Two accomplished Democrats are competing for the chance to succeed Gov. Jared Polis, and the choice is genuine.
U.S. Sen.
Michael Bennet, 61, brings an impressive record. Before his appointment to fill Ken Salazar’s Senate seat in 2009, he advised businessman Philip Anschutz on major capital investments, served as chief of staff to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and superintendent of Denver Public Schools, improving teacher compensation and negotiating the district’s retirement fund merger with PERA.
In the Senate, Bennet has protected 700,000 acres of public lands, helped deliver $16 billion to Colorado through federal legislation, directed $100 million toward tribal infrastructure and education in Southwest Colorado, and secured $16.7 million for broadband expansion. His campaign has centered on affordability – housing, health care, child care, cost of living – and he argues that experience at the highest levels of national policymaking is what Colorado needs right now.
It is a strong argument. A senator’s job is in Washington, and Bennet has done that job well. But he also argues that the solutions Colorado needs won’t come from Washington – and it is where Weiser, 58, and his eight years as attorney general become the decisive argument. As the state’s top law enforcement officer, Weiser has worked across every state agency and knows Colorado government from the inside out. Colorado’s communities, too.
It wouldn’t have been a surprise to spot him at the corner of Main Avenue and 9th Street last week, or to see him back again next week. In his race for governor, the attorney general has crisscrossed all 64 counties with uncommon regularity, and the relationships it has produced are real. He knows county commissioners, clerks, sheriffs, water district boards and school leaders by name. His engagement has been granular, as he puts it – and that is not a small thing in a state as geographically and economically diverse as Colorado.
His record as attorney general reflects the same approach. He shaped the state’s opioid settlement by convening communities across the state to determine how funds would be used – threading the line between scale and local control. He has pursued consumer protection actions returning more than $500 million to Coloradans, fought fentanyl trafficking, auto theft and cybercrime, and engaged on water, wildfire and rural hospital closures. In Trump’s second term, his office has filed or joined 65 lawsuits challenging federal overreach – defending voting rights, immigrant families, public lands and more than $1 billion in Colorado funding. Courts have partially or fully blocked administration policies in 36 of those cases.
His three top priorities as governor are housing affordability, a cradle-to-career education and workforce pipeline, and strengthening Colorado’s business and population environment. On housing, he has set a target of 40,000 attainable owner-occupied homes by 2035. On day one he would establish a cabinet-level Director of Rural Affairs and elevate the state’s partnership with the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes. For young Coloradans, he would regulate Big Tech and hold social media companies accountable for harm to children, connect kids with mentors, invest in teachers and career and technical training, and launch ColoradoCorps to channel young adults into nursing, teaching, law enforcement and counseling through paid service pathways. On the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, both candidates would protect voters’ right to approve tax increases while pursuing reform of the hard caps that have long constrained state investment in education, child care and youth mental health.
Weiser’s support speaks to those years of showing up. Locally, La Plata County District Attorney Sean Murray, La Plata County Commissioner Elizabeth Philbrick and former state Rep. Barbara McLachlan have endorsed him. Statewide, former three-term Gov. Roy Romer serves as honorary chair of his campaign. Former Republican House Speaker Russ George and former Republican Senate President Norma Anderson have crossed party lines to support him. State Sen. Cleave Simpson, a Republican from Alamosa, put it plainly: “There’s not a lot of votes [in the San Luis Valley],” he said, “but I think he’s trying to help people.”
Both candidates are serious public servants. Bennet would bring a distinguished record of public service to the governorship – but we believe Weiser’s eight years of engagement across Colorado give him the edge, and Colorado Democrats would be well served advancing him to November.
