I’m voting for Phil Weiser in the Democratic primary for Colorado Governor on June 30, and I want to share why.
I’ve spent nearly three decades in Colorado working with entrepreneurs and across the innovation ecosystem. This has included working with startups, large companies, main street businesses, and non-profits. I am deeply committed to Colorado — to its people, land, resources, and opportunity. The question I bring to this primary is straightforward: which candidate is most likely to build Colorado into the kind of state where both people and companies can thrive.
For me, the answer is clear: Phil Weiser.
A True Vision
A few weeks ago, Phil spoke to the Grand Junction Economic Partnership, and it was the strongest articulation of an economic vision for Colorado I’ve heard from any politician in quite some time. He named the problem squarely and succinctly: Colorado’s population growth has stalled to its lowest pace since 1990 — talent and capital are moving (sometimes quietly, sometimes with fanfare) to states that are easier to build in. He laid out three pillars in response: a welcoming environment for the industries Colorado leads in, a serious simplification of how the state regulates, and a call for investment in the workforce, housing, childcare, education, and infrastructure that make staying in Colorado possible for working families. He invoked Roy Romer and Federico Peña — leaders who built modern Colorado by asking how can we help rather than by reaching for a press release. That’s the lane Phil is running in.
Practical Perspective
Phil’s platform on jobs and the economy reads like someone who has thought about how the parts fit together — capital access, workforce, infrastructure, regulatory burden, the gap between urban and rural Colorado. He’s talking about a Chief Innovation Officer, a Business Navigator program for early-stage founders, expanded grants and microloans, and a serious effort to harmonize the regulatory thicket that businesses navigate across counties and municipalities.
A Reasonable Regulatory Environment
Colorado is now the sixth most regulated state in the country, with more than 205,000 state-level regulatory restrictions (and growing). That’s a real, daily drag on businesses that Colorado claims to support. Phil’s line in Grand Junction — that regulation should be “like garlic in cooking, just enough and never too much” — is the right instinct, and his platform commits to actually doing the work of simplification and harmonization that the state has needed for years. Not deregulation as a slogan, but modernization as a discipline.
A Broader Vision
A note worth adding because some of the conversation about this primary has narrowed to a single dimension. Phil’s platform is comprehensive. He’s substantively committed to a strong public education system, to early childhood, to healthcare access, and to protecting Colorado’s land, air, and water. He supports a robust safety net for the Coloradans who need one. He treats those commitments and a competitive business environment as complementary rather than in tension — clearly the right frame for this. Pro-business and pro-people are not opposed propositions. The Open Letter itself is underpinned by the same premise.
Phil and the Open Letter
In mid-April, more than 400 Colorado business and civic leaders signed an Open Letter — Ensuring Colorado’s Innovation Future — calling on elected officials to take action to restore Colorado’s standing as a place where innovation can thrive. I signed it because I’m genuinely concerned about Colorado’s competitiveness.
Phil responded publicly on April 20: “On this, I am all in, and I am committed to the nine points you raise.” You can read his detailed response here. Phil’s reaction was that of someone who had heard the message. And, at least for now, he’s the only person to whom the letter was addressed who has issued a substantive response.
A Word on Dan Caruso’s Endorsement
I want to be direct about this, because as a signatory of the Open Letter, I don’t want anyone to be confused about where I stand. Dan Caruso — who deserves real credit for organizing the Open Letter and convening so much of the conversation about Colorado’s business climate — recently endorsed Michael Bennet over Phil. I disagree with that conclusion, and I want to push back on how the case has been made so far.
Dan’s endorsement isn’t really that — at least what he’s released so far consists solely of a list of grievances against Phil. Apparently, the affirmative case is coming in a follow-up email. I’m not sure why he chose to start with the negative, and I think it is telling about Dan’s thinking about the race. When the case for a candidate is the second half of an endorsement and not the first, the framing matters.
There’s also a particular irony worth surfacing. Dan’s chief grievance against Phil is that Phil has been too aggressive in standing up to the second Trump administration. But Senator Bennet’s own line of attack against Phil in their first televised debate was the opposite: that Phil didn’t stand up to Trump enough during the first administration. Both critiques can’t be true. The fact that they coexist tells you this isn’t really about how often Phil has gone to court. The grievance is about something else entirely (you can listen to a podcast that Dan and I recently recorded together that covers many of these issues here).
For my part, I’d rather elect a Governor on what he’ll do, not on competing stories about whether he sued the federal government with the right cadence.
On Senator Bennet
I have great respect for Michael Bennet. He has been an excellent U.S. Senator for Colorado — substantive, serious, and effective. And the Senate is where I want him to stay. Colorado is uniquely fortunate to have a senior senator with Bennet’s depth, his committee positioning, and his ability to deliver for our state in Washington. Trading that for the Governor’s office means giving up a Senate seat that has taken years to earn the influence it now carries. Coloradans benefit more from him in the Senate than in the Governor’s office.
Where I Land
Phil’s record, his platform, and his instincts on the issues that matter most to me — small business, rural Colorado, the long arc of entrepreneurship, a regulatory environment companies can actually navigate, and a Colorado that takes its safety net, its schools, and its environment seriously — match the work I’ve spent my career trying to support. Phil has earned my vote.
Vote on June 30. And know that if you’re unaffiliated, like the majority of Colorado voters (including myself), Colorado lets you cast a ballot in either primary. I hope you’ll join me in voting for Phil.