April 10, 2025 02:37 PM UTC

Michael Bennet Expected to Announce Run for Governor on Friday

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• by: Colorado Pols

Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Denver) is expected to formally announce on Friday what has been the least-kept secret in Colorado politics for the last month: He is running for Governor in 2026.

Bennet’s gubernatorial plans have been widely discussed in political circles for weeks;. We’ve been listing his name atop The Big Line since news began to leak in early February, and POLITICO all but made Bennet’s announcement for governor on March 29. This didn’t stop Axios Denver from laughably publishing a story today titled, “SCOOP: Michael Bennet to launch bid for Colorado governor,” which is the “breaking news” equivalent of looking outside and reporting that it is raining.

This is a race that will be decided in the June 2026 Democratic Primary, with Republicans proving in recent election cycles that they are completely hopeless at attracting widespread voter support in Colorado. Attorney General Phil Weiser has been a declared candidate for governor since early January and is not expected to step aside to make way for Bennet in a Democratic Primary Election. There are a couple of twits on the Republican side who have announced their own campaigns, but none of them — including State Rep. Scott “There is No” Bottoms and State Sen. Mark Baisley — are no closer to the top job in Colorado than anyone else reading these words.

The more interesting immediate question is about whether or not Bennet will remain in the U.S. Senate through the end of 2026. We aren’t clear on the exact math, but if Bennet had concluded his current Senate term (which he could hold until 2028), he was set to go down as the longest-serving Senator in Colorado history. If Bennet wins the 2026 General Election or resigns his Senate seat early, Gov. Jared Polis would select a candidate to conclude the remainder of Bennet’s term — a small irony given that Bennet began his career in the Senate when then-Gov. Bill Ritter appointed him to fill the remainder of the Senate term of Ken Salazar when the latter accepted President-elect Barack Obama’s offer to serve as Secretary of the Interior in late 2008.