Former State Senate President Kevin Grantham, R-Canon City, calls the Senate to order as lawmakers work on the final day of the legislative session Wednesday, May 9, 2018, in Denver. Credit-CPR

Former Colorado Senate President Kevin Grantham announced recently that he will be joining the fray for state treasurer, becoming the first Republican to enter the race. Grantham, of Canon City, was the last Republican to lead the state Senate. After being term-limited from serving again in the chamber in 2019, he successfully ran in 2020 for the Fremont County Board of Commissioners, where he has served since.

The state treasury essentially functions as Colorado’s bank for public funds and manages the state’s investment portfolios, debt and unclaimed property fund. Treasurers can also help guide the state’s economic policy in the Legislature.

“I’m a conservative at heart. I believe in fiscal accountability and that there is no greater responsibility than making sure Colorado is a safe and affordable place to raise our families,” the 55-year-old Republican said in a video posted to his campaign website.

Grantham became a state senator in 2010 and served as Senate president from 2017 to 2018. While in the Legislature, he was on the bipartisan Joint Budget Committee, which crafts the state budget each year. He is in his second term as a Fremont County commissioner.

In a statement, Grantham criticized the growth of the treasury department, noting that the number of employees has doubled under current Treasurer Dave Young, a Democrat.

“Thanks to the last seven years of reckless spending and not enough concern for the hardworking taxpayers of this state, Colorado has become increasingly unaffordable for too many. Since 2019, the staff in the Treasurer’s office has doubled while the population has only grown by 3% — something is wrong with that picture,” Grantham said.

He is also against use of the approximately $1.8 billion in the Unclaimed Property Fund to pay for legislation, a strategy that some lawmakers have tried in recent years in an increasingly tight budget scenario. A successful bill this year, for example, directs the state to borrow interest from the fund’s investments to make sure safety net health care providers get paid. A bill from a recent special legislative session originally would have used the fund to soften health insurance premium increases, but the funding mechanism was amended to rely on tax credit sales instead.

“I will work tirelessly to make sure we return taxpayer’s unclaimed property faster than the Legislature can spend it,” Grantham said.

The treasurer’s office returned about $62 million to 73,900 people during the 2024 fiscal year, according to the office’s most recent budget request document.

Grantham has not yet filed his candidate paperwork with the secretary of state. Grantham is the only Republican running for state treasurer. However, there are a handful of Democrats seeking the job.

The Democrats running to be Colorado’s treasurer are state Sen. Jeff Bridges of Greenwood Village, who is the current chair of the JBC; state Rep. Brianna Titone of Arvada; Jefferson County Treasurer Jerry DiTullio; and John Mikos of Monument, who previously served as chairman of the El Paso County Democratic Party.

The primary election will be held in June 2026.

Whoever wins the Democratic primary for treasurer is likely to win the general election, too, given the leftward shift of Colorado’s electorate. There hasn’t been a Republican elected to statewide office in Colorado since 2016. 

Current Treasurer Dave Young, a Democrat, won reelection in 2022 by nearly 11 percentage points. Young is term-limited and now running in the crowded Democratic primary in Colorado’s 8th Congressional District.