Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser announced his bid to be the state’s next governor Thursday, becoming the first Democrat to enter what will likely be a crowded 2026 primary field. “There’s critical work ahead. I want to help do it — I want to help Colorado, I believe in Colorado, I want to serve the people of Colorado,” Weiser told The Denver Post shortly after announcing his candidacy in a morning news release. Weiser’s early jump allows him to begin raising money immediately, even though the June 2026 Democratic primary is still nearly 18 months away. It also gives him an early chance for voters “to get to know me,” he said — before several other candidates enter the fray. Weiser, 56, said his campaign will focus on affordability and housing — two issues that are consistently top of mind for Colorado voters — as well as curbing climate change’s impact on the environment and addressing the youth mental health crisis, which he referenced repeatedly during the interview. His announcement serves as a starting pistol for what will be an extensive 2026 campaign season, and it ends the yearslong shadow campaign that’s been waged quietly by would-be successors to Gov. Jared Polis: Weiser has long been expected to pursue the governor’s mansion after Polis, as has Secretary of State Jena Griswold, U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse and Ken Salazar, a longtime Colorado political figure who’s now U.S. ambassador to Mexico. Several lesser-known Republican, unaffiliated and third-party candidates have filed to run, but Weiser is the first major candidate of any affiliation to declare his campaign. A recent early poll of four potential 2026 Democratic gubernatorial candidates showed Weiser in last in terms of support by likely primary voters, behind Neguse, Griswold and Salazar, though the highest share of respondents — 37% — said they were undecided. More voters said they had never heard of Neguse or Weiser than the other candidates. Of the differences between Weiser and his potential opponents, he said he was proud of his record and said he would run a positive campaign. Weiser is starting the final two years of his second term as Colorado’s attorney general. He previously worked as the dean of the University of Colorado Law School and as a policy adviser in the Obama administration. He first moved to the state to clerk for a federal judge after graduating from New York University’s law school. He also clerked for two U.S. Supreme Court justices, Byron R. White and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. According to his website, Weiser’s campaign is chaired by former Gov. Roy Romer and co-chaired by former U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter and Fort Collins Mayor Jeni Arndt. His supporters also include several current and former elected officials, including former House Speaker Terrance Carroll and former Senate President Brandon Shaffer. Weiser, whose mother was born in a Nazi concentration camp one day before it was liberated in 1945, has said he came to Colorado because he looked for clerkships in states that had a baseball team and a Jewish community. His six years as attorney general have seen his office oversee the distribution of tens of millions of dollars in settlement payments from companies involved in the opioid crisis. He has also joined several prominent national lawsuits and legal efforts, including to block the merger of the Kroger and Albertsons grocery chains, and he’s backed consumer protection litigation against companies including Wyatts Towing and, more recently, controversial companies in the housing market like RealPage and CBZ Management. Weiser said Thursday that he would support the type of land-use reforms pursued by Polis in recent years that seek to boost development along the Front Range to increase the housing supply. He also would continue his work targeting junk fees and alleged price fixing in the rental market. Related Articles Election | Gov. Jared Polis wants to privatize Pinnacol, the state’s workers’ comp carrier. Will the third try be the charm? Election | Greg Lopez, Colorado’s six-month congressman, steps aside for Lauren Boebert after role in GOP power play Election | Metro Denver renters pay $136 extra each month when landlords use rent-setting software, report says Election | Kafer: A New Year’s Eve look at Colorado’s winners and losers during a tumultuous 2024 Election | New Colorado gun tax aims to shore up state’s victim services When he ran for AG in the 2018 election, Weiser prominently described his plans to combat then-President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and generally to serve as a legal bulwark against the Trump administration. His pitch for the governor’s mansion will likely turn on those same pledges, as Trump prepares to enter the White House again later this month on a platform of mass deportations and promises of regulatory rollbacks. Indeed, in a call with state House Democrats in early December, Weiser said his office had already begun researching when the military or National Guard could be called out — as Trump has pledged to do to support his deportation plans. On Thursday, Weiser told The Post that he would “work with anybody” in Washington, D.C., who was willing to collaborate. But “if there are people who are going to hurt us in Colorado, who are going to undermine our values or threaten people here … I’m ready for those battles ahead,” he said. Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.