Three Democratic Candidates for Colorado Attorney General Meet Carbondale Voters at Sprazzo

Three Democratic candidates for Colorado attorney general are coming to Carbondale this Saturday. They’re meeting locals over coffee at Sprazzo.

No press releases. No staged photo ops. Just a free forum organized by community members who think the Western Slope deserves better than a front-range-only view of the state’s top legal job.

Hetal Doshi, Michael Dougherty, and David Seligman will be there. The event starts Saturday morning. It’s free. It’s open to anyone who shows up.

Quentin Morse, an attorney and the event’s organizer, says the goal is simple: direct access. He argues that the attorney general’s office is too often treated as a Front Range-centric role. The Rural Slope gets little say in who holds the position, yet the AG’s decisions impact daily life across the entire state.

“I think it’s easy to become disillusioned in our current political moment and check out as a defense mechanism,” Morse said. “But these statewide offices have a huge impact on our day-to-day lives as Coloradans.”

He noticed a gap. He saw incumbent Phil Weiser speak recently at a small, free engagement. That connection stuck with him. Morse realized he didn’t know much about the Democratic candidates vying for the vacancy. So he cold-emailed them. He asked them to come to the Roaring Fork Valley.

The response was yes.

Hannah Berman, Basalt Mayor Pro Tem, helped coordinate. She handled the outreach. She says it took zero dollars and a handful of emails to make it happen. The point, she says, is getting candidates to prioritize rural voters.

The primary is June 30. Four Democrats are on the ballot. Weiser is term-limited and running for governor. That leaves three spots open for the rest of the pack.

Here is who is running:

Dougherty is the district attorney for Colorado’s 20th Judicial District. He’s a state prosecutor with experience in Colorado and Manhattan.

Seligman focuses on workers’ rights, consumer rights, and antimonopoly law. He’s the executive director of Towards Justice, a nonprofit legal and labor rights organization.

Doshi is a former federal prosecutor. She served as deputy assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. She was also an assistant U.S. attorney for Colorado.

Griswold is the current secretary of state. She’s held the post since 2018. She previously directed the Colorado governor’s Washington, D.C. office.

Morse says most people in the valley care about who becomes the next AG. They just don’t have an easy way to meet them. This forum fixes that. It’s not about grandstanding. It’s about showing up.

The venue is Sprazzo. It’s outside the building. The weather in Carbondale this time of year is usually decent. If it rains, they’ll move inside. Morse didn’t specify a backup plan, but locals know how to handle a little rain.

This isn’t a debate. It’s a meet-and-greet. Candidates will answer questions. Locals will ask them. There are no rules. There’s no moderator listed. There’s just coffee and conversation.

Morse says he wants to know who these candidates are. He wants to know what they stand for. He wants to know if they’ll listen to people outside Denver.

Berman agrees. She says the event proves that engagement doesn’t require a budget. It requires effort. It requires candidates to leave their comfort zones. It requires voters to show up.

The primary is still weeks away. But the race is already heating up. Weiser is gone. The seat is open. The candidates are coming to the valley.

Sprazzo is on Main Street. It’s a familiar spot. It’s not a government building. It’s not a sterile conference room. It’s a place where people gather. That’s the point.

Morse says he’s ready to listen. He’s ready to ask the hard questions. He’s ready to see if these candidates can handle the high country.

The candidates have agreed to come. That’s the first step. The second step is showing up.

Don’t expect a policy deep dive. Expect a conversation. Expect to see who listens and who talks. Expect to see if they know the difference between a district attorney and an attorney general.

The event is this Saturday. The coffee will be hot. The questions will be direct. The candidates will be there.

If you’re in the valley, go. If you’re not, you’re missing out. The attorney general’s office has power. It has reach. It has impact. You should know who’s holding it.

Morse says he’s excited. He says he’s nervous. He says he’s ready.

The rest is up to you.