As political races go, the one shaping up in Colorado’s Democratic primary election for Governor is a doozy. Maybe the political equivalent to the famous ‘Thrilla in Manila,’ when in 1975, Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier, both near the height of their sport, fought a bloody, bruising fifteen rounds that remains epic now more than a half century later.
The current Colorado heavyweight match pits perhaps two of the biggest names and, by some estimates, the biggest political names in the state. In one corner, current Democratic Senator Michael Bennet whose trajectory in public service has been meteoric. Bennet has served as then Denver Mayor now U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper’s chief of staff, then Denver superintendent of public schools and in 2009 Governor Bill Ritter’s choice to succeed U.S. Senator Ken Salazar who joined President Barak Obama’s cabinet. He has since been reelected two times. Bennet is also a Yale Law School graduate.
Across the ring is Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. Weiser, a professorial and pragmatic attorney general is now serving his second four-year term in the office. Weiser has his own sterling resume.
He graduated with the highest honors from NYU Law, has clerked in both the federal court system and U.S. Supreme Court, including serving as clerk for legendary SCOTUS jurist Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Weiser has also served as senior counsel to the Assistant U.S. Attorney General in the Clinton Administration.
He has also been on the faculty at the University of Colorado Law School, including serving as dean from 2011-2016. Weiser has also served as a Deputy Attorney General in the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division in the Obama Administration.
The winner of the Bennet-Weiser Democrat primary election, set for June 30th, will face one of four Republican gubernatorial candidates in the November general election set for November 3rd, 2026.
While polls show that faith in politicians is now hovering at an all-time low, Weiser says he wants to show people that not only can government work but that it can work for them.
“My life has been about service,” said Weiser. Serving as Colorado Attorney General, he said, “(It) sets me up very well and best prepared” to be Governor. Confident that he is the right person for the job, he invites all Coloradans to “look at my record.”
Bennet’s own resume also shows an impressive commitment to public service. He has worked as an aide to then Ohio governor Richard Celeste, clerked in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, served in the Justice Department as a Deputy Attorney General and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Connecticut. He moved to Colorado in 1997 where he took a senior position with Anschutz Investment.
Last Friday and away from the Senate, which is in adjournment, Bennet joined about 75 women at La Cafecito, a decades-long tradition of an every Friday morning gathering of Latina professionals and others to discuss politics, community affairs, organize public and social events and invite local government leaders or personalities to share their thoughts on everything from policy to simply meet and greet.
Candidate for U.S. Senate, State Senator Julie Gonzales also attended to answer questions about her race against U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper. Bennet and Gonzales moved from table to table answering questions about their candidacies. The Senator also spoke with La Voz Colorado and also answered questions, including one many Coloradans are asking about his campaign: Why, with more than two years remaining in his Senate term, is he running for Colorado’s chief executive office?
“I think the people of Colorado want to make the decision about who the best leaders are at the moment,” Bennet answered. He also defended his new role as ‘candidate Bennet’ by saying that his time in the Senate has earned him trust, trust even from people who “would never vote” for him. “I’ve spent the last 16 years of my life working in rural communities all over the state,” he said. He said he stands on a record of “working on water (issues),” making sure rural Colorado has the resources to deal with more and more frequent wildfires and farming and ranching issues.
In doing so, Bennet said he may not have earned many votes but has earned something as important. In northwest Colorado, Bennet said, “I may never get more than 10 percent of the vote…but people (there) trust me.”
Bennet also sounded a familiar refrain about the state of Congress. “There is a lot of rancor,” he said. But still, “we’ve been able to put serious points on the board for Colorado,” including the Child Tax Credit and ensured protection for more than 700,000 acres of public lands.
But a few questions at Cafecito reflect concern over his voting patterns and particularly votes that rankle not only Coloradans but millions of others. Among them are explanations for votes he has cast to confirm a number of President Trump’s more controversial cabinet picks, including one for Brooke Rollins as Secretary of Agriculture.
One of Rollins’ most controversial actions was to cut more than $9.2 billion to cover the cost of SNAP, food stamp benefits, a move that affects more than 600,000 Coloradans. Bennet said he voted to confirm Rollins because it’s important to “have a constructive relationship with the ag secretary.”
Bennet has cast more confirmation votes from Trump cabinet members than nearly any Senate Democrat. He has said he stands by his votes.
But Weiser joined 22 others state Attorneys General and three governors in a lawsuit against USDA cuts and Rollins. Weiser called the cuts “deliberate, illegal and inhumane.”
While early Weiser campaign ads introduce him as a friendly and affable public servant, he has a new, hard-hitting ad targeting Bennet and his vote for Rollins. “I asked him why you’ve supported her,” and “when do you say that voting for her was a mistake?”
In a Friday afternoon telephone interview, Weiser accused Bennet of misleading voters about him. He says, “calling me names,” he can take. “But he (Bennet) has no good answers for supporting the Trump administration…voters will see through him, see his record. He can’t get away from his record.”
Both candidates did share one common opinion that recently rippled across the state. Bennet and Weiser both answered in the affirmative when asked by La Voz Colorado if Governor Polis called them to discuss his recent commutation of former Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters prison sentence.
Peters was serving a nine-year sentence after being convicted of willfully allowing a security breach in her county’s election voting system. Peters, an election denier, was expected to be free on June 1st from the state prison facility in Pueblo where she has been serving her sentence.
Weiser said when he took Polis call on the matter, he stressed as forcefully as he could to the Governor, “Do not change the sentence.” Asked about his conversations with Polis, Bennet was equally as firm with the governor on the commutation. “He called me a number of times to talk about it,” Bennet said. “I disagreed.”
