Democratic candidate for governor Phil Weiser announced Jefferson County Commissioner Lesley Dahlkemper as his lieutenant governor pick on Wednesday, citing his running mate’s efforts to untangle Jeffco’s tax caps and her work on the opioid crisis as key credentials.
Dahlkemper was first elected commissioner in 2018, the same year Weiser won the state attorney general’s office. She has also served on the Colorado Fire Commission and the Ponderosa Mountain Pine Beetle Task Force and was president of Jeffco Public Schools’ Board of Education.
As a county commissioner and chair of the Gateway to the Rockies Opioid Council, she worked with Weiser to distribute part of the state’s $900 million settlement with opioid manufacturers. She also helped lead Jefferson County’s 2024 push to eliminate its local revenue cap under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, known as debrucing. Jeffco voters approved the change in 2024.
During the primary campaign, Weiser said he intended to work on some kind of statewide TABOR reform, though the exact details were to be determined and would depend on how voters decide on a slate of tax measures this November.
Weiser said he wanted a governing partner in his lieutenant governor and highlighted her ability “to take on complex problems.” He also called her a “bridge builder” and “a healer” who could serve rural and urban Colorado alike.
“We’re not getting someone who is going to need a long learning curve,” Weiser said. “We’re getting someone who is seasoned, who knows a range of issues inside and out.”
Dahlkemper said her work with Weiser on the opioid crises “underscored, for me, Phil’s fearlessness and his collaborative leadership style.”
“Like Phil, I take showing up, listening and getting results seriously,” Dahlkemper said.
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In addition to her elected roles, Dahlkemper previously worked as a journalist for Colorado Public Radio and owned a communications firm. Her husband, attorney Mike Feeley, is a former state lawmaker who served as the Democratic minority leader in the Senate.
Weiser and Dahlkemper will face Republican nominee Victor Marx in the November general election. Marx has not yet named a running mate. Nominees for governor have seven days after the certification of the primary election to name their running mates. The secretary of state’s office expects to certify the election later this week, giving Marx until roughly the end of the month to name his pick.
The Marx campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Colorado’s lieutenant governor, who is first in the line of succession, becomes acting governor while the state’s top official is traveling out of state. Recent governors have also assigned their lieutenant governors certain responsibilities and tasks.
Under outgoing Gov. Jared Polis, Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera has led a half-dozen programs, including Polis’ Office of Saving People Money on Health Care, the Office of eHealth Innovation, the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs and Serve Colorado, which administers the AmeriCorps program in the state.
Weiser and Dahlkemper said that should they win the election, the exact scope of her work as lieutenant governor hasn’t yet been set and would be determined by listening to Coloradans. They also did not rule out Dahlkemper collecting an additional salary beyond the position’s official pay, which is set at $106,086 next year. Polis and Primavera have been criticized for an extra-pay arrangement.
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