Ken Hamblin III
Audio By Carbonatix
Everybody wants to rule Colorado.
Ten months out from Election Day, dozens of political hopefuls are lined up to become Colorado’s next head of state. Over forty people had filed paperwork to run for governor as of January 8, according to records from the Secretary of State’s Office, not including nine other candidates who filed but have since dropped out.
The crowded field has experienced major shake-ups in recent weeks. Multiple candidates have switched parties, including former Republican Congressman Greg Lopez. Others have left the race altogether, such as State Senator Mark Baisley, who is now running for the United States Senate.
Meanwhile, the newly-filed gubernatorial candidates feature multiple far-right online influencers and one convicted murderer.
The 2026 gubernatorial election will mark the first time in eight years that the seat is free for the taking. Governor Jared Polis is term-limited and cannot run again next year after initially winning his seat in 2018 and earning a landslide re-election victory in 2022.
The 42 competitors fighting to take Polis’s place include six Democrats, 21 Republicans and fifteen unaffiliated or third-party members, ranging from career politicians to complete unknowns.
Here’s a rundown of the current Colorado governor contenders as they begin the long journey to the ballot:
Evan Semón
Democrats
Since Colorado is a blue state, the ultimate winner of the governor’s race will most likely be determined by the results of the Democratic primary election. Six Democrats have formally launched campaigns, and many more were rumored to be considering runs – such as Secretary Jena Griswold (who is instead running for attorney general) and Congressmen Joe Neguse and Jason Crow (who both endorsed the first candidate on this list). However, the race is expected to come down to just two candidates: Michael Bennet and Phil Weiser.
Michael Bennet
U.S. Senator Michael Bennet announced his campaign on April 11. He has served in the Senate since 2009, having been appointed to a vacant seat by then-Governor Bill Ritter and then elected in 2010, 2016 and 2022; his current term ends in 2028. Bennet unsuccessfully ran for president in 2020 and was superintendent of Denver Public Schools before entering Congress.
Phil Weiser
The race’s other prominent Democrat, Attorney General Phil Weiser, was the first big name to throw his hat into the ring in January 2025. Weiser was elected AG in 2018 and re-elected in 2022, breaking a fourteen-year Republican streak when he took office as the state’s chief legal officer. He will be term-limited in 2026. State AG is Weiser’s first elected office; he previously served as dean of the University of Colorado Law School.
Anthony “Antonio” Martinez
Anthonio Martinez is the most politically experienced of the small-name Democrats seeking office. Martinez previously served as executive director of the Colorado Broadband Office and as a state e-health commissioner, in addition to being a combat veteran, ranch owner and labor activist. He has held numerous federal leadership positions throughout his 32-year career, including posts as deputy director at the U.S. Department of Energy and director at the U.S. Department of State.
Marla Fatima Fernandez
Previously registered as an unaffiliated candidate, Marla Fatima Fernandez is now filed as a Democrat. Fernandez unsuccessfully ran for the state House as a Republican in 2022 and 2024, during which she was criticized by Republican leadership and Democratic legislators for racism after she called Black and Latina Democratic candidates “chimps” in a tweet.
Other Democrats actively running in the gubernatorial race include pro-farms Democratic Socialist Carmen Broesder and Air Force veteran William Moses.
Colorado Senate Republicans
Republicans
A Republican candidate hasn’t been elected governor of Colorado since 2002 (or elected to any statewide executive office since 2014), but that’s not stopping GOP candidates from trying. A whopping 21 Republicans are actively running in the governor’s race so far, as the party has yet to rally behind a single challenger to the Democrats.
Barbara Kirkmeyer
State Senator Barbara Kirkmeyer has served in the Colorado General Assembly since 2021, previously working as a Weld County commissioner for nineteen years. She ran for Colorado’s 8th Congressional District in 2022, narrowly losing to Democrat Yadira Caraveo. Kirkmeyer is known for her work crafting the state budget on the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee, her outspoken anti-abortion stances, and her support of a failed 2013 effort for northeastern counties to secede from Colorado and form a 51st state.
Joe Oltmann
Right-wing podcaster Joe Oltmann is one of the most recent candidates to join the race, announcing his run the day after Christmas. The controversial figure is known for peddling debunked election conspiracies and for calling for the execution of Colorado politicians. He’s basing his campaign on the promise to free former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, another 2020 election denier, from prison.
Victor Marx
Victor Marx is a Colorado Springs ministry leader with more than two million followers on social media. The founder of All Things Possible Ministries has vowed to “challenge the godless ideology” in Denver institutions. He’s backed by Congresswoman Lauren Boebert and 2022 GOP gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl.
Gregory Thomas
Less than three years after he was sentenced to 48 years in prison, Gregory Thomas is running for office from behind bars. Thomas was convicted of second-degree murder in 2023 for fatally shooting a 21-year-old woman and hiding her body in his Adams County storage unit. He cannot legally become governor while incarcerated for a felony conviction.
Scott Bottoms
State Representative Scott Bottoms was the first major Republican candidate to enter the governor’s race in January 2025. The Colorado Springs pastor is most widely known for his anti-LGBTQ rhetoric in the statehouse, including fighting against gay marriage and making disparaging remarks against transgender individuals. Bottoms was elected to the House in 2022 and re-elected in 2024.
Jason Mikesell
Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell launched his campaign in March, one month after the conclusion of a seven-year legal battle with the ACLU of Colorado. ACLU had sued Mikesell for letting his office assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, arguing that state law prohibits it. The state Court of Appeals ultimately ruled that some of Mikesell’s actions were allowed while others were not, including holding inmates for longer than their sentences at ICE’s request.
Jason Clark
Jason Clark is running for governor for a third time after failed attempts in 2010 and 2014. An Army veteran and financial coach, Clark made national headlines during his previous gubernatorial campaign for posting a Craigslist ad to find a running mate, landing him TV appearances with Jay Leno and Rachel Maddow.
Joshua Griffin
Army combat veteran Joshua Griffin was celebrated by ESPN in 2019 as the oldest Division I player in college football, playing for Colorado State University as a walk-on at age 33. He hasn’t held elected office before but unsuccessfully ran to represent Colorado’s 5th Congressional District in 2024.
Alexander Mugatu
While this is Alexander Mugatu’s first time seeking the governor’s office, he is a long-time career candidate. Mugatu has unsuccessfully run for the statehouse six times since 2010, with his attempts spanning across three different House and Senate districts. He also ran unsuccessfully for Pueblo City Council in 2024 and for vice chair of the Colorado Republican Party in 2023.
Other Republicans actively running in the gubernatorial race include data technology executive John Brooks, Brighton Fire Chief Brycen Garrison, Army veteran Stevan Gess, 2022 governor candidate Jon Gray-Ginsberg, Army veteran Robert “Bob” Moore, Air Force veteran Maria Orms, four-time governor candidate Jim Rundberg, Bob Brinkerhoff of Springfield, William “Will” McBride of Lone Tree, Mitchell Runyon of Aurora, Daniel Thomas of Castle Rock, and Kelvin “K-Man” Wimberly of Denver.
Phil Cherner
Other
The remaining candidates are not affiliated with either of the major political parties and generally lack the titles and political experience of some of their partisan opponents. The highlights include:
Greg Lopez
Greg Lopez is now running as an unaffiliated candidate after launching his campaign as a Republican last April. He was by far the biggest-name Republican in the race prior to the entrance of Kirkmeyer, who arguably knocked him from the top spot. This latest effort marks the third time Lopez has run for governor of Colorado, after unsuccessful Republican candidate bids in 2018 and 2022. The former mayor of Parker represented Colorado’s 4th Congressional District for six months in 2024, after being selected to finish Ken Buck’s term after he resigned. Lopez did not run for the seat in the general election, and it ultimately went to Lauren Boebert.
Abass Yaya Bamba, a member of the No Labels Party who ran for Denver mayor in 2023 – and for president of the Ivory Coast in West Africa in 2020. He ultimately withdrew from the presidential election, and received just 24 votes in his bid for Denver mayor.
Willow Jon Collamer, an unaffiliated yogi from Boulder who was featured on the premier episode of Tethered, a short-lived 2014 Discovery Channel show that challenged strangers to survive in the wilderness while tied to one another with a rope.
Joshua Rodriguez, a member of the Libertarian Party who has unsuccessfully sought numerous offices under several different political parties – including running for U.S. president as a Libertarian in 2024, for the U.S. House as a Democrat in 2022, and for the U.S. Senate as a Unity Party member in 2020. In the middle of his 2022 run, Rodriguez was reportedly arrested on identity theft and forgery charges.
Charles “Chaz” Evanson, an unaffiliated Glade Park resident and husband of Mesa County Valley School Board member Barbara Evanson, who ran on a platform of adding creationism to public school curriculum. In his campaign for governor, Evanson is pushing to establish a statewide electoral college system to increase political power of rural counties.
Stephen Hamilton, a member of the American Constitution Party who unsuccessfully ran for the state Senate in 2024 and claims to be a “legacy heir” of founding father Alexander Hamilton.
Rounding out the remaining governor hopefuls are Pueblo resident Kelsey Heikkinen and Colorado Springs resident Fred Osborne, both of the No Labels Party, and these unaffiliated first-time candidates: Shawn Bennett of Evans, Justin Ganoe of Littleton, Chante Jones of Aurora, Rabin Mahanty of Denver, Jarvis Ray of Denver, Gregory Roebuck of Lakewood, and Bradley Wall of Clifton.
