This story was first published at Colorado Newsline.
DENVER | A Denver judge shut down an effort to keep a Democratic candidate for Colorado’s 4th Congressional District out of the caucus and assembly nominating process.
Trisha Calvarese, a Democrat running in the 4th District, filed a lawsuit in Denver District Court alongside Lisa Chollet, chair of the Colorado Democratic Party 4th Congressional District Central Committee. They claimed the Colorado Democratic Party violated its bylaws and state election laws by intervening to ensure candidate Eileen Laubacher’s eligibility.
The Democrats are running to unseat U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Windsor Republican who is running for reelection.
The lawsuit argued that Laubacher is ineligible to participate in the Democratic caucus and assembly process because she was not registered as a Democrat for at least 12 consecutive months, as required by the party’s bylaws. It alleged that Colorado Democratic Party Chair Shad Murib also broke state election law when he unilaterally pushed back district assemblies by one day to make Laubacher eligible.
Laubacher, a retired Navy rear admiral and former National Security Council official, registered as a Democrat on March 27, 2025. Plaintiffs argued she should not be eligible to participate in a district assembly that was initially scheduled for March 26 but was moved by Murib to March 27.
In his ruling, Denver District Court Judge Mark Bailey did not find there is good cause to issue the orders requested by Calvarese and Chollet to exclude Laubacher from the assembly process. He found that Murib had the final authority to set district assembly dates and did not exceed his authority in doing so, and Laubacher clearly gave the 30 day notice required to participate in the state assembly process.
While the lawsuit said that Chollet, as the District 4 central committee chair, has the sole authority to schedule the time and place of her district’s assembly, Bailey said the “shall fix” language in state statute does not give exclusive authority to her to do so. He also said “uncontroverted evidence” shows that Chollet and 4th District 1st Vice Chair Bob Massaro voted to approve the Democratic Party’s delegate selection plan, which gave Murib “the authority to ‘determine’ the location and times of the multicounty assemblies ‘in coordination with each district central committee chair.’”
Whoever wins the Democratic primary for the 4th District will face Boebert in the November election. Laubacher has already raised more money than every other candidate of either party in the race combined. John Padora and Jenna Preston have also filed to run for the 4th District seat as Democrats.
After the ruling, the Democratic Party said the 4th District assembly will occur on April 2. Laubacher, Calvarese and Padora will appear on the assembly ballot, where delegates will vote for the candidate they were elected by their peers to support.
“Our rules exist to enable participation, not restrict it,” Murib said in a statement. “The court’s decision affirms that eligible candidates can compete. Democrats in the 4th Congressional District will decide this nomination, and our focus remains on uniting behind our eventual nominee and defeating Lauren Boebert in November.”
County assemblies have occurred over the past several weeks, and since the vast majority of delegates have been awarded to Laubacher, it is likely that no other Democrats will make it onto the June primary ballot via assembly. Candidates in Colorado can access the ballot through the assembly process or by gathering voter signatures and filing with the Colorado secretary of state’s office. Calvarese did not pursue the ballot through a petition.
“This challenge was an attempt to undermine voters’ voices through technicalities and costly legal maneuvering,” Laubacher said in a statement. “It failed. Delegates that were elected by their peers will decide who makes the primary ballot, not Republican lawyers.”
Calvarese and Chollet were represented by attorneys with First and Fourteenth, a conservative Colorado Springs-based law firm that has ties to the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee. Calvarese’s campaign did not immediately respond to Newsline’s request for comment on the judge’s ruling.
Boebert beat Calvarese in the 2024 election by 12 percentage points. The 4th District, which includes most of Douglas County and the Eastern Plains, is the safest Republican-held district in the state.
Colorado’s primary election will take place June 30.