U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet gazed across a room of about three dozen supporters on Friday in Highlands Ranch and implored them: “Don’t take anything for granted.”
Three days later, on Monday — the eve of today’s primary election — Attorney General Phil Weiser, his Democratic rival for governor, looked at his similarly sized group of volunteers in north Denver and shared a similar urging: “Until we’re across the finish line, this race is in the balance.”
Today, at 7 p.m., marks that finish line.
Voters across Colorado are set to decide a slew of nominating contests up and down the Democratic and Republican primary ballots, bringing to a close weeks of TV ads, mailboxes overstuffed with campaign literature, and (especially if they’re one of the fabled undecided likely voters) door knocking and phone calls.
Tonight — or, in the event of a close race, when ballot processing wraps up in the coming days — either Weiser or Bennet will emerge from a yearlong political battle as the Democratic nominee for governor. On the Republican side, voters will give the nod to either state Rep. Scott Bottoms, state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer or self-described high-risk humanitarian Victor Marx to represent the GOP at the top of the ticket.
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Primary voters will set the stage for the first open race for Colorado’s top elected position since Gov. Jared Polis won it in 2018. And along the way, they’ll also decide the fates of a slew of other candidates, particularly on the Democratic side.
Longtime Democratic figures U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper and U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette each face primary challenges from a new generation of Democrats. Upset bids by state Sen. Julie Gonzales, who is facing Hickenlooper, and congressional hopeful Melat Kiros, a democratic socialist who’s the leading challenger to DeGette, rank among the highest-profile primary races in the country.
Democrats Shannon Bird and Manny Rutinel, former colleagues in the state House of Representatives, are squaring off for the chance to challenge U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans in the 8th Congressional District — one of the most competitive districts in the country and one that could swing the balance of power in Congress this November.
In other races, Jefferson County Clerk Amanda Gonzalez and state Sen. Jessie Danielson are vying for the Democratic nomination for secretary of state. Former federal prosecutor Hetal Doshi, Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty, Secretary of State Jena Griswold and public interest attorney David Seligman are doing the same for attorney general. Both offices are open because of term limits.
Voters in the Republican primary will decide if El Paso County District Attorney Michael Allen or attorney David Willson wins the GOP nomination for attorney general.
Dozens more primaries for state legislative seats, other congressional races and more will be decided across the state.
But none of the races have earned the sustained attention, or the money, of the Democratic primary for governor.
Democratic primary draws $23 million
Democrats have won every general election for governor for more than 50 years, excepting Gov. Bill Owens’ wins in 1998 and 2002. The total spending in this year’s primary contest between Bennet and Weiser, at nearly $23 million, dwarfs that in the GOP race.
Recent polling showed sizeable support for each man, though 1 in 5 likely Democratic voters still hadn’t made up their minds and neither candidate cracked the 50% he’d need to win the contest.
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“I think any candidate who’s any good should treat every race like it’s a tough race,” Bennet said.
Bennet’s entrance into the race in April 2025 landed like a meteor, clearing out several rumored candidates. His impact was emphasized by a laundry list of endorsements from Democratic stalwarts.
He’s won three statewide elections as a U.S. senator, each by a wider margin than the last. He touts Washington, D.C., experience that includes wins on public lands and a poverty-busting, though temporary, expansion of the federal Child Tax Credit. And before that, he highlights his time as superintendent of Denver Public Schools and in business working on corporate mergers for Phil Anschutz.
“I really do think we can stitch ourselves together, as Coloradans, to address the fundamental challenges that we’re facing,” Bennet said in an interview, citing concerns about water and fire and the rising costs of insurance and health care.
But Bennet also struck an existential note, one bigger than just his election.
“I think that we can demonstrate that our democracy can still work,” he added.
Weiser, in his pre-election pep speech to volunteers Monday, acknowledged head-on that many pundits and political observers said Bennet had the race in the bag from the moment the three-term senator decided to head home.
Weiser countered that he’d spent eight years lawyering for the state in a political career that started with a 5,000-vote win in the 2018 Democratic primary for attorney general. He has argued that experience helped him understand the ins and outs of governing, from enforcement to working with legislators to setting up and executing programs.
Even before Bennet announced his campaign, when most political observers expected a three- or four-person race for the Democratic nomination, Weiser said he had settled on running a race on his terms.
But in the closing hours of the primary, he also embraced the insurgent nature of his campaign.
That footing would be unexpected of most two-term attorneys general looking for higher office, but not when pitted against one of the most well-known political figures in the state — and, as Weiser hammered, against a campaign backed by gobs of outside money and a network built over nearly 20 years in Washington. (If Bennet loses, he’ll have more than two years remaining in his Senate term.)
“We’re gonna win,” Weiser said. “And what I believe it’s gonna say is that the electorate is looking for people that they know are fighting for them, who they can trust as authentic leaders, and that establishment — I call it BS — cynical politics turns them off. That’s an important lesson for people to take on board.”
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