Ahead of Colorado’s primary elections, June 30, the IJN spoke with two Republican candidates for Attorney General: Michael Allen and David Willson. The IJN also spoke with three Democratic candidates: Michael Dougherty, Jena Griswold and David Seligman. The IJN also reached out to Democratic candidate Hetal Doshi.

David Willson is a retired Army Judge Advocate who has practiced across many areas of the law.

What are your top priorities as Attorney General? How do they affect the daily lives of Coloradans?

Election fraud. You cannot have election integrity unless you address whether or not fraud exists.

Grooming of our kids in school. Our children are under attack and we must stand up and protect them along with parental rights. I support Protect Kids Colorado and their ballot measures.

Rising crime. Too many crimes are being ignored. It seems like if you know someone you can do what you want with little to no consequences. If a politician or state leader commits a crime, he or she must be held accountable. No more “rules for thee but not for me” attitude.

These, along with rising costs, are the big issues that most people I talk to are asking me about.

Election integrity: which areas can the Attorney General impact?

We have to clean up the voter rolls and the states have to participate in that, because it’s not fair to the citizens. I know people who say they continue to get multiple ballots or they get ballots from people who previously lived in the home that theyin now. Hopefully people will be honest and not vote that ballot.

There’s a lot of deceased people who are still registered to vote.

These are some of the problems, especially with the mail-in ballots.

Also, in Colorado, when you register to get a driver’s license, you’re automatically registered to vote. If you don’t select Democrat or Republican, you’re automatically labeled as an unaffiliated.

Are those people told, you have to check one or the other? There are a lot of pieces that need to be investigated, not necessarily criminally, but investigated and revealed so everybody can say, OK, yes, I’m confident in my vote and the election system.

I have a background in cybersecurity. The Army sent me to George Washington University to get a master’s in intellectual property and information technology. I worked at the NSA, I was a legal advisor for the organization that’s now CyberCom.

I have a deep understanding of the technology, and I’ve spoken to people who have investigated as much as they could the machines. The companies who build the machines claim the source code is proprietary, and they won’t release that.

You’ve worked on many different sides of the law. How will this serve you as AG?

I spent 20 years in the Army as a JAG (attorney) and worked in many areas of law to include prosecution, defense, international and operational law, disability law, cyber and information operations, rules of engagement, and legal assistance, to name a few. I was also special assistant US Attorney.

Since retiring from the Army I have filed civil suits in employment cases, fighting Covid mandates, whistleblower law, represented Tina Peters in her recount lawsuit against Jena Griswold in 2022, and have represented parents and parental rights as a court appointed attorney for the last 10 years in dependency and neglect cases, among others.

As AG I will have to address many areas of law; my experience helps me to understand those areas.

When I was in the Army, typically an assignment was about two years, sometimes just a year, so I had to get up to speed on whatever area of law I was practicing, and very quickly, because I was going to be moving on within a year or two after that.

I had to learn very quickly. I’m able to jump into just about any area of law and learn it quickly and be effective in that area.

What is the role of the AG with regard to the federal government?

The AG must work with the federal government. Each branch of government in the state and federal has its own jurisdiction and job to do.

It is better for the people that the branches all work together and negotiate issues that cause the state and federal government to be at odds.

The AG should not be obstructionist and certainly not simply due to ideology.

What is the most disturbing case you’ve ever prosecuted or defended?

The most emotional were many of the dependency and neglect cases. I had 95 cases at one point.

As an attorney with compassion, it is difficult to see a parent face the possibility of losing their child forever, especially when the law is designed to reunify families.

The Dept. of Human Services and the state should be trying harder to help families reunite rather than seeking the easier solution of adoption and termination of parental rights.

The line between hate speech and actual threats is becoming difficult to navigate. How far does free speech go before it turns into a criminal threat?

There is no room for hate speech. As the old adage goes, if you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything.

Many have become too bold on social media and take their anger out on others. Many times, threats go unpunished and that merely emboldens people.

I am a big fan of what Rudy Guiliani did in cleaning up New York City when he was mayor. He told the police commissioner to start at the street level and clean things up. If someone was caught spraying graffiti, ticket them and arrest if need be.

After a robbery, rather than catching and arresting just one suspect, go get them all.

Once people realized the city was serious about being tough on crime, things improved drastically.

Today, too often, crimes are ignored. There are too many political persecutions. Too much about numbers rather than the crime and the victim.

Why AG?

I think we’re in a dire situation. We have to act now or we’re going to lose this state. I already know a lot of people who have moved. One of the reasons is because of crime.

Does a Republican have a chance in this race?

My biggest concern is election fraud or theft. I don’t know that that’s necessarily something to worry about in the primary, but in the general election, I do worry about that.

As far as beating the Democrats, there’s a stark difference between the Democrats and what they stand for and certainly what I stand for.

Agendas and ideologies should not be driving decisions in the attorney general’s office. It has to be the Constitution and the rule of law and what’s fair for the majority, for everybody, not just for a small group who’s in charge and they’re going to decide what’s best for everybody else.

© IJN 2026