No Foreign Government Should Own an American Election.
The Foreign Agents Registration Act has been the law since 1938. It is time to enforce it — starting with AIPAC.
THE PRINCIPLE
The American people have the right to know when a foreign government is spending money to shape their elections, their Congress, and their foreign policy.
That is not a radical idea. It is the law.
The Foreign Agents Registration Act — FARA — was enacted in 1938, before World War II, precisely because this country understood the danger of foreign powers operating invisibly inside American democracy. FARA requires anyone acting as an agent of a foreign government to register publicly with the Department of Justice, disclose their activities, and account for their spending.
It is one of the most important transparency laws on the books.
It is also one of the most selectively enforced.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee — AIPAC — has operated in Washington for decades as one of the most powerful lobbying organizations in the country. In the 2024 election cycle alone, AIPAC and its affiliated super PAC the United Democracy Project spent nearly $127 million combined across 389 congressional races. They supported 361 candidates. More than 318 of those candidates were elected. That means a majority of the United States Congress was funded by a single lobbying organization — one that has never registered as a foreign agent and has never been required to account for its relationship with the Israeli government.
In 2026, AIPAC has poured more than $15 million into a single Kentucky congressional primary to defeat Rep. Thomas Massie — a Republican — after he introduced legislation that would require AIPAC to register under FARA. That race has become the most expensive congressional primary in U.S. history.
AIPAC has spent money in Colorado federal races. Colorado candidates have received AIPAC contributions. Colorado voters deserve to know the full scope of that spending and the foreign-government relationships that drive it.
If a lobbying organization operating on behalf of Russia, China, or Saudi Arabia behaved this way, we would not debate whether it should register as a foreign agent. We would demand it.
The principle must apply equally to every foreign government and every lobbying organization — regardless of which country they represent, regardless of how politically powerful they are, and regardless of how much money they spend trying to silence the people who ask the question.
THE COLORADO CONNECTION
Colorado has its own piece of this problem — and it goes beyond Washington.
In 2016, the Colorado General Assembly passed HB 16-1284, which requires PERA — the Public Employees’ Retirement Association — to identify all companies that have economic prohibitions against Israel and to divest all direct holdings of those companies from its assets.
In plain English: Colorado law currently tells our public employees’ pension fund — funded by the retirement savings of teachers, firefighters, state workers, and municipal employees — that it must make investment decisions based on a foreign government’s political preferences.
That is not how a pension fund should work. A pension fund’s only obligation is to the retirees who depend on it. It should not be a foreign policy instrument. It should not be a tool for suppressing the First Amendment right of Americans to engage in political boycotts.
A bill to repeal HB 16-1284 failed on a 1-10 vote in the House Finance Committee in 2024. Ten Colorado lawmakers voted to keep forcing public employees’ retirement savings into political compliance with a foreign government’s demands.
That law is wrong. As Governor, I will fight to repeal it.
MY PLAN — THREE COMMITMENTS
COMMITMENT 1: SUE TO FORCE AIPAC TO REGISTER UNDER FARA
AIPAC has spent money in Colorado federal elections. Colorado voters’ voices, Colorado candidates’ races, and Colorado’s congressional representation have all been affected by AIPAC spending. That gives the state of Colorado a direct stake — and legal standing — to act.
On Day One, I will direct the Colorado Attorney General to file suit in federal court seeking to compel AIPAC’s registration under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, on the grounds that AIPAC’s expenditures in Colorado elections constitute political activity on behalf of a foreign principal that triggers FARA’s registration requirements.
This is not a symbolic gesture. AIPAC has:
- Coordinated its policy positions directly with the Israeli government, including lobbying against the Iran nuclear deal at Prime Minister Netanyahu’s request, pushing $14.1 billion in emergency military aid matching Israeli government demands, and following the Israeli Foreign Minister’s request to sanction the International Criminal Court.
- Spent tens of millions of dollars in Colorado and nationwide shaping which American politicians hold power — without ever disclosing the foreign-government relationships that drive those decisions.
- Aggressively targeted and spent against any elected official — Democrat or Republican — who raises the question of FARA registration. Thomas Massie introduced a bill asking for transparency. AIPAC spent $15 million trying to destroy him.
Colorado will be the state that says: enough. The law applies to everyone. Register or face us in court.
I will also:
- Join or lead a multi-state coalition of Attorneys General demanding federal FARA enforcement against AIPAC and any other foreign-government-aligned lobbying organization operating without registration.
- Support Rep. Thomas Massie’s Americans Insist on Political Agent Clarity Act — H.R. 8809 — which would amend FARA to require registration by any organization that repeatedly advances the diplomatic or economic objectives of a foreign nation, and call on Colorado’s congressional delegation to support it by name.
- File amicus briefs in any pending federal litigation involving FARA’s application to foreign-government-aligned lobbying organizations, on the side of transparency and enforcement.
COMMITMENT 2: REPEAL COLORADO’S ANTI-BDS LAW — HB 16-1284
On Day One, I will direct PERA’s board to cease enforcement of HB 16-1284’s divestment mandate pending legislative action, and I will send a repeal bill to the Colorado General Assembly in my first legislative package.
HB 16-1284 is wrong for three reasons.
First, it is a First Amendment violation. The right to boycott is a constitutionally protected form of political expression. Federal courts have struck down similar anti-BDS laws in Arkansas and Kansas on exactly these grounds. Colorado’s law forces public employees — through their pension fund — to participate in a political program at the direction of a foreign government.
Second, it harms PERA beneficiaries. The Public Employees’ Retirement Association has one job: maximize risk-adjusted returns for the teachers, firefighters, and public workers who depend on it in retirement. The moment PERA is required to exclude investment targets for political reasons unrelated to financial return, it is no longer doing its job. It is doing someone else’s.
Third, it is unequal. Colorado does not require PERA to divest from companies that boycott any other country on earth. Only Israel. That selective treatment is not a principled legal standard. It is a political one. And it has no place in state law.
Repealing HB 16-1284 is not an endorsement of BDS. It is an affirmation that Colorado law applies equally to everyone, that our pension funds belong to retirees, and that no foreign government — friendly or otherwise — gets to write Colorado investment policy.
COMMITMENT 3: A BROADER PRINCIPLE — END FOREIGN LOBBYING IMPUNITY
AIPAC is the most prominent example of a broader problem: foreign governments and their aligned organizations have spent decades building influence inside American elections and American policymaking — often without the transparency FARA requires.
This is not limited to Israel. It is a systemic failure of enforcement that benefits powerful foreign-aligned interests across the political spectrum.
As Governor I will:
- Establish a Colorado Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative — an annual public report, produced by the Colorado Secretary of State’s office, tracking all FARA-registered entities active in Colorado politics, all foreign-connected PAC contributions to Colorado candidates, and all foreign-government-aligned lobbying activity directed at the Colorado General Assembly or Governor’s office.
- Prohibit Colorado state contractors from simultaneously employing unregistered foreign agents or from accepting direction from foreign governments in their Colorado work.
- Support federal legislative efforts to close FARA’s enforcement gaps — including the Massie bill, the FRONT Act, and the Disclosing Foreign Influence in Lobbying Act — and call on Colorado’s congressional delegation to support them by name.
- Make this a leadership issue in the National Governors Association — Colorado should not be the only state demanding that the federal government enforce its own transparency laws.
Foreign governments do not get to own American elections. Not through AIPAC. Not through any other vehicle. The answer is transparency, enforcement, and equal application of the law — and as Governor, I will fight for all three.
