Attorney General Phil Weiser threw his hat into the ring on Thursday, January 2, becoming the first big name to officially announce a candidacy for governor (though he's long been considered an obvious pick to run).
“As your Attorney General, I’ve listened to Coloradans in every county and worked to deliver real results...but there’s still so much more to do," Weiser said in an email promoting his candidacy. "As governor, I’ll continue showing up, listening, and working to make life better for every Coloradan."
Many more candidates are sure to follow Weiser in what is expected to be a crowded race. Before the chaos erupts, here's what you should know:
What to Know About Phil Weiser
1. Attorney General Weiser was elected attorney general of Colorado in 2018, winning the Democratic primary against Joe Salazar and the general election against Republican George Brauchler. Weiser received 51.6 percent of the vote in his first election and increased his popularity the second time around: He was re-elected for another four-year term in 2022, running unopposed in the primary and securing 53 percent of votes in the general election. Weiser will be term-limited in 2026.
This is the first elected office Weiser has held. He broke a fourteen-year streak of Republicans being elected attorney general when he took office. As attorney general, Weiser is the chief legal officer of Colorado responsible for representing the legal interests of Coloradans, enforcing consumer protection and antitrust laws, prosecuting criminal appeals and white-collar crimes, and providing legal counsel for the governor, state legislature and government agencies.
2. Proponent Praises
Weiser and his supporters tout some of his biggest achievements while attorney general as securing nearly $800 million in settlement funds related to the opioid crisis; fighting the failed merger of Kroger and Albertsons grocery stores; and suing the property management company RealPage for allegedly colluding with landlords to illegally raise rents for Coloradans.
Other highlights Weiser promoted in his campaign announcement include recovering $400 million for Colorado consumers who fell victim to fraud or unfair business practices; getting nearly $32 million in settlement funds from JUUL for targeting young Coloradans; defending gun safety measures like that which prohibits domestic abusers from having guns; cracking down on polluters in violation of clean air protections; and suing Meta for allegedly harming youth mental health via social media platforms.
3. Critic Complaints
Opponents accuse Weiser of being soft on crime, pointing out that crime rates are higher now than before he took office. Colorado's crime rate per 100,000 residents was 6.6 percent higher in 2023 than in 2018, according to state data, with 2024 numbers not yet complete for the year. However, as in the rest of the country, crime in Colorado surged during the pandemic. The state's overall crime rate has fallen each year since 2021, and violent crime has been down since 2022.
Republican critics have argued that Weiser misallocates blame for crime, condemning him for investigating the management company that claimed its Aurora apartment building had been taken over by a Venezuelan gang and for calling for a recall of easily stolen vehicles during a rise in car thefts.
4. Before AG
Before he became attorney general in 2018, Weiser was dean of the University of Colorado Law School, where he taught constitutional and antitrust law and founded the Silicon Flatirons research center. Prior to that, he was deputy assistant attorney general of the federal Antitrust Division selected by then-President Barack Obama; a senior advisor for technology and innovation for the National Economic Council; a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court justices Byron White and Ruth Bader Ginsburg; and an antitrust lawyer for the U.S. Department of Justice.
Weiser is a first-generation American; he's the son and grandson of Holocaust survivors who immigrated to the U.S. as refugees during World War II. He received his law degree from New York University and his bachelor's from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. He currently lives in Denver with his wife and two children.
5. Voter Reputation
Weiser has some major ground to make up if he hopes to win the governorship in 2026. A recent poll asking Colorado voters about prospective gubernatorial candidates found that Weiser was the least popular of the four named candidates, with only 8 percent of respondents planning on voting for him, according to the survey from Healthier Colorado released in December.
Weiser also had the lowest favorability of all the candidates included in the poll; only 32 percent of respondents said they viewed Weiser favorably. Another 11 percent of respondents said they viewed him unfavorably, 20 percent said they had no opinion, and 37 percent said they had never heard of him.
What to Know About the Governor's Race
1. State of Play
The governor's seat is free for the taking with Governor Jared Polis, first elected in 2018, term-limited in 2026. Polis ran unopposed in the 2022 Democratic primary and won re-election in a landslide victory that year, making the seat particularly attractive to Democratic politicos upon his departure. While Weiser is the first major player to announce his candidacy, it's expected to become a crowded race.
2. Prospective Challengers
Other big Democrats rumored to be considering campaigns are U.S. Representative Joe Neguse, Secretary of State Jena Griswold and former U.S. Secretary of the Interior/U.S. Senator/State Attorney General Ken Salazar. The Healthier Colorado poll found that Neguse is leading among voters, with 20 percent of respondents choosing him, followed by 16 percent for Griswold, 11 percent for Salazar and 8 percent for Weiser. A plurality of respondents — 37 percent — were undecided.
3. Republican Candidates
GOP prospects for the governor's office include state Senator Barbara Kirkmeyer and outgoing U.S. Representative Greg Lopez, Colorado Public Radio reports, but the party has yet to rally behind a candidate. In response to Weiser's candidacy, Colorado Senate GOP spokesperson Joshua Bly issued a series of posts, saying that "there is too much disagreement among Republicans about what constitutes a 'decent candidate'" and "Republicans will be at each other's throats" during the election. The last time a Republican was elected governor of Colorado was in 2002.
4. Representation in Office
If elected, Weiser would continue Colorado's tradition of only electing white men as head of state. Colorado has never elected a non-white gubernatorial candidate and is one of only five states that has never had a woman governor or a woman U.S. senator, according to the Pew Research Center. The lack of diversity in the office is expected to be a talking point throughout the election.
5. What's Next
There's a long road ahead before we know who will next lead Colorado. Election Day is November 3, 2026, with party primary elections held the summer before. Coloradans can register to vote or update their information at sos.state.co.us.
