January 23, 2026 10:36 AM UTC

"Both Ways" Barb Blows Up Her Own Narrative

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• by: Colorado Pols

Four of the seemingly-endless number of Republicans running for Governor in 2026 appeared on stage Thursday in Ft. Lupton at a candidate forum sponsored by the “Women of Weld” county. Included in that small group was State Sen. “Both Ways” Barb Kirkmeyer, who ended up detonating her own talking points on a key vulnerability for her campaign.

As Marshall Zelinger reports for 9News:

Kirkmeyer, who has served as a state lawmaker for six years, positioned herself as the most experienced candidate with practical knowledge of government operations.

“I am a credible candidate, I am not going to be up here talking about platitudes,” she said.

However, Kirkmeyer was also part of a 2013 effort to have northern Colorado secede from the state.

“I listened to my constituents. I put it on the ballot. They voted. They voted no, not to pursue seceding, and so we did not. That’s exactly what happened. But I think listening to your constituents, standing up for your constituents is what a leader does and what a good, elected official does, and I would continue to do that again,” Kirkmeyer said.

Moderator Jesse Paul followed that up by asking how she voted on the ballot measure.

“How did I vote? I voted for it,” Kirkmeyer said. [Pols emphasis]

Yoikes!

Not long after declaring, “I am a credible candidate,” Kirkmeyer admitted that SHE VOTED IN FAVOR OF SECEDING FROM COLORADO. Kirkmeyer is literally running for Governor of a state she wanted to break apart in 2013.

As a candidate for Congress in 2022 and again after she launched her bid for Governor in 2025, Kirkmeyer has answered questions about that 2013 secession campaign — which she helped lead — in which 11 counties voted against secededing from Colorado to form the new state of “North Colorado,” or “South Wyoming.” Ever since that 2013 campaign, Kirkmeyer’s explanation has usually been to claim that she was just being a good representative of her community by giving them the chance to vote on an important topic, yada, yada. Here’s her response to a secession question from last September:

KIRKMEYER: I would say this about the 51st state idea. We, you know, I would do it again, quite frankly. I went out and listened to my constituents and they said, there were some people who said, look, we think we should pursue this. And there were other people who said we shouldn’t. And, you know, we had people say, well, just survey. And I thought, well you know the best survey is let’s let people vote and decide, do you want us to proceed or not? Do you want it to look into this or not. And the folks said, no, no we don’t.

This is obviously a bullshit answer, but for an average voter not familiar with the 2013 secession effort, we suppose it sounded somewhat reasonable. But her response on Thursday to the question about how she voted on secession renders this years-long narrative altogether useless.

Barb Kirkmeyer wanted 11 counties in Northern Colorado to secede and form a new state. She’s only running for Governor of Colorado in 2026 because she can’t run for Governor of “WhatTheFuckistan” instead.

In a weird way, this contradiction sums up Colorado Republicans in general. If you don’t pick them to be the captain of the team, they’ll kick the ball over the fence and go home. Republicans aren’t interested in doing the right thing for the entire State of Colorado any more than Donald Trump is concerned about being the President of non-red states.

Kirkmeyer’s secession admission might not be fatal in a Republican Primary, but it all but guarantees that she can’t win a General Election.