What Does Colorado's Secretary of State Do?

The Colorado Secretary of State is an executive operations role. The office does not pass legislation or vote on bills. It runs Colorado's elections as the chief executive of an office that oversees and administers laws.

The Secretary of State oversees election administration across all 64 Colorado counties, manages election security, interprets and defends election law, and ensures that every election is conducted securely, accessibly, and accurately. The office manages a budget of approximately $45 million and a staff of roughly 150.

This is operational, legal, and public trust work. It is closer in function to running a large county elections office than to serving in the legislature.

What qualifications matter most for this role?

Because the Secretary of State is an executive operations role, the most relevant qualifications are:

Election administration experience: Has the candidate actually run elections? Managing vote centers, ballot logistics, staff, equipment, deadlines, and real-time problem-solving on Election Day is the core of this job. It cannot be learned from a policy role.

Election security experience: Has the candidate managed physical and cybersecurity for an elections office? Interfaced with law enforcement and federal authorities? Responded to disinformation, threats to election workers, or federal overreach? These threats are escalating and the next Secretary of State will face them on day one.

Election law expertise: Does the candidate understand election law at a technical level, not just voting on bills, but interpreting, applying, and defending the law in real time during elections? The Secretary of State must make decisions about upholding the law under pressure.

Executive leadership: Has the candidate managed large teams, large budgets, and complex operations? The Secretary of State oversees 64 county clerks and must coordinate statewide operations during every election cycle.

How do the 2026 Democratic primary candidates compare on these qualifications?

Amanda Gonzalez is the Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder. She runs elections for nearly half a million registered voters in one of Colorado's largest counties. That’s more voters than there are in the whole state of Wyoming. She manages a nearly $20 million budget, 114 staff, and up to 1,000 election workers per cycle. She has upgraded her office's physical and cybersecurity, interfaces with DOJ and federal authorities, and has prepared responses to disinformation, threats to workers, and federal overreach.

Amanda is also a bar-certified election attorney and Professor of Election Law who interprets and applies election law daily, as part of running elections. She has been a key architect of several of Colorado's major election laws, including Automatic Voter Registration, jail-based voting, and multilingual ballot access, meaning she has both experience with drafting and getting legislation passed as well as the operational experience the role requires.

Amanda Gonzalez is the only candidate in the 2026 Colorado Secretary of State Democratic primary who has run elections, managed election security, run a large organization and written election law. She has legislative experience, plus the operational, legal, and executive experience the role actually requires.

Why this matters now

The next Secretary of State will take office during a period of unprecedented pressure on elections. Federal lawsuits targeting state voter data, escalating threats to election workers, disinformation campaigns, and potential disruptions to mail-based voting are not hypothetical—they are happening now.

Colorado needs a Secretary of State who has already navigated these challenges, not one who will encounter them for the first time after taking office.