In The Denver Post, reporter Nick Coltrain recaps a primary forum where U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Attorney General Phil Weiser finally shared a stage and promptly took swings at each other. Weiser knocked Bennet for trying to make nice with a Trump Cabinet pick, while Bennet jabbed that Weiser just signs onto other people’s lawsuits and brags about the tally.
The event, hosted by the Colorado Young Democrats at a Denver union hall, doubled as a soft launch of the 2026 governor’s race with both men seeking to succeed term-limited Jared Polis. They agreed on plenty of progressive priorities, from changing the state’s tax cap to tweaking union rules, but spent most of their energy arguing about who fought Trump better.
The Bullet Point Brief
- The forum featured Bennet and Weiser trading jabs over Trump-era votes and lawsuits, giving Democrats a choice between two flavors of Polis Continuation.
- Weiser’s line: do not make nice with a lawless bully. Translation: he is proud of the long list of lawsuits his office filed or joined against the Trump administration.
- Bennet’s retort: anybody can vote against Trump’s nominees, and anybody can join someone else’s lawsuit and take a victory lap in the suburbs.
- Policy overlaps: they want to repeal the cap on tax collections while keeping voter approval for new taxes, and they talked up labor and farmworker stances without many details.
- Context: both entered the race months apart, with the Republican field still wide open as the primary approaches. Same destination for both Dems. Different routes.
My Bottom Line
Bennet has lived large off the D.C. treadmill and Weiser has built a brand suing the Orange Man because that plays on the cocktail circuit. Neither one has delivered for the family trying to afford a mortgage in Brighton or groceries in Greeley. They are not change. They are a rerun.
Both men represent a straight-line continuation of Gov. Polis, who turned Colorado into something many of us no longer recognize. Higher costs, more bureaucracy, fewer guardrails on crime, and a government that prides itself on clever process over real-world results. If you liked the last eight years, you are going to love these two arguing about who can preserve the status quo with more style.
The great suburban normie is the decider here. If Highlands Ranch and Broomfield keep voting for vibes over outcomes, we get one more administration that manages decline and calls it innovation. Time to wake up. The problem with Colorado governance is not a mystery. It is one-party rule that treats your paycheck like a piggy bank and your concerns like a PR problem. Send in someone who will change course, not two more pilots for the same flight plan.
Source: The Denver Post
