January 07, 2026 11:06 AM UTC

Which Republican Will Lose the General Election for Governor? (1/26)

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

We’ve begun asking Colorado Pols readers to weigh in on predictions for big races in 2026, kicking things off with polls about the battle for Governor (Democrats), Attorney General, and the three big congressional races (CO-03, CO-05, and CO-08). Now we want to know how you think the Republican Primary for Governor will work itself out.

As always with our totally unscientific reader polls, we want to know what you THINK is going to happen — not what you might prefer or which candidate you may support yourself. If you had to place a sizable wager on the outcome below, where would you put your money?

There are about two dozen filed Republican candidates in the race for Governor, but we’ve whittled down your options to the five most plausible choices for the right to get smashed by either Democrat Michael Bennet or Phil Weiser in November. Colorado hasn’t selected a Republican for Governor since Bill Owens in 2002, and no GOP candidate has managed to lose by less than a double-digit margin since 2014, so we’re comfortable saying that the June Republican Primary Election is a battle for the ultimate booby prize.

We’ll update this poll regularly to get a sense for how perceptions are trending; as we’ve seen in every election cycle since we started doing these polls, our readers are pretty good at predicting outcomes in individual races.