Third Time's the Charm? Jason Clark Is Running for Colorado Governor...Again

Delusional. Inexperienced. An idiot. Those are some of the things Jason Clark has been called since he announced his third candidacy for governor of Colorado — and that's just coming from his sister.

Clark is running to replace term-limited Governor Jared Polis in the 2026 election. He's sought the office twice before: In 2010, Clark ran as an unaffiliated candidate and received less than 0.5 percent of the vote, losing to John Hickenlooper. He gave it another try as a Republican in 2014 but dropped out before the party primary election.

This time around, Clark knows winning the election is "a long shot," he says.

"There will be people saying, 'He has no experience, he doesn't know this or that.' My sister just chewed my butt the other day," Clark admits. "But I learned a lot in my first runs, I think my ideas are really good, and I think my skill set is better suited than what I see."

Clark, 55, is a Colorado native raised in Aurora, now living in Centennial. He graduated from the West Point U.S. Military Academy in 1992, going on to serve as an Army officer. He has never held elected office.

He works in financial coaching, previously running an investment company before the state revoked his securities license in 2023, alleging he violated the state Division of Securities' rules regarding failing to disclose or misrepresenting material facts to clients. Clark is still appealing the decision; the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled against him in October.

"It's what I would consider a kangaroo court," Clark says, noting that the experience is one of the reasons he decided to run for governor again, more than a decade after his last attempt. Running as a Republican, he wants to promote limited government.

"I felt like I was in Russia or China [after the license was revoked]. Polis says we're a 'free Colorado,' but that's not free," Clark continues. "My high school English teacher, Perry Weissman, would always say, 'Give a specific example.' ... My story is a specific example of why I believe in limited government."

Clark requested that Westword include a shoutout to Weissman in this article. In 2018, Weissman was placed on leave from Smoky Hill High School after he was accused of sexually assaulting a student in the 1980s (he was also fired from Arvada High School in the 1970s following accusations that he inappropriately touched and spoke to female students). "Oh, yeah," Clark says when Westword asks if he knew of the misconduct allegation. "They wrecked his career. I think [the alleged Smoky Hill victim] recanted her story. ... I don't know. I heard that, I think."

Clark's platform consists of two promises if he becomes governor: Eliminate Colorado's income tax and increase pay for schoolteachers by 20 percent.

"It doesn't matter to me whether I win...whether people laugh at me. I could care less," Clark says. "I know what my platform is."

How would he pay for the teacher pay raise? "I would have to look more into that," he says. (Clark later emails Westword, explaining that he would cut administrative and bureaucratic costs to cover the pay increase, primarily in the Colorado Department of Revenue after eliminating the state income tax.)

During his 2010 gubernatorial campaign, Clark made national headlines after he posted a Craigslist ad to find a running mate. The move landed him TV appearances with Jay Leno and Rachel Maddow — though his lieutenant governor candidate ultimately dropped out of the race 41 days before Election Day.

Clark says he's steering clear of Craigslist this time around. He hasn't selected a running mate yet, but he's looking for someone with legislative experience. He says he floated the idea to former state representative Mike Lynch — fresh off of Lynch's DUI scandal — but Lynch turned the position down.

His campaign website reads "Jason Clark for el gobernador de Colorado," which is Spanish for "the governor of Colorado." Clark says he has intentionally used the Spanish title for all three of his campaigns.

"It's marketing. I'm reaching the people," he says. "[In 2010,] I'd drive down the road in my truck and I had 'el gobernador' [on the truck]. I'd have Mexican guys going by me, honking their horns, waving. It's marketing. ... The NFL, on a broadcast they had on Monday Night Football, they had it in Spanish."

Clark's website also plays on President Donald Trump's famous tagline: "Make Colorado Great Again!" is plastered across the home screen. But Clark says he is "not a Trumper. I'm a Republican."

Although he voted for Trump in 2024, Clark says he voted for Libertarian candidates in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. However, Clark's own third-party aspirations are gone. He ran unaffiliated in 2010, declaring that the government needs more independent thinkers who are not tied to a party. But Clark says the election taught him that most voters do not want third parties.

"If you had other people that weren't tarred and feathered for having an opinion different from the hardcore party lines, you would have better progress. But I'm not that guy," Clark says. "That guy would have to be somebody much more well known, much more financially like a billionaire. An Elon Musk-type could maybe do something like that. For someone like me, a regular guy, it's a pipe dream."

Whether the Republican Party will support Clark's candidacy has yet to be seen. Clark says he hasn't spoken to party leadership about it, but when he once called the Colorado GOP for an unrelated matter, the man who answered "basically hung up on me."

The race for governor is expected to be very crowded. Polis has held the seat since 2018, winning a landslide re-election victory in 2022. For Democrats and Republicans alike, 2026 will be the first time in almost a decade that candidates have a real shot at the office.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser announced he is running for governor earlier this month. Other big-name Democrats are expected to join him in the coming months, including Secretary of State Jena Griswold and U.S. Representative Joe Neguse.

In response to Weiser's candidacy, Colorado Senate GOP spokesperson Joshua Bly issued a series of posts on X, 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.

On the other side of the aisle, State Representative Scott Bottoms announced his candidacy over the weekend, becoming the first big-name Republican to enter the race.

The last time a Republican was elected governor of Colorado was in 2002. But that doesn't dissuade Clark, nor does his lack of political experience, unsuccessful track record seeking office, or any of the other reasons that he isn't an obvious choice to become the next governor of Colorado. He meets the unflattering facts with a charming insouciance.

“I’m not crazy. I’m a little bit crazy," Clark says. "But you have to be a little bit crazy. The crazy ones are the ones who get things done.”

Does he think he will be successful the third time around? To Clark, he already is.

“I already made my goal: Get an interview with a paper. That was my goal," he laughs. "I don’t look at success as ‘I’m going to win.’ I look at success as ‘I’m going to fight. I’m stepping into the ring.’ ... Success, to me, is doing it.”

Here's to the crazy ones.