Phil Weiser, who has served as Colorado’s attorney general since 2019, beat three-term U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet in Tuesday’s Democratic primary election for governor.

The Associated Press called the race around 7:55 p.m. on Tuesday. Preliminary results as of Wednesday morning from the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office show Weiser beating Bennet by more than 11 percentage points, with Weiser winning just under 56% of the vote to Bennet’s 44%.

“For over a year, the establishment pundits and so many others said this wouldn’t be a race at all, it would be a coronation,” Weiser said in a victory speech Tuesday night. “They counted us out, and they underestimated all of you. Together, we pushed forward. We did the hard work, and we proved the establishment wrong.”

On the Republican side, state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer retains a slight lead over nonprofit ministry leader Victor Marx, but the race remains too close to call.

The winner of the Democratic primary will be the favorite to win the governor’s seat in November. Colorado hasn’t elected a Republican governor since Bill Owens in 2002, with the state’s electorate continuing to shift more blue in the years since. 

Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat who cannot run for reelection this year because of term limits, won his first election in 2018 by a more than 10-percentage-point margin. He was reelected in 2022 by nearly 20 percentage points.

In the race to replace Polis, Bennet and Weiser took similar policy positions. Both wanted to increase housing supply, reduce regulatory burdens for builders and businesses, expand healthcare access and change the state’s decades-old revenue and spending limit. 

“Tonight, Colorado, you chose fresh, energetic and bold leadership that starts by asking, ‘How can I help?'” Weiser said. “How can I help to make healthcare, childcare and housing more affordable? How can I help protect our land, air and our water? How can we invest in our economy and jobs with infrastructure that supports inclusive growth?”

But much of the race has been defined by who has done more to take on the Trump administration.

While Bennet claimed he’s been a fighter against Trump’s policies in the Senate, Weiser and other Democrats criticized him for voting to support several key Trump cabinet members. Weiser touted the dozens of lawsuits his office has filed against the Trump administration, but he has been challenged by Bennet on why he did not join other states on certain lawsuits during Trump’s first term. 

“In Colorado, in the face of a lawless, bullying Trump administration trying to intimidate us, rip away our rights and freedoms, you made clear that we need a leader who will fight back and never bend the knee,” Weiser said.

Weiser, the first major Democratic candidate to jump into the race at the start of 2025, was widely seen as the underdog in the Democratic primary after Bennet announced his candidacy last April. Early polling showed Bennet beating Weiser by double digits.

But the race tightened in recent months as both candidates raked in significant fundraising, with Weiser setting a new record for a self-funded candidate in a Democratic primary. Weiser raised $6,794,306 and spent $6,615,199, while Bennet raised $5,018,224 and spent $5,705,915, according to filings with the secretary of state’s office as of June 29.

Bennet’s campaign, however, was also supported by a massive amount of cash from a super PAC that spent heavily on advertising to help boost the senator’s gubernatorial bid. Super PACs, which are a type of political action committee, can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to support a candidate, but are not allowed to coordinate or donate directly to that candidate’s campaign. 

Of the $11,409,223 raised by the political action committee Rocky Mountain Way, more than $5 million came from one donor: former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who has an estimated net worth of $109.4 billion and is one of the biggest political donors in the country. 

Rocky Mountain Way spent $10,912,819. By comparison, Fighting for Colorado, a super PAC supporting Weiser, raised $1,464,191 and spent $1,372,238, according to the most recent campaign finance reports. 

Much of Weiser’s campaign focused on what he called his grassroots support. If elected governor, Weiser pledged to listen to communities to help shape policy, which he said has been his guiding principle as attorney general. That includes listening to the Western Slope on issues like wolves and water, which Weiser acknowledged can often feel alienated from the Front Range, where much of the state’s political power and decision-making is concentrated.

“The future of Colorado will not be decided by out-of-state billionaires, by corporations or special interests,” Weiser said. “Colorado’s future belongs to all of us. I am excited for the work do here in Colorado, including getting corporate money out of our politics and making sure our government delivers for all of us, not only the wealthy few.”

Regional reporter Ryan Spencer contributed to this article.