Who Is Judge Theresa Slade? Appointed by Hickenlooper in 2012, Rated 7-0 With a Survey Score Tied for Lowest on the Ballot, and on the Douglas County Ballot This November

Theresa Slade is a district judge in the 23rd Judicial District, and her name is on the Douglas County ballot this fall with one question attached: shall she be retained in office? She has no opponent and does not campaign. She has been a judge longer than any other district judge on this ballot, she now sits in Elbert County rather than Castle Rock, and the survey behind her evaluation produced a score tied for the lowest of the thirteen judges Douglas County voters are asked about. The commission voted 7-0 that she meets standards. Here is the whole record, from three evaluations, two elections and the court's own orders.

Who appointed her, and when

Gov. John Hickenlooper appointed her on Aug. 22, 2012 to the 18th Judicial District bench, filling the vacancy created by Judge Valeria Spencer's resignation, effective immediately, according to the Colorado Bar Association's continuing legal education blog, which published the announcement that day. We did not find the governor's own release. The commission's narratives put the appointment in August 2012.

She was retained in 2014 and 2020. On Nov. 15, 2024, Gov. Jared Polis signed Executive Order A 2024 284 designating eight 18th District judges, Slade among them, as judges of the new 23rd Judicial District covering Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties, effective Jan. 14, 2025. The 23rd's first assignment order put her in Elbert County, and the current order, effective July 1, 2026, keeps her there with every district court case type. This is her third retention vote, for a full six-year term.

What she did before the bench

She spent her career in the 18th District's courts. The 2012 announcement listed her as a magistrate since May 2011 with a domestic relations docket, and before that the owner of Slade & Associates from 2000 to 2011, a practice in criminal and juvenile defense and in dependency and neglect cases, along with service as an associate municipal judge for Lone Tree and an associate municipal and teen court judge for Castle Rock. The commission adds that she had been a deputy district attorney, alternate defense counsel, respondent parent counsel and guardian ad litem in the district. She graduated from Colorado State University and the University of Denver's law school.

What the performance commission found, three times

The commission that evaluated her this year, the 23rd Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance, interviewed her, read her opinions, watched her in court and reviewed surveys. Its finding: she meets performance standards, by a unanimous vote the narrative prints as "70," meaning 7-0, with one commissioner absent and two seats vacant.

The narrative says she "demonstrates a professional and respectful courtroom demeanor," is "able to address complex, sensitive, and emotionally difficult issues with care and precision," and that her written decisions "are generally clear, concise, and well reasoned." It describes her as "a diligent judicial officer who manages a demanding docket." It does not mention her survey scores beyond the yes and no percentages.

Her two earlier reviews bracket this one. In 2014 the 18th District commission recommended retention but wrote that her scores "were concerning": below average in case management, application of knowledge of law, communications and demeanor from both attorneys and non-attorneys, and only 58 percent of non-attorneys recommended keeping her. It noted she had an improvement plan and would, in addition, "continue to voluntarily participate in periodic video recording to assess her courtroom demeanor." By 2020 the same commission found the opposite: "higher than average performance with a perfect 4.0 Fairness rating and an overall performance rating of 3.5 out of a possible 4.0, compared to all District Judges at a rating of 3.4," and noted she was then the presiding judge in Douglas County.

"The few surveys received for Judge Slade consistently reflect higher than average performance with a perfect 4.0 Fairness rating." The 18th Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance, 2020. Her overall score that year was 3.5. This year it is 2.6.

The survey numbers

The 2026 survey is where this page departs from the Blue Book. The commission's contractor emailed 364 attorneys and 418 non-attorneys, plus a self-select invitation to 2,782 court staff; 12 attorneys and 10 non-attorneys answered. Nine of the eleven attorneys who answered the standards question said yes. Of the ten non-attorneys, six said yes and four said no.

Her overall score was 2.6 on a scale where 2 is "adequate performance" and 4 is "outstanding." It fell in every survey from 2020 through 2025, 3.5 that first year, then 3.4, 3.2, 2.8, 2.6 and 2.4, before rising to 2.6 this year. Only Victoria Klingensmith, also at 2.6, scored as low among the thirteen. All six of her category scores sit between 2.5 and 2.7. The lowest single item is "promptly rules on pre-trial motions," 2.0 overall and 1.8 from attorneys. Non-attorneys scored her 2.2 on having "a sense of compassion and human understanding for those who appear in court." Several items sit at 2.3, including "promptly issues a decision on the case after trial" and, from non-attorneys, treating participants with respect, where attorneys gave 3.1.

Two cautions. Twenty-two responses is a small base, and the state's own report says nothing about why the numbers moved. And the commission read the same report, interviewed her and watched her court, and all seven voting members found she meets standards. That finding is what the Blue Book prints. The trend is the part it does not.

How the counties voted on her

In 2014, her first retention, she was retained across the 18th District by 174,753 to 103,307, or 62.85 percent yes. Douglas County voted 61,173 to 38,785 for her, 61.20 percent. Elbert County, where she now presides, voted narrowly against her, 4,826 yes to 4,907 no. In 2020 she was retained by 383,991 to 103,093, 78.83 percent; Douglas County gave her 145,826 to 37,269, and Elbert 11,582 to 4,049.

The rulings that reached the news

On May 7, 2026, Colorado Politics reported that the Court of Appeals had found a defendant serving a life sentence in an Arapahoe County case could be entitled to a new trial, after Slade had denied his request for postconviction relief. The opinion, written by Elizabeth Harris, who is also on this ballot, quoted Slade's reasoning and said, "That reasoning cannot be squared with well-settled law." In December 2024 she dismissed, for lack of standing, part of an open-meetings suit against Elbert County's commissioners, according to the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition. We have not reviewed her 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 her is a Democrat, and the Douglas County Republican Party's online voter guide recommends retaining her, citing sentences it says she imposed in several serious criminal cases. We found no organized opposition to her.

How to vote on her

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. She is listed with the three other district judges, Victoria Klingensmith among them. A "yes" keeps her for six years; a "no" removes her 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.*