Trying to glean a speck of daylight between the two Democrats running for governor in Colorado is like trying to find a gap between the historic red bricks of the governor’s mansion on Capitol Hill – cracks exist, but you’ve got to look close.
We will do our best to help voters differentiate between U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, highlighting both their strengths and weaknesses. The Denver Post Editorial Board sat down with the candidates ahead of the June 30 primary and came away with a clear picture of what each candidate’s strength will be in office. Our company policy is not to endorse in races for governor or U.S. Senate. So while we are not picking a candidate, we wanted to share our insight.
Weiser is a collaborative leader who has been deeply ingrained in Colorado politics and policy for the past eight years as attorney general.
“My goal for our campaign is for people to know I am in this to fight for them. The way I’ve led as attorney general is as the people’s lawyer,” Weiser said. “The way I want to lead as governor is the people’s governor. I want people to know my only agenda is how I fight for them for a better future. I’m not afraid to take on established interests.”
Bennet is a forceful leader who has fought as a legislator for Colorado’s public lands and political interests in the U.S. Senate for 17 years.
“We can create a much different path … where we build a governing coalition in Colorado, in this country, that can actually address the problems that, especially our kids and grandkids, are going to face,” Bennet said.
Colorado voters are blessed with two great options in the Democratic primary for governor, so what are their weaknesses?
Attack ads resurfaced criticism from Weiser’s work in 2021 while he was chair of the Attorney General Alliance. This group uses corporate donations to fund annual conferences for attorneys general across the nation. As the attorneys general before him, Weiser attended a conference , that was paid for by corporate sponsors. Weiser did pay for his own airfare to the event. Long has the corporate sponsorship of these conferences, including those hosted by groups like the National Governors Association, made us wary. But Colorado is damned if we do and damned if we don’t participate because these organizations have become powerhouses on the national stage.
Meanwhile, Bennet has said that if he wins, he will pick his own replacement. In Colorado, governors have the power to fill vacancies in the U.S. Senate until an election can be held. As uncomfortable as we are with this possible turn of events, Bennet has promised to be transparent about the process of selecting his replacement. We would hope that he is open to considering someone for this critical appointment who didn’t endorse him in this primary election. U.S. Reps. Brittany Pettersen, Joe Neguse and Jason Crow recently did that has us wondering if they are perhaps vying for a place on Bennet’s short list for U.S. Senate.
Both Bennet and Weiser have made affordability in Colorado, particularly housing, the top issue of their campaign. This emphasis makes sense because poll after poll confirms that Colorado voters are worried about getting priced out of the state they love. While the prices of housing are coming down slightly in the face of high interest rates and increasing supply sitting unsold for weeks, the market has proven stubborn.
Their policy positions are similar — reduce red tape to streamline construction, preserve existing affordable units, and help first-time homebuyers enter the market — but their approach highlights for us a major difference in their leadership styles.
Bennet is signaling a readiness for drastic action. Weiser is looking to collaborate with urgency on the issue.
“I was heartbroken when I saw that Lakewood undid the very sensible reforms they put in place to build duplexes, to build … four-unit quadruplexes, to build dense housing,” Bennet said. “I understand that people of my generation are going to have to be willing to give up some of our equity value to make room for our kids in Colorado. No one else is saying that in this race. I’m saying it because I believe it.”
Bennet has said everything will be on the table as he puts together a panel to develop a state-wide plan to make housing affordable in this state. The goal is to add 100,000 units over the next 10 years, with affordability defined as 30% of a household’s income. His plan is specific and aggressive.
Weiser has set his goal as 40,000 units during his first term in office, and talked about setting the simple benchmark of assuring teachers can afford to live in the communities where they work. He cautioned against the policies put in place by Gov. Jared Polis that demanded density and were met with backlash in places like Lakewood.
“The maximalist, punitive, adversarial approach to this, I do not believe, is the best model for success,” Weiser said. “If we tried to take that approach, which is not dissimilar from the path that we’re on, we will be in litigation for a decade. Their backs will be up against the wall, and we’re not working the problem together.”
Instead, Weiser points to what he did as attorney general with $10 million that remained in a fund from the settlement with banks that aggressively marketed variable interest rates to unqualified buyers and then foreclosed equally aggressively after the 2008 crash.
Weiser said the money from that fund was almost gone when he took office, but he reached out to rural communities to see how he could help. Weiser created the Colorado Partnership for Education and Rural Revitalization, which, among other things, allowed Lamar to fund a program training workers to build and rehabilitate homes in the area. Weiser used that same approach — allowing local governments to select their own priorities with funding — when Colorado received $1 billion in settlement money for the opioid crisis.
We believe both candidates will make affordability their top priority, and we believe both candidates can deliver some affordable housing. Still, we temper expectations that any governor of any state can solve a problem so inextricably tied to global markets and corporate interests.
Weiser and Bennet have run strong campaigns and made each other better candidates, more focused on the issues Coloradans see as critical. This primary is an example of how America’s democracy is supposed to work, and we are grateful to both for seeking public office.
To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.
