Wanda James, who represents Colorado’s 1st Congressional District on the University of Colorado Board of Regents, is challenging a longtime incumbent in June’s Democratic primary election to represent the district in Congress. “The old politics of caution and careerism does not serve the people,” James’ campaign website declares. And the 61-year-old Navy veteran has a history of shaking things up.
Just last July, the Board of Regents voted to censure James over her vocal objections to a Colorado School of Public Health “educational” campaign on supposed risks of “high concentration” cannabis use. James said the “Tea On THC” online campaign included racist tropes—with Instagram images of Black youth alongside warnings of laziness and poor school performance.
Called before an online meeting of the board, James was unrepentant. Accusing the regents of “censorship and retaliation,” she added: “I’m being targeted for raising my voice for a campaign that dehumanized the Black community.”
“Nothing happens if I’m censured,” James concluded defiantly. “Absolutely nothing. I remain a University of Colorado regent from the 1st Congressional District, with the support of the people who elected me, and absolutely nothing changes.”
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The basis of the censure? Some regents said James had a conflict of interest in criticizing the images, as she owns a cannabis dispensary.
This, however, is a point of pride for James. Wanda and her husband Scott Durrah were the first African Americans legally licensed in the US to own a dispensary, a cultivation facility and an edibles company. This is Simply Pure, in the Northside neighborhood of Denver, which opened as an edibles company in 2010 and became a dispensary in 2014, serving both the medical and adult-use markets—the first Black-owned (and veteran-owned) cannabis company in the US.
Gov. Jared Polis was among the many public officials to stand with James in the controversy. And indeed, the offending images were removed from the “Tea On THC” campaign. Cannabis will definitely be on the agenda if Wanda makes it to Congress. She says she’ll push for full federal legalization through descheduling, and work to remove structural barriers that continue to exclude entrepreneurs.
“Cannabis isn’t fully legal in the US, and that contradiction is holding back businesses, workers and entire communities,” James tells Cannabis Now. “I’ll fight in Congress to fully legalize cannabis by removing it from the federal drug schedule, opening access to banking and capital and ensuring that the people most harmed by prohibition have a real stake in this industry. I didn’t enter this space to follow a trend. I came into this work to correct a wrong—and I intend to finish that work at the federal level.”
James lists other core campaign priorities as passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, Medicare For All and delivering real support for veterans and military families.
The 1st Congressional District, which covers metropolitan Denver, has for decades been represented by Rep. Diana DeGette, who has survived several primary challenges, holding the seat since 1996.
The Democratic Party’s primary election is June 20, 2026. In addition to James and DeGette, there are five other candidates running on the Democratic ticket: Carter Hanson, Melat Kiros, Christopher Oldfield, Santiago Palomino and Tiffany Rodgers. The winning candidate will then face off with the Republican candidate in November. Only one Republican candidate has registered for the race: Gregory Cutlip.
This story was originally published in the print edition of Cannabis Now Magazine.
The post The Wanda Express appeared first on Cannabis Now.
