Who Is Judge Daniel Warhola? Appointed by Polis in 2024, a Former Federal and State Prosecutor Rated 6-0, and on the Douglas County Ballot for the First Time

Daniel Warhola is a district judge in Castle Rock, and this fall is the first time his name has been on a ballot. Douglas County voters are asked one question about him: shall he be retained in office? He has no opponent and does not campaign. He is the newest judge on the county's ballot, with just over two years on the bench, and he is the one whose evaluation came with a recusal. Here is who he is, from the governor's announcement, the court's orders and the commission that evaluated him.

Who appointed him, and when

Gov. Jared Polis appointed him on July 11, 2024 to the 18th Judicial District Court, to fill the vacancy created by Judge Gary Kramer's retirement, effective Aug. 3, 2024. The Judicial Branch had announced him on June 26 as one of three finalists, listing him as "Daniel Wilson Warhola of Franktown" alongside two Castle Rock lawyers. Four months later, on Nov. 15, 2024, Polis signed Executive Order A 2024 284 designating eight 18th District judges, Warhola among them, as judges of the new 23rd Judicial District, effective Jan. 14, 2025.

New judges serve a two-year provisional term and then face voters at the next general election, which for him is this one. A yes vote gives him a full six-year term. One housekeeping note: one of the state performance commission's web addresses for his evaluation misspells his first name as "David." The ballot, the governor's release and the evaluation itself all say Daniel W. Warhola.

What he did before the bench

He was a prosecutor for eleven years. After the University of Richmond in 2009 and the University of Denver's law school in 2013, he spent a year as a deputy district attorney in the 17th Judicial District, then eight years in the 18th Judicial District Attorney's office, as a deputy from 2014 to 2021 and a senior deputy in 2021 and 2022. In 2022 he became an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado, handling criminal matters, and stayed until his appointment. The commission notes he volunteers as a judge for high school mock trial and speech and debate competitions.

What the performance commission found

The 23rd Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance interviewed him, read his opinions, observed him in court, interviewed what it calls stakeholders and reviewed surveys. Its finding: he meets performance standards, 6-0, with one commissioner recusing, one absent and two seats vacant. The narrative does not say why a member recused.

It describes his demeanor as "calm, respectful, and approachable," says "the commission applauds the work he has done as a new judge to learn the job," and credits him with explaining "the evidence and legal reasoning that inform his decisions, speaking and writing in language that is understandable to everyone." It records that he "presided over a domestic relations docket when appointed and transitioned to a full-time criminal docket in October 2025," which matches the court's assignment orders.

"The commission applauds the work he has done as a new judge to learn the job." The 23rd Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance, 2026.

The survey numbers

The commission's contractor emailed 381 attorneys and 471 non-attorneys, plus a self-select invitation to 2,782 court staff; 14 attorneys, 10 members of the public, four court staff and one juror answered. Nine of the eleven attorneys who answered the standards question said yes and two said no. Of fifteen non-attorneys, ten said yes, three said no and two had no opinion.

His overall score was 2.9 on a scale where 2 is "adequate performance" and 4 is "outstanding." Because he is new, the report lists no prior-year scores on this scale; a 2025 interim survey, on a different frequency-based scale, scored him 3.1 from 17 respondents, with all nine attorneys saying he met standards. His 2026 category scores run from 2.7 on fairness and on application and knowledge of law to 3.3 on demeanor. Those are lower numbers than the two county judges on this ballot and higher than Theresa Slade's.

The ruling that reached the news

The Gazette reported on Aug. 4, 2026 that Warhola had dismissed ten of thirty charges against a defendant in an assault and child abuse case in October 2025 after finding that prosecutors had failed to turn over evidence to the defense 52 times over six months, which he called a "pattern of neglect," and that the Court of Appeals had affirmed the dismissal in an unpublished opinion. That is the one ruling of his we found covered in the press. We have not reviewed his other rulings and will not characterize them beyond what the commission wrote.

As for party: the ballot lists none for any judge, the governor who appointed him is a Democrat, his career before the bench was spent prosecuting cases for the state and the federal government, and the Douglas County Republican Party's online voter guide recommends retaining him, citing that dismissal. We found no organized opposition to him.

How to vote on him

Unlike the Supreme Court justice and the Court of Appeals judges at the top of the retention section, who appear on every ballot in Colorado, the 23rd Judicial District judges appear only in Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties. He is listed with the three other district judges, Victoria Klingensmith among them. A "yes" keeps him for six years; a "no" removes him at the end of this term and the governor appoints a replacement; a majority of the votes cast on the question decides it. Retention judges do not campaign. All thirteen judges on the Douglas County ballot drew a "meets standards" finding this year; our page on all thirteen has every narrative and vote count.

More: every race and measure on your ballot, the November ballot guide, and where to vote. We do not endorse candidates or take positions on judicial retention. Corrections to hello@discoverdougco.com.

*Election night: live results for every Douglas County race, measure and judge, with the first numbers after 7 p.m. on Nov. 3. Before then: where to vote in person, every drop box, and the deadlines, and who has voted so far.*