Colorado AG Race Pits Car Theft on Data Centers

The obvious take on the Colorado attorney general race is that it’s a fight over who will be tougher on crime. But to hear them tell it, the real battleground is your wallet and your utility bill.

Michael Allen, the Republican district attorney for El Paso and Teller counties, argues that public safety is an economic issue. He told the Colorado Sun that the state’s crime rates are directly linked to its high cost of living.

“We need to do better on crime enforcement — holding bad actors accountable,” Allen said. “And then that will help drive down costs for a state that’s really struggling on that front.”

He pointed to motor vehicle theft as the clearest example. Colorado is worse than the nation per capita, he noted, and insurance companies are watching. They’re going to charge more. For folks in the valley who’ve seen their premiums climb, that’s not a theoretical concern; it’s line-item reality on a monthly statement.

His opponent, Democrat Jena Griswold, the current secretary of state who lives in Louisville, frames the affordability crisis differently. She isn’t talking about car theft; she’s talking about data centers and corporate pricing power.

“I am going to stand with Coloradans in cracking down on the affordability crisis we’re seeing,” Griswold said. She plans to hold corporations accountable for price-gouging customers and renters. More specifically, she wants to protect consumers from utility rate hikes caused by the surge in data center demand.

That distinction matters. Allen wants to use the office’s bully pulpit to speak out for victims and expand statewide grand juries to go after criminal networks that cross jurisdictional lines. Griswold wants to use the office’s consumer protection mandate to check corporate power and protect voting rights from federal interference.

The current attorney general, Democrat Phil Weiser, is term-limited and can’t run for reelection. The office he leaves behind manages more than 650 employees with a mandate that ranges from prosecuting criminal cases to enforcing antitrust and housing laws. It is a sprawling portfolio, and both candidates admit the resources are limited.

Allen’s background is in prosecution. He served as a prosecutor in Kansas and worked as a technician in the U.S. Navy before taking over the 4th Judicial District in 2021. His approach is procedural: continue the work of the appellate unit, which he says does a “fantastic job,” and lean into victim advocacy.

Griswold’s background is in administration and voting rights. She has served as secretary of state since 2019, previously working as a liaison to Washington, D.C., for Gov. John Hickenlooper and as a voting rights attorney on President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign. Her approach is regulatory and defensive, focused on shielding Coloradans from both corporate greed and federal overreach.

The question is whether voters in the November 3 election will buy the link between car theft and insurance premiums, or the link between data centers and electricity rates. Both candidates are betting that voters are tired of the cost of living, but they disagree on who is causing it.

For Allen, the solution is accountability for bad actors and criminals. For Griswold, it’s accountability for corporations and the federal government.

Griswold closed her interview with a focus on freedom from the federal government, citing voting and reproductive rights as key pillars of her platform.

“I am going to stand with Coloradans,” she said.