Colorado’s Democratic civil war in the 4th Congressional District has moved to the courts. Trisha Calvarese sued to block Eileen Laubacher from the party’s assembly process, alleging state chair Shad Murib broke the law to put the party’s best-funded candidate on the ballot.
Laubacher registered Democrat on March 27, 2025. Party bylaws require twelve consecutive months of affiliation before the assembly. The CD4 assembly was set for March 26, 2026. One day short.
Calvarese and CD4 central committee chair Lisa Chollet filed in Denver District Court on March 2 alleging Murib violated state election law when he unilaterally rescheduled the assembly to March 27. Chollet claims Murib had no authority to touch her assembly date.
The party’s own rules back Chollet. The Colorado Democratic Party Plan of Organization and Rules gives congressional district central committees the power to fix the date, time, and place of their assemblies. The district chair issues the call, not the state chair. The most recent publicly available version, amended in 2015, draws that line clearly.
When Calvarese first raised concerns about Laubacher’s eligibility directly with Murib, he didn’t cite an updated rule. He counted days. According to the lawsuit, Murib argued that March 27, 2025 to March 26, 2026 constituted 365 days. When that math didn’t hold, he called his fix “an elegant solution.”
Judge Mark Bailey denied a temporary restraining order on March 3. Both Murib and Chollet testified no delegates would be bound before the next hearing on March 16. Bailey called the potential harm “speculative.” The merits remain open.
Even if the court blocks Laubacher from the assembly, she can petition onto the June 30 primary. That process runs through Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who has her own alliances within the party and her own interest in who carries the Democratic banner in CD4.
The Secretary of State’s website shows Laubacher and Jenna Preston both filed petitions with a March 18 deadline to submit 1,500 valid signatures. Calvarese did not. She is running through the assembly process only. If the court lets Murib’s calendar change stand and Laubacher takes enough delegate support to push Calvarese below the threshold, Calvarese is done.
Laubacher graduated from the Naval Academy in 1990. She spent 34 years in the Navy, retiring as a two-star rear admiral. She served as Trump’s Senior Defense Official and Defense Attaché to India from 2019 to 2022, then joined Biden’s National Security Council.
The April 2024 Colorado voter file shows her registered in the state since 1998. Her affiliation date reads January 17, 2024 — unaffiliated. Her husband Christopher was registered Republican at the same address.
She doesn’t live in the district. Her voter registration is in Jefferson County — Congressional District 7, not CD4. Boebert moved into CD4 from the Western Slope in 2024 after nearly losing her old seat. The Democrat trying to replace her is running from outside the district too.
Laubacher has raised $6.5 million. Calvarese has raised $1.7 million. Most of Laubacher’s money came from out-of-state small-dollar donors through ActBlue.
Calvarese survived a nearly identical registration challenge in 2024 when a Castle Rock voter sued over her eligibility. Padora, the third Democrat in the race, helped challenge Calvarese then. He sided with Laubacher this time and called Calvarese “hypocritical.”
The case returns to court March 16. Laubacher has two paths to the ballot. Calvarese has one — and the state chair moved it out from under her.
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