Tina Peters has received clemency. To summarize, she was a county clerk in Mesa County, Colorado, who was part of a growing group raising concerns about the legitimacy of the 2020 election. Naturally, this became a lightning rod for Democrats and the media. She was ultimately given a nine-year jail sentence related to multiple charges stemming from election interference. The reaction from the Left to Gov. Jared Polis’s granting of clemency is interesting: why are they so upset? Was this election stolen?
She could be released from jail on June 1. Here’s more from The New York Times. Please excuse the usual biased copy. Also, way to go burying the parts of this story that make it less controversial, guys, like how the appeals court tossed her sentencing, citing the initial judge violated Ms. Peters’ First Amendment rights, something that Polis, a liberal Democrat, agreed with [emphasis mine]:
The governor’s decision capped a showdown that battered Colorado with federal cuts and placed Mr. Polis in a political vise, between a president willing to punish his state and Democratic allies who implored Mr. Polis not to cave to Mr. Trump’s demands.
It all comes at another tense moment for the nation’s election systems. Election officials continue to face threats. Mr. Trump has installed election deniers in the federal government. And the president and his allies started a coast-to-coast battle with Democrats over redistricting Congressional maps ahead of the midterms.
Mr. Polis said he made his decision with no expectation that Colorado would be rewarded in return. His controversial move will likely help shape his legacy and political future when his second term as governor ends next year.
Democratic leaders tore into Mr. Polis, accusing him of forsaking democracy and justice to appease a bully. There was no immediate indication that Mr. Trump would undo a series of funding cuts and other actions aimed at Colorado, including killing a water pipeline for rural ranchers, moving the U.S. Space Command headquarters from Colorado Springs to Alabama and dismantling a leading federal climate center in Boulder. Those actions came while Ms. Peters was in prison and amid repeated public calls by Mr. Trump for her to be freed.
When asked for comment, the White House pointed reporters to a social media post by Mr. Trump on Friday that declared, “Free Tina!”
Mr. Polis defended his decision.
In the interview, he said that neither pressure from Mr. Trump nor warnings from his fellow Democrats had swayed him. He stressed that Ms. Peters was not receiving a pardon and that her felony convictions would remain on her record. But he said she was a nonviolent first-time offender, and that he believed she had received too long a sentence, which he called “disparately harsh.”
Ms. Peters had embraced “dangerously incorrect” conspiracy theories about election fraud, Mr. Polis said. But, he added, those beliefs should not have had any bearing on her sentence. A Colorado appeals court threw out Ms. Peters’ sentence last month and ordered a resentencing, finding that the judge in her case had violated her free speech rights.
“It’s not a crime in our country to believe the earth is flat,” Mr. Polis said. “It’s not a crime to believe voting machines are flawed.”
While Mr. Polis rejected the request to pardon Ms. Peters, he began a monthslong, behind-the-scenes exploration of an early release — and what kind of political retribution it could elicit, according to more than a dozen current and former state officials.
Recommended
🚨 MAJOR BREAKING: Election whistleblower Tina Peters will soon be RELEASED FROM PRISON, receiving clemency from Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, per CNN
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) May 15, 2026
INCREDIBLE NEWS! 🔥
Prayers and pressure worked! Tina will IMMINENTLY be freed!
Patriots from across the country have been… pic.twitter.com/9ciebtzswd
Fascinating article where we learned that @jaredpolis' clemency council was against it and @VanJones68 was for it
— Neera Tanden🌻 (@neeratanden) May 18, 2026
This will be a very big stain on the entire career of @JaredPolis, and frankly it is both sad and inexplicable https://t.co/ugIIDxP1Pd
I don’t understand what Jared Polis is thinking. But I know America will regret deciding that there shouldn’t be accountability for everyone who tried to overturn a United States election.
— Sarah Longwell (@SarahLongwell25) May 16, 2026
Dear @kaitlancollins:
— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) May 16, 2026
You are upset a 70-year-old woman with a dying mother, no criminal history, and a nonviolent criminal conviction spent 4.5—instead of 9—years in prison?
Because you disagree with her political views?
A Democrat has to remind you about the First Amendment? https://t.co/S6n9H1fxS8
You're upset a 70-year-old woman with a dying mother, no criminal history, and a nonviolent criminal conviction is getting released after 4.5 instead of 9 years?
— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) May 16, 2026
Reevaluate your life, Marc.
You are truly a bad dude. https://t.co/opOrT67389
Translation:@JenaGriswold admits she helped imprison Tina Peters for believing and attempting to prove Democrats rig and steal elections.
— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) May 16, 2026
It’s time for the Trump Justice Department to open a criminal probe. https://t.co/2ZIOlxwsT2
Tina Peters is guilty as sin and a disgrace to Colorado.
— Senator John Hickenlooper (@SenatorHick) May 15, 2026
She tried to undermine Colorado’s free and fair election system. When she was caught red-handed, she was prosecuted by a Republican district attorney and rightfully convicted by a jury of her peers.
Reducing her… https://t.co/EUhu1LT6Pw
🚨BREAKING: Colorado Democrat Gov. Jared Polis just put CNN's Kaitlan Collins in HER PLACE on LIVE TV after he commuted the sentence of Tina Peters.
— Bo Loudon (@BoLoudon) May 16, 2026
"Tina Peters did not commit any crimes regarding the 2020 election."
Follow: @BoLoudon pic.twitter.com/NvX4NX2xrY
Either way, Polis, who is in no way, shape, or form a MAGA supporter, has been treated as such by his colleagues on the Left, who have ripped him to shreds. It’s insanity, really. Also, this arrogance to think you know what is right in the course of history is getting tiring, guys. You don’t know anything; you can’t even define what a woman is—and you think you know the direction of history. You people are historically illiterate as well.
Anyway, Peters should be set free. Cry more.
Also:
"There's a ton of evidence that the election was rigged," says @DAGToddBlanche on 2020.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 17, 2026
"We have multiple investigations going on in Arizona, in Fulton County Georgia, and that's exactly what we're looking at." pic.twitter.com/fIW2dceSkT
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