

Newspapers

• The Denver Post ^[21]
• Sentinel Colorado ^[22]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size [a]	Margin of error	Phil Weiser (D)	John Kellner (R)	Other	Undecided
Global Strategy Group (D) [23] [A]	October 6–11, 2022	800 (LV)	± 3.5%	44%	36%	7% [b]	12%
				48%	41%	–	11%
The Tarrance Group (R) [24] [B]	August 22–25, 2022	600 (LV)	± 4.1%	44%	44%	–	12%

Results

2022 Colorado Attorney General election ^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Phil Weiser (incumbent)	1,349,133	54.70%	+3.12%
	Republican	John Kellner	1,060,866	43.01%	−2.13%
	Libertarian	William F. Robinson III	54,557	2.21%	−1.07%
	Independent	Stanley Thorne (write-in)	1,772	0.07%	N/A
Total votes			2,466,328	100.0%
	Democratic hold

By congressional district

Weiser won five of eight congressional districts. ^[26]

District	Weiser	Kellner	Representative
1st	79%	19%	Diana DeGette
2nd	68%	29%	Joe Neguse
3rd	46%	51%	Lauren Boebert
4th	38%	60%	Ken Buck
5th	42%	55%	Doug Lamborn
6th	58%	39%	Jason Crow
7th	56%	42%	Ed Perlmutter (117th Congress)
			Brittany Pettersen (118th Congress)
8th	50%	48%	Yadira Caraveo

Notes

1. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear
2. Robinson (L) with 7%

Partisan clients

1. This poll was sponsored by ProgressNow Colorado, a liberal nonprofit organization.
2. This poll was sponsored by the Republican Attorneys General Association

References

1. Luning, Ernest (September 17, 2021). "Attorney General Phil Weiser launches re-election tour". www.coloradopolitics.com. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
2. "Election Night Reporting".
3. "State primary certificate – Statewide Amended Abstract of Votes Cast" (PDF). Colorado Secretary of State.
4. Hindi, Saja (January 27, 2022). "Arapahoe County District Attorney John Kellner, a Republican who was accused of arson while in law school, has announced his decision to run against Democratic incumbent Attorney General Phil Weiser". www.denverpost.com. The Denver Post . Retrieved February 11, 2022.
5. "Election Night Reporting".
6. Porter, Brian (April 12, 2022). "State AG candidate disqualified from GOP ballot". www.fortmorgantimes.com. Fort Morgan Times . Retrieved May 27, 2022.
7. "Republicans Can't Find an Attorney General Candidate". www.coloradopols.com. December 17, 2021. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
8. Luning, Ernest. "Thorne files to run for Colorado attorney general as an independent after failing to make GOP ballot". www.coloradopolitics.com. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
9. "Secretary of State and Attorney General: What to Watch for Next Week in Key Statewide Contests". Sabato's Crystal Ball. November 3, 2022. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
10. Solomon, Zack (November 7, 2022). "Elections Daily Secretary of State Ratings". Elections Daily. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
11. "ENDORSEMENT: Crime fighter John Kellner for Colorado AG" . The Gazette. October 2, 2022. Archived from the original on April 21, 2023. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
12. "Colorado Grades & Endorsements". nrapvf.org. NRA-PVF. Archived from the original on November 8, 2022. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
13. Fish, Sandra (October 20, 2022). "Where Phil Weiser and John Kellner, Colorado's attorney general candidates, stand on the issues". The Colorado Sun. Archived from the original on October 20, 2022. Retrieved April 22, 2023. The National Rifle Association has endorsed Kellner
14. Luning, Ernest (September 24, 2021). "Weiser picks up endorsements from nearly every Democrat holding state office". www.coloradopolitics.com. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
15. Luning, Ernest (September 15, 2022). "Democratic Attorney General Phil Weiser endorsed by Cynthia Coffman, his Republican predecessor". www.coloradopolitics.com. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
16. "Colorado AG Phil Weiser endorsed by current, former Republican and independent officials". September 12, 2022.
17. Tackett, Megan (October 17, 2022). "Frisch racks up unlikely endorsements". Aspen Daily News. Retrieved October 17, 2022. Rather than throw his support behind his party's candidate, however, Coram gave his endorsement to Frisch (as well as Democrat Attorney General Phil Weiser) in an Oct. 10 letter cited in a Newsweek article written about the development.
18. Luning, Ernest (August 4, 2021). "Attorney General Phil Weiser lands endorsement from Democratic-aligned election reform group". www.coloradopolitics.com. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
19. "Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund Endorses Jared Polis for Governor, Dianne Primavera for Lieutenant Governor, Phil Weiser for Attorney General, Jena Griswold for Secretary of State". Everytown for Gun Safety. June 24, 2022. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
20. "NARAL Pro-Choice America Endorses Reproductive Freedom Champions for Attorney General in Colorado, Michigan, and Wisconsin" (25 January 2022). www.prochoiceamerica.org. NARAL Pro-Choice America. January 25, 2022. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
21. "Endorsement: We need Phil Weiser to protect pregnant women and Colorado doctors". October 19, 2022.
22. "ENDORSEMENT: Weiser makes a winning case for his 2nd term; Kellner raises objections for the wrong job". Sentinel Colorado. October 17, 2022. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
23. Global Strategy Group (D)
24. The Tarrance Group (R)
25. "Certificate & Results – General Election Statewide Abstract of Votes Cast" (PDF). Colorado Secretary of State.
26. "State of Colorado Elections Database » 2022 Nov 8 :: General Election :: Attorney General :: State of Colorado". State of Colorado Elections Database. Archived from the original on July 10, 2024. Retrieved August 21, 2024.

External links

Official campaign websites

• John Kellner (R) for Attorney General
• Phil Weiser (D) for Attorney General