June 29, 2026 01:29 PM UTC

The Non-Insurgency Race: Weiser vs. Bennet for Governor

• 0 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

As Colorado’s Primary Election comes to a close on Tuesday, national media outlets are watching to see what national trends may or may not apply in several top-tier Democratic races. Some of those narratives are lazier than others.

For example, William Steakin of POLITICO is out with a particularly half-assed story today that tries too hard to compare Colorado to New York (a subject we addressed last week):

The insurgent left just shook New York. Colorado Democrats increasingly think they could be next.

Democrats in the Centennial State are bracing for an anti-establishment earthquake of their own. Tuesday’s primary election will test the left’s momentum beyond the five boroughs — and whether the anti-incumbent fever will topple Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Diana DeGette, a pair of longtime fixtures of state Democratic politics.

Bennet allies acknowledge his primary for governor race is far closer than they expected, a startling position for one of the state’s best-known Democrats, while DeGette is facing similar anti-Washington headwinds, as internal polling in recent days has set off alarm bells for the 30-year incumbent.

There is a decent argument to be made comparing New York’s Primary results to CO-01, where incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette faces a tough challenge from left-wing candidate Melat Kiros. As Steakin continues:

Kiros’ supporters say they’re trying to recreate the organizing model that helped propel democratic socialists to sweeping victories in New York. National DSA chapters are hosting phone banks for Kiros nearly every day through Tuesday, while Denver organizers say they expect to knock on just shy of 100,000 doors before polls close…

…Several Colorado Democrats cautioned Denver is not New York. The city is not as liberal, its DSA infrastructure is significantly smaller, and DeGette still benefits from decades of name recognition and relationships across the district. But they also acknowledge Denver has become younger, more progressive and increasingly receptive to anti-establishment candidates.

It’s much more difficult to argue that the Democratic gubernatorial race between Senator Michael Bennet and Attorney General Phil Weiser is a comparable example of an entrenched establishment candidate battling an insurgent campaign. Former POLITICO reporter Elena Schneider wrote a much more accurate preview of Colorado’s Democratic Primary Election in a story for NOTUS last week:

The gubernatorial primary in Colorado doesn’t fall neatly along the insider-versus-outsider lines that defined New York’s primaries —- even if Weiser is eager to cast the race that way.

Weiser acknowledged in an interview with NOTUS that he “imagined a race for governor where people looked at my campaign, and I looked like the more insider, even establishment, view,” but “as it turns out, running against Michael Bennet, just he and I, I end up looking like I am the anti-establishment outsider.”

Indeed, no leftist candidate emerged in Colorado to challenge Bennet or Weiser, much to the frustration of some progressives. They pointed to 29-year-old activist Melat Kiros’ serious challenge to Rep. Diana DeGette for a Denver-based House seat as clear evidence there was a missed opportunity in the governor’s race.

Whatever happens in CO-01, it won’t mean that there was a lane for a more left-wing challenger in the race for Governor. In the Democratic Primary for U.S. Senate, for example, incumbent Sen. John Hickenlooper will likely win handily over insurgent wannabe Julie Gonzales, who simply didn’t run the kind of disciplined campaign necessary to oust someone with the most well-known political name in Colorado.

There are numerous reasons why the race for Governor is nothing like the battle in CO-01. Weiser actually announced his run for governor several months before Bennet, and both candidates have held statewide elected office for the better part of a decade. Both have raised many millions of dollars for their respective campaigns, and both have been on the receiving end of millions more in support from statewide Independent Expenditure Committees (IEC).

As Jesse Paul wrote for The Colorado Sun earlier this month, Bennet and Weiser aren’t all that different when it comes to policy positions:

The two Democrats running to be Colorado’s next governor strained to differentiate themselves on policy last month during their first televised debate.

After all, Attorney General Phil Weiser and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet agree on a lot. [Pols emphasis]

They both think the provision in the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights giving Colorado voters the power to weigh in on all tax increases should remain in place. Neither will commit to completely unwinding the state’s unique labor laws, which make it harder for unions to organize. And they both think nuclear power should be a part of Colorado’s clean energy future.

The biggest policy difference between the men at that May debate seemed to be a wardrobe one: Weiser stayed true to his practice of wearing a necktie, while Bennet maintained his open-collar look.

As the June 30 primary nears, Bennet and Weiser have found a few areas of policy disagreement — their plans to tackle climate change and make healthcare cheaper, for instance — but voters could be forgiven for thinking the candidates’ beliefs are substantially the same. [Pols emphasis]

If Kiros defeats DeGette in Denver and Weiser beats Bennet statewide, there will be a temptation from national media to declare that Colorado is the next example of a lefty insurgency. Unless Gonzales also beats Hickenlooper, this would be a lazy misread of the facts on the ground. Denver is not Colorado (and vice versa).

Whichever candidate emerges from the Democratic Primary in CO-08 also challenges that narrative; both Manny Rutinel and Shannon Bird have run more toward the center in the final months of the campaign.

Weiser and Bennet are so similar on the policy front that local news outlets have struggled to find much daylight between them. Whoever wins the Democratic nomination for governor will easily win the General Election as well; either way, Colorado’s next Governor will begin another decade as a statewide elected official.

There’s a word for that…but it’s not “insurgency.”