The Governor of Colorado is somewhat like a Presidential position for the State of Colorado, although the two positions aren’t exactly the same. Governors are elected for four-year terms, and elected Governors are limited to two terms in office. Gubernatorial candidates select a running mate, who would serve as Lieutenant Governor if the ticket wins. There are multiple candidates in the 2026 race, and the candidate with the most votes wins. There is no need to reach 50% or more to win.

There are a few very important structural responsibilities and attributes regarding the Governor’s position, regardless of who the Governor actually is:

  • The Face of the State: The Governor literally represents Colorado on visits or interactions with other states or nations, or in the media.
  • Judicial Appointments: This includes the Colorado Supreme Court and other lower-level courts. It’s a little different in Colorado compared to the U.S. Supreme Court, since the Governor must appoint justices from a judicial nominating commission’s list.
  • Veto: The General Assembly can pass the best bills ever drafted, but the Governor has the Constitutional power to kill them with one signature.
  • Cabinet: The Governor’s Cabinet includes directors for some of Colorado’s most important departments, and executive directors shape direction for the agency.
  • Executive Orders: The Governor can issue executive orders, which carry the force of law, though they can be stricken down in the courts.
  • Succession: The Governor chooses a Lieutenant Governor, who succeeds the Governor should he or she becomes unable to finish a term. Then, the ex-Lieutenant would choose a new Lieutenant. Also, the Governor nominates replacement officers if the Treasurer, Attorney General, or Secretary of State cannot finish his or her term.
  • Emergency Powers: The Governor has the Constitutional power to call out the militia to “execute the laws, suppress insurrection or repel invasion.” They can also declare states of emergency.

Of course, personalities and personal attributes matter, so here is some information about the candidates running in 2026.

Phil Weiser / Lesley Dahlkemper, Democratic Party

Phil Weiser

Phil Weiser is currently finishing his second term as the Colorado Attorney General. He was elected for his first four-year term in 2018, defeating Republican George Brauchler by 51.6% to 45.1%, and won his second term by 54.7% – 43% over Republican John Kellner. Weiser became the Democratic nominee for Governor in 2026 by defeating U.S. Senator Michael Bennet in the June 30 primary by about 57% – 43%.

Weiser chose current Jefferson County Commissioner Lesley Dahlkemper as his running mate on July 22. (NOTE: I don’t intend to use a lot of space for running mates on this page, but they are important because they might take over if the Governor can’t finish a term.) Per Dahlkemper’s webpage as a Commissioner, she has a master’s in journalism from the University of Illinois, and started her journalism career with Colorado Public Radio then started her own communications firm. She also led a grant process at the Education Commission of the States, vice president on the national board of the Education Writers Association, president of the Colorado School Public Relations Association, and Vice President of Strategic Engagement for the Colorado Education Initiative. She was first elected a Jefferson County Commissioner in 2018, and was re-elected in 2022. She is now near the end of her second four-year term.

Before running for office, Weiser served as the Hatfield Professor of Law and Dean of the University of Colorado Law School, where he founded the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship and co-chaired the Colorado Innovation Council.
Weiser served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice and as Senior Advisor for Technology and Innovation in the Obama Administration’s National Economic Council. He served on President Obama’s Transition Team, overseeing the Federal Trade Commission and previously served in President Bill Clinton’s Department of Justice as senior counsel to the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division, advising on telecommunications matters.

Before his appointment to the Justice Department, Weiser served as a law clerk to Justices Byron R. White and Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the United States Supreme Court and to Judge David Ebel at the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, Colorado.

Serving as Attorney General involves oversight roles of various responsibilities within the AG’s office. This includes but is not limited to representing the state in legal cases, consumer protection, state environmental protection, employment and worker’s comp, criminal justice, and much more. The AG can also work with state legislators on bills or bill amendments, and the TV commercials during the Democratic primary often talked about the AG’s role in suing the federal government.

By the early summer of 2026, Weiser had entered Colorado into at least 69 lawsuits against the federal government, and there was still time in his term for more. To keep this section short, readers can visit this webpage to see a full listing of legal actions, but here are some brief snippets about a few of them:

  • Weiser joined Colorado into a multi-state lawsuit against the Trump administration’s executive order regarding federal control over state elections, and the suit was successful.
  • Weiser and other states sued the Trump administration over proposing to implement $100,000 fees for H1-B visas, and won.
  • About 20 states, including Colorado, successfully sued the U.S. Department of Justice over a proposal to cut off legal services for survivors of sexual or domestic violence who could not immediately prove their immigration status.

Attorney General service aside, readers who wish to delve more deeply into Weiser’s plan for a potential governorship can read or skim his 109-page “Colorado Blueprint” at https://philforcolorado.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Blueprint-051626.pdf . For a few top policy objectives:

  • Education: Weiser supports: living wages for teachers; reducing the cost of higher education; expanding preschool opportunities; and opposes privatization at the expense of public education.
  • Public Safety: Supports funding law enforcement; modernizing officer training; the “co-responder” model where non-law-enforcement professionals might respond to situations if they’re well-suited for the situation; and using the state’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention and state laws to manage gun safety.
  • Environment: Weiser intends to: support renewable energy and increase battery storage; protect Electric Vehicle (EV) state purchase subsidies; support wildfire mitigation and equip wildland firefighters; and support the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in monitoring air and water pollution.
  • Rural Colorado: Weiser supports establishing a state Director of Rural Affairs position to help make sure rural Coloradans are represented in his Cabinet; building out broadband availability in rural areas; and developing a rural economic plan to boost opportunity in rural areas.

Fundraising: As of Oct. 6, the Weiser campaign had reported $8,545,100.54 in monetary contributions, and $203,185.66 in non-monetary contributions.

Campaign website: https://philforcolorado.com/

Victor Marx / George Markert, Republican Party

Victor Marx

Victor Marx entered his first public election cycle by running for Governor of Colorado. He defeated state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer by slightly more than 2,000 votes in the June 30 Republican primary out of more than 500,000 ballots cast, a margin of about 0.5 percentage points between them.

George Markert, Marx’s running mate, does not appear to have held elected office, but he launched a campaign for U.S. Senate as a Republican in 2026 and did not qualify for the primary election. Per the Colorado Sun, he is a retired Marine Colonel from Broomfield who moved to Colorado about three years ago.

Per Wikipedia, Marx was born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana (not Colorado). He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, serving from 1983 to 1986. He had a conversion to Christianity, and served for three years as an assistant at Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs. He founded All Things Possible Ministries in 2003, which has stated missions including providing outreach and trauma relief to people in war zones or other dangerous environments. ProPublica’s “Nonprofit Explorer” feature says All Things Possible took in about $7.5 million in revenue for 2024, and Marx received about $100,000 in compensation as its President/CEO.

Per Marx’s website, “I’ve led more than 150 high-stakes missions across some of the world’s most dangerous regions—delivering trauma relief, medical aid, and hope to victims of terrorism, trafficking, and violence. Our teams have served more than 45,000 women and children, some of whom needed to be rescued from captivity and given a second chance at life.”

However, Marx faced scrutiny during the primary election campaign, including questions about the statistical accuracy of some of his claims about numbers and locations of missions or people reached. In particular, 9News journalist Kyle Clark interviewed him for a half-hour during the primary and didn’t get statistical confirmation on some of Marx’s claims, and Wikipedia reports that KOA NewsRadio host Michael Brown also asked Marx for confirmation but did not get the reply he was looking for. (Editor’s note: I’m not going to be able to confirm or disprove any of what All Things Possible has accomplished either, but I do feel it’s important for people who care about this part of Marx’s record to do their own due diligence, seek other sources, and maybe while they’re at it do due diligence on these sources.)

Marx has on his website an outline of how he plans to govern, called Colorado Works Better (CWB) and available at this link.
For a few top points from Marx’s plan and his policy platform:

  • Automating Government: Marx’s CWB plan is very heavy on using Artificial Intelligence to reorganize Colorado’s government. In brief, this includes AI training for every state employee, no administrative growth without automated review, and AI-powered fraud detection.
  • Public Safety: Marx says he would strengthen penalties on dangerous criminals, confront what he calls the “fentanyl crisis,” increase resources available to law enforcement (training, recruitment, and retention), and address chronic homelessness with treatment including mental health services.
  • Economics: Marx wants to “responsibly” decrease the state’s income tax rates, protect the intent of the state’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights by preventing the use of fees to escape TABOR’s rule that tax increases must go to the ballot, “slash red tape” on homebuilding zoning and permits which he believes is part of a strategy to stabilize housing costs.
  • Firearms: Marx said he would be an unwavering supporter of the U.S. 2nd Amendment, saying in a video there’s no room for ambiguity in the part that says “shall not be infringed.” He believes a number of Colorado bills passed in recent years are “assaults” on the 2nd Amendment (examples: magazine capacity limits, Red Flag laws, universal background checks before firearm purchases), and might reduce the ability of law-abiding citizens to defend themselves with firearms.

Fundraising: As of Oct. 6, the Marx campaign had reported $3,920,982.91 in monetary contributions, and $8,655.16 in non-monetary contributions.

Campaign website: https://www.victor2026.com/

Greg Lopez / Taralyn Romero, Unaffiliated

Greg Lopez won a special election in June 2024 to very briefly fill out a Republican vacancy for the U.S. House in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, but did not run in the November 2024 general election for the CO-04 seat. He ran for Governor of Colorado in 2022, but was defeated by eventual party nominee Heidi Ganahl in the Republican primary election. He also ran for Governor in 2018, but finished 3rd in the Republican primary and did not make the general election ballot. He ran for the U.S. Senate in 2016, but withdrew from the race before the Republican primary. Lopez served as Mayor of Parker, Colorado, from 1992 to 1996.

Lopez selected Taralyn Romero as his running mate in late July of 2026. Romero does not appear to have run for public office until now. Per her LinkedIn page, she has a bachelor’s degree in Health/Health Care Administration/Management. She has spent about 25 years in the healthcare administration field, beginning at Great-West Healthcare, moving on to Cigna, and most recently with Evernorth from 2020 until April 2026.

Per Lopez’ campaign website, he joined the U.S. Air Force at age 17, and moved to Colorado in 1988. After serving as Mayor of Parker, he became the first Director of the ACE Scholarship Foundation, a non-profit organization that awards scholarships to students of low-income families. He also served as President and CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, President/CEO of the Rocky Mountain Minority Supplier Development Council, Director of the United States Small Business Administration’s Colorado branch, and Secretary and Treasurer of the E470 Highway Authority.

For a sample of some of his intended policy positions:

  • Government Efficiency: Lopez supports creating something like DOGE in Colorado, including using zero-based budgeting, with a goal of “eliminating waste, duplication, unnecessary regulations, and inefficient spending.”
  • Transportation: Per Lopez’ website, he believes Colorado roads “suck.” He favors more accountability and transparency within CDOT, and he seems to favor an auto-focused transportation system since he would “slow down” the construction of bike lanes. He supports a state purchase of E-470 and eliminating the tolls, so people can bypass Denver heading north and get more cars off of I-25.
  • Education: Lopez supports greater educational choice and more vocational education/training. His educational choice platform includes support for charter schools and home-schooling.
  • Energy: Lopez supports what many people call an “all-of-the-above” energy policy that includes “development of Colorado’s energy resources.” He supports consideration of nuclear-generated electric power.

Fundraising: As of Oct. 6, the Lopez campaign had reported $110,002.29 in monetary contributions, $65,160.00 in loans, and $7,353.03 in non-monetary contributions.

Campaign website: https://www.greglopez.co/

Eric Mulder / Wayne Harlos, Libertarian

Eric Mulder is a US Army veteran and small business owner from Aurora. He has also previously served on municipal boards within the city of Aurora, including the Veterans Affairs and Civic Engagement commissions.

Wayne Harlos is a real estate agent from Castle Rock. He has been active in several local causes including the Citizens for Elected Mayor committee that led to the creation of Castle Rock’s elected mayor system.

For a sample of Mulder’s policy priorities:

  • Keeping Tax Dollars Local: Mulder is floating the idea of allowing local governments to not pay the State of Colorado sales tax of 2.9%, and instead replacing this tax with temporary local sales taxes to address local needs.
  • Privacy: Mulder maintains that systems like Flock cameras pose threats to 4th Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution. He would limit their use and prohibit agencies under his administration to engage in mass surveillance.
  • Nuclear Energy: Mulder supports moving forward to use “small modular nuclear reactors” to provide more electricity and more jobs.

Campaign website: https://www.mulderforgovernor.org

Stephen Hamilton / James Treibert, American Constitution Party

Per Colorado Public Radio, Stephen Hamilton is a truck driver based in Cañon City.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hamiltonstephen2279/

Jeff Peckman / T.J. Cole, Unity Party

Jeff Peckman defeated perennial candidate Paul Noel Fiorino by about 55% – 45% in the June 30 Unity primary. Peckman has selected T.J. Cole as his running mate. Neither Peckman nor Cole appear to have served as elected officials. Per Peckman’s website and Ballotpedia, Peckman was born in Kansas, graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School, and has worked as an entrepreneur.

Peckman has published a lengthy “Solutions Blueprint” for his campaign, available at this link. For a brief sample of his policy positions:

  • PERA: Peckman favors shifting the state’s retirement account investments to “Colorado companies that are saving Coloradans money instead of seeking maximum profit from Coloradans.”
  • Healthcare: He prefers seeking “health-promoting modalities” like stress reduction and holistic wellness, as opposed to having a system that treats problems with western medical approaches like drugs or surgeries after problems occur.
  • Public Safety: Peckman favors strategies including attempting to reduce the root causes of crime and terrorism, reducing drug use penalties in favor of treatment, and an increased focus on domestic terrorism.

Campaign website: https://jeffpeckman.com/

Erik Underwood / Frank Atwood, Approval Voting

Erik Underwood has run in several races for positions in Colorado as a Democrat, but is now running for Governor with the Approval Voting Party. He launched a campaign for Governor as a Democrat in 2026, and even spoke at the State Assembly, but did not qualify for the primary ballot. He has also run for U.S. Senate as a Democrat in 2020, but did not qualify for the primary ballot.

Per his website, his life experiences include being the Chairman of Illmatic Ventures, the CEO of My24HourNews.Com and Vurbil, and working as a former student Junior Prosecutor in Atlanta . Underwood formerly worked as a U.S. Senate staffer for a Republican Senator in Ohio.

His policy ideas include a program to cap home loan interest rates on Colorado Division of Housing home loans in the interest of more affordable housing; state-run grocery stores with the intent of keeping prices lower than corporate grocers, and a donation system to help pay for a child care fund.

Campaign website: https://erikunderwood.com/ 

Richard’s Take

Vote Weiser. His eight years of experience as the state’s Attorney General has given him tons of very direct experience in many of the issues that will be most important as Governor. This especially includes the hundreds of bills that General Assembly members introduce every year. Weiser has already worked directly with legislators during bill processes, and I’m not aware of any Governor in recent memory who has been more immersed in Colorado law before taking office. There have been other attorneys (Gov. Bill Ritter was a DA), but eight years as the state’s Attorney General directly preceding a potential first term? Weiser’s hands-on experience should mean a Governor’s office that’s able to be very useful during the legislative process when needed, and if bills need to be vetoed Weiser should be able to explain why with the precisions of a person who’s been through the process.

Much was made during the Democratic primary election about how many times Weiser sued the federal government and when. It’s actually true that he launched legal action much more after he started running for Governor, but he announced his candidacy in January 2025, at about the time the second Trump administration was about to take control. This new administration worked to implement many of the components of Project 2025 at warp speed, and many of these components were or would have been harmful to Colorado. In my opinion, Weiser was right to bring the State of Colorado into these legal actions, and many of them pertained to general topics I care very deeply about – voting rights, environmental protection, cuts to science and education, and so much more.

I can’t guess yet whether Democrats will take back one or both of the branches of Congress, but Trump or another Republican will hold the Presidency until at least 2029. I have no doubt whatsoever that Weiser will ask for challenges or even help challenge future actions that are not in Colorado’s best interests, including Trump executive orders if the GOP can’t pass bills. I don’t believe the primary job of a Governor is to “fight Trump,” but certain actions can clearly cause serious or costly harm to our rights, our economy, or our environment, so let’s just say I want a fighter if it’s needed. Weiser’s already proven he will stand up for Colorado.

I don’t want to spend a lot of space on Marx here, but let’s face it – a number of people who maybe aren’t his strongest supporters might still vote for him out of dislike for Democrats or because he’s the Republican on the ballot, so it’s worth knowing what we might be getting into. In general, I’ve never been really keen on a person who’s never held elected office running for a state’s top public position. There’s nothing in Marx’s resume to suggest that he’s ever run for or held elected office, let alone really seriously faced more than a handful of the issues a Governor might need to address. He’s got short videos on his website talking about the issues, but there’s a big difference between having opinions and having to pass laws or policies.

The word “public” is very important to me, because a person who might be great in private or nonprofit leadership may soon find out that dealing with the public and legislative bodies really complicates decisions that, say, a CEO might be able to make without a lot of input. His Colorado Works Better plan is voluminous and maybe ambitious, but how many times have we all heard candidates claim they would ferret out all government waste? We just went through the DOGE experience at the federal level, where employee heads went rolling but spending increased and key societal programs and protections got gutted. I don’t think Colorado needs a DOGE replay, even though I do support careful fiscal review and cuts where necessary.

Furthermore, I do have some concern about a Marx objective that looks like he wants to move large segments of the state government toward Artificial Intelligence. So, whose AI? Is he thinking about Elon Musk’s Grok? No thanks. It’s only been a few weeks since AI told me I used to work for John Hickenlooper, which was news to me and unfortunate because my pay might have been better had I actually worked for him. While increased use of AI is probably inevitable in government, we’re still in an era where situations facing real humans being addressed by real humans is the best way to find solutions – and we’re also in an age where AI is full of mistakes and security concerns.

On top of Marx’s relative lack of relevant experience, I watched the 30-minute Kyle Clark interview before the GOP primary like many people did, and couldn’t help getting the feeling that a Marx governorship would have very high potential for sideshows. During the interview, he was evasive and not often convincing about whether his stories were true or if his facts were accurate. I’m not Pollyanna and I can understand why a person might not want to provide blow-by-blow details of heated situations, but his interview just didn’t feel gubernatorial to me. I don’t actually encourage basing one’s opinion on one interview, but to me this one spoke volumes about Marx’s appropriateness for this office. He might be a perfectly honorable person and great at what he’s done over the past decades, I don’t know, but in my opinion Colorado needs a Governor who’s honestly ready for the job, and the state clearly does not need sideshows or murky stories from its top elected official.

In 2010, long-time Republican Tom Tancredo ran with the American Constitution Party for Governor, probably because the campaign of Republican nominee Dan Maes was floundering. Tancredo got about 37% of the vote while Maes barely cracked the 10% threshold needed to keep “major party status” for the Republican Party. In 2026, long-time Republican Greg Lopez is running unaffiliated. I don’t believe Lopez will do as well as Tancredo, and this is partially because Tancredo has won at least eight races, he’s personable, and he knows how to do politics. Lopez has only won races for Mayor of Parker and a special election for a very short term in Congress, while suffering a lot of losses plus some bad press on the road to 2026.

Still, Lopez is a known commodity who might take some votes from disgruntled Republicans who couldn’t support Marx. He’s far, far more likely to siphon numbers from Marx than from Weiser. Lopez might call himself independent now, but anyone who really remembers him remembers him as a Republican, and his values are very clearly conservative.

I see no reason to seriously consider anyone else on this pretty long list of candidates. But if readers are thinking our minor-party or unaffiliated candidates over, please go back to the top of this page and re-read the main powers and responsibilities of serving as Governor. Important stuff, yes? Then remember, the Republican candidate in 2022, Heidi Ganahl, earned nearly a million votes despite running what many people felt to be a pretty bad campaign. I would not be that surprised if Marx winds up in the same give-or-take a million votes ballpark, and if that happens it’s to me a little too close for comfort.

So, please just vote Weiser unless you’re actually pretty far to the political right. Protest votes or leaving this race blank run the risk of turning all this power and responsibility over to a person you might not want running the state, and terms are for four long years.