He lost once. Now he’s back: Why David Willson jumped into Colorado’s AG race late

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice

For ten years, David Willson stood in Colorado courtrooms defending parents accused of neglect—many of them homeless, addicted or on the verge of losing their children.

He learned quickly the system doesn’t operate in clean lines.

“I went into that work thinking people were just partying and getting high. It took me about six months to realize they’re trying to get high because their life is so miserable.”

Now, his daughter is entering law enforcement.

“She said, we arrest a lot of homeless people who have warrants.”

For Willson, that isn’t a contradiction. It’s the reality he’s seen from both sides.

“You have to understand what people are dealing with. But you also have to enforce the law.”

He got in late.

The Republican state assembly is this Saturday in Pueblo, where delegates will decide who clears the 30% threshold to make the primary ballot—and he has only days to make his case.

He wasn’t planning to run.

But he said the decision kept coming back to the same balance: compassion and accountability.

How he ended up in the race

The decision came quickly. Supporters from his previous run reached out, along with others frustrated with the current field.

“I was asked to run.”

This wasn’t his first time stepping in late.

He’s already taken a shot at Michael Allen once—back in 2024, when he got into the El Paso County district attorney race late and lost in the Republican primary.

Same opponent. Bigger race.

“If my opponent had done his job, I wouldn’t be here. I would be home enjoying my family.” 

In his view, it hasn’t.

From New York politics to national security law

Willson grew up on Long Island in a politically active family. His mother served as deputy mayor under Vinny Suozzi for 15 years in Glen Cove.

“We grew up liberal Democrats. That’s just how you grow up in New York.”

That changed after he joined the Army.

“I moved around the country. I saw the rest of the world. And I realized what I believe in.”

He spent 20 years as a JAG officer, prosecuting cases and serving as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney. He later moved into operational and international law, earning an advanced degree in intellectual property and information technology.

That work eventually took him to the National Security Agency.

He served as a legal advisor in the unit that would later become U.S. Cyber Command, helping navigate what the U.S. could and couldn’t do in cyberspace.

“We took over doing coordination and logistics for attacking enemy networks. Because if you can shut down a network and you don’t have to blow it up, then you can bring it back up and collect intel.”

The structure that became CYBERCOM was already in place, evolving as cyber operations expanded.

After leaving government service, he earned his CISSP certification and spent years helping businesses understand how cyberattacks happen—and how systems fail.

That background shapes how he views Colorado’s election system.

“You have to be able to look at the system. Otherwise you don’t know what it’s capable of.”

A system seen from the inside

After retiring from the military, Willson returned to the courtroom in a different role.

For a decade, he represented parents in dependency and neglect cases—often when the state was moving to remove their children.

At one point, he carried 95 cases.

He described watching judges work through what was being asked of parents—people without stable housing, transportation or income, expected to meet strict requirements to regain custody.

“You start to understand how complicated their lives are.”

That perspective followed him home.

He and his wife later adopted two young relatives from Alabama out of a similar situation.

“It becomes personal.”

That experience shapes how he would approach the attorney general’s office—not by removing accountability, but by understanding the human reality behind the cases.

Where he draws the line

That’s when he brings up Rudy Giuliani—and the way he handled crime in New York.

“One of my heroes was Rudy Giuliani,” he said. “You go after that person spraying graffiti. You start from the ground and work your way up.”

For him, enforcement is about restoring order.

“You have to hold people accountable. Otherwise, nothing changes.”

That philosophy shapes how he contrasts himself with his primary opponent.

He points back to a memo that landed in El Paso County District Attorney Michael Allen’s office—one that laid out concerns about sexually explicit books in schools. The response relied on case law and advised parents to work with districts.

He would have taken a different approach.

“I would open an investigation and make it very public. Let people know it’s being looked at.”

“I think just the notice alone would have gotten the situation corrected.”

The case that made it personal

His focus on election integrity comes out of work he’s already done. And his connection to the Tina Peters case wasn’t from the sidelines.

He represented the former Mesa County clerk in a 2022 recount lawsuit against Secretary of State Jena Griswold.

“What happened to Tina Peters is disgusting.”

For him, the issue doesn’t stop with one case.

“It’s about whether we’re willing to look at the system at all.”

The role of the attorney general

Willson argues the attorney general’s office should focus less on political fights and more on legal accountability.

“The attorney general is supposed to provide legal review. If something is unconstitutional, you address it before it becomes law—or you challenge it after.”

He points back to the BIOS password exposure involving Colorado’s election systems—something he believes should have been taken further.

He said he took it a step further—and drafted an affidavit laying out what he saw as violations of state law and working to get it in front of district attorneys statewide.

“The law says you shall investigate. Not you may.”

When some jurisdictions declined to pursue the issue after initial reviews, he said that did not meet the standard.

“If I were in that position, I would have continued the investigation and told the public what I found.”

He draws a direct comparison to the Peters case.

“I think what Griswold did was worse than what they’re claiming Tina Peters did.”

For him, the issue is procedural.

“If the law says you investigate, then you investigate.”

Day one

When asked what he would do first, he starts with the office.

When asked what comes first, he goes straight to the people inside the office.

“First is office cleanup. We’re about the Constitution and the rule of law. Any political or woke agenda—it’s gone.”

He said the bigger challenge is figuring out who inside the office is aligned with that mission—and who isn’t.

He then points to the Tina Peters case.

“Whatever I can do to assist and make sure she gets out and is free and clear, I’m going to do that.”

From there, it comes back to investigations—election integrity, school content and what he sees as government overreach.

“Open the investigation. Make it public. Let people see what’s happening.”

What he brings—and what he doesn’t claim

“I’m not going to tell you I know everything,” he said. “Nobody does.”

Instead, he points to his military background.

“You get up to speed fast. And you surround yourself with people who know what they’re doing.”

Running anyway

He got into the race late, without a clear path to winning and he doesn’t talk about it in terms of odds or strategy.

“When the Holy Spirit tells you you need to do something, you need to be obedient.”

When it comes to whether he makes it through assembly or wins, he doesn’t try to guess.

“I don’t know.”

He’s running anyway.