Colorado Supreme Court denies appeal in state Sen. Kevin Priola recall

The Colorado Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from a group seeking a recall election against state Sen. Kevin Priola, making it likely that any action will have to wait until the new year.

The court denied the appeal on Oct. 18.

A previous ruling in Denver District Court this month determined that recall election backers would need to wait until Jan. 9, when the new legislative session begins, to gather signatures and do other work towards getting a recall election underway.

The issue at hand is over which voters would be eligible to sign the petition to recall Priola, a Democrat from Henderson who disaffiliated with the Republican Party earlier this year. Shortly after his party switch, Advance Colorado Action, a conservative dark-money group led by Michael Fields, initiated a recall attempt.

The once-a-decade redistricting process, however, complicated things. Priola has represented Senate District 25 since 2016, but was redrawn into Senate District 13. He will represent that new district when the legislature convenes in January.

Senate District 25 is a Democratic-leaning district that includes Broomfield and some northwest Denver suburbs. Senate District 13 is slightly Republican-leaning and extends along U.S. 85 from Brighton to Greeley.

Secretary of State Jena Griswold determined that Advance Colorado Action would need to gather the approximately 18,000 necessary signatures in Senate District 13. The earlier court decision then halted all action on the matter until the new session starts.

At the time of the Denver District Court ruling, Fields said his group had collected about 15,000 signatures.