The Denver Gazette’s Ernest Luning lays out the 2026 Colorado primary battlefield, and it is crowded from top to bottom. The story walks through statewide races for governor, U.S. Senate, attorney general, secretary of state, and several congressional seats, with ballots set to go out in early June and due back by June 30. (denvergazette.com)
The big picture is simple: Colorado voters are staring at a political cattle call. Democrats are fighting over who inherits the machinery they already control, Republicans are trying to climb back into statewide relevance, and unaffiliated voters, who make up just over half of Colorado’s active registered voters, can choose one primary ballot under the state’s semi-open primary system. (denvergazette.com)
The Bullet Point Brief
- Colorado is getting a full slate of new state-level executive officials because the current Democratic incumbents are term-limited. In other words, the same kitchen is hiring new cooks, but voters should still ask who burned dinner.
- The governor’s race has Democrats Michael Bennet and Phil Weiser on one side, with Republicans Barb Kirkmeyer, Scott Bottoms, and Victor Marx on the other. The Denver Gazette notes Republicans have not won a major statewide race in Colorado since 2014, which is less a trivia fact and more a warning label. (denvergazette.com)
- The U.S. Senate race features Democrat John Hickenlooper facing a primary challenge from state Sen. Julie Gonzales, while Republican Mark Baisley waits for the general election. That is a lot of ambition wearing comfortable shoes.
- The attorney general race is especially busy, with four Democrats seeking the nomination and two Republicans competing on their side. Nothing says “public service” quite like a hallway full of lawyers measuring the drapes.
- Congressional primaries are also heating up, especially in the 8th Congressional District, where Republican Gabe Evans is unopposed while three Democrats battle for the chance to face him. That race is expected to be one of the most competitive and expensive in state history, because apparently yard signs now need venture capital. (denvergazette.com)
My Bottom Line
Primary season is when politicians start wagging their tongues so hard you can almost hear the wind shear from Greeley. Some are chasing public service. Some are chasing power. Some are chasing a title, a parking spot, and a microphone. Voters get to sort that out.
But here’s what I hope Colorado’s Great Suburban Normie remembers. You know who I mean. The decent, busy voter who is taking kids to practice, trying to pay the mortgage, and will not fully wake up to election season until October, when the TV ads become too annoying to ignore. Colorado did not become unaffordable, unsafe, over-crowded, and stuck in traffic by accident.
Democrats have controlled the big levers in this state for years. They own the policy direction. They own the regulatory pileup. They own the affordability mess. They own the soft-on-crime culture. They own the transportation promises that somehow keep producing more orange cones than mobility. At some point, the chickens come home to roost, and in Colorado they are apparently stuck in I-25 traffic.
Republicans have work to do. I will not pretend otherwise. We need candidates who can speak plainly to working families, defend liberty without sounding like they swallowed a radio script, and offer solutions that stand up in court, fit the budget, and make daily life better.
But if Colorado voters want different results, they have to vote different. This fall, do not reward the same crowd that helped make life harder and then showed up with a campaign brochure promising to fix it. Vote for balance. Vote for accountability. Vote Republican.
Source: The Denver Gazette
