The 2018 Colorado gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the next

governor of Colorado The governor of Colorado is the head of government of the U.S. state of Colorado. The governor (United States), governor is the head of the Executive (government), executive branch of Government of Colorado, Colorado's state government and is cha ...

. Incumbent Democratic governor

John Hickenlooper John Wright Hickenlooper Jr. ( ; born February 7, 1952) is an American politician, geologist, and businessman serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from Colorado since 2021. A mem ...

was

term-limit A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potential for monopoly, wher ...

ed and could not seek a third consecutive term. The primary election was held on June 26. The major party nominees were Democratic U.S. Representative

Jared Polis Jared Schutz Polis ( ; ; born May 12, 1975) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 43rd governor of Colorado since 2019. He served one term on the Colorado State Board of Education from 2001 to 2007, and five terms as the Unite ...

and Republican State Treasurer

Walker Stapleton Walker Stapleton (born April 15, 1974) is an American politician who served two terms as Colorado's state treasurer from 2011 to 2019. Stapleton was the Republican nominee for Governor of Colorado in the 2018 election, which he lost to Democrat ...

. The general election took place on November 6, 2018, with Polis winning by 268,000 votes. This was the first Colorado gubernatorial election in which both major party candidates received over one million votes. Polis's victory marked the fourth straight election in which Colorado elected a Democratic governor and the first time in American electoral history that an

openly gay Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

politician was elected

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

of a state.

Democratic primary

With Hickenlooper ineligible to run for a third term in office, multiple Democratic politicians vied for the party's nomination for governor. Prior to his resignation in 2015, former lieutenant governor Joseph Garcia was seen as a probable candidate for governor in 2018.

Candidates

Nominated

, U.S. Representative

Eliminated in the primary

* Mike Johnston, former state senator * Cary Kennedy, former

Colorado State Treasurer The Treasurer of the State of Colorado is an elected official in the U.S. state of Colorado. The position is responsible for managing the Colorado State Treasury and the Colorado Department of the Treasury, a principal department of the state's ...

and former CFO and Deputy Mayor of

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

Donna Lynne Donna Lynne (born October 27, 1953) is the chief executive officer of Denver Health. She was the senior vice president and chief operating officer of Columbia University Irving Medical Center before joining Denver Health in September 2022. Lynne ...

, Lieutenant Governor of Colorado

Eliminated at the convention

* Erik Underwood, former congressional aide, Republican candidate for GA-10 in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Withdrawn

* Noel Ginsburg, businessman *

Ed Perlmutter Edwin George Perlmutter (born May 1, 1953) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2007 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, his district was located in the northern and western suburbs of the De ...

, U.S. Representative ''(running for reelection)''

Declined

* Joseph Garcia, former lieutenant governor * Steve Lebsock, State Representative (was running for

State Treasurer In the state and territorial governments of the United States, 54 of the 56 states and territories have the executive position of treasurer. New York abolished the office of New York State Treasurer in 1926, in which the duties were transfer ...

before switching to the Republican Party, thus disqualifying him from the Democratic Primary) * Michael Merrifield, State Senator *

Joe Neguse Joseph D. Neguse ( ; born May 13, 1984) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Colorado's 2nd congressional district since 2019. The district is based in Boulder and includes many of Denver's northwestern subu ...

, former executive director of the

Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies Colorado is a state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas to the east, ...

and nominee for secretary of state in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

( running for CO-02) * Joe Salazar, State Representative ( running for Attorney General) *

Ken Salazar Kenneth Lee Salazar (born March 2, 1955) is an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat who served as United States ambassador to Mexico from 2021 to 2025. He previously served as the 50th United States Secretary of the Interior in the administ ...

, former U.S. senator and former

United States Secretary of the Interior The United States secretary of the interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior. The secretary and the Department of the Interior are responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land along with natura ...

Caucus results

On March 6, 2018, Democrats of precincts across Colorado met and voted how many delegates each candidate who was caucusing on the ballot would get. As of March 11, 2018 at 7:30 p.m., 96.83% of precincts had reported and added up to the below results. * Cary Kennedy (11,700; 49.2%) *

(7,784; 32.7%) * Mike Johnston (2,086; 8.8%) * Noel Ginsburg (433; 1.8%), dropped out of race * Erik Underwood (100; 0.4%) * Uncommitted (1,668; 7%)

Endorsements

Polling

Results

2018 Colorado gubernatorial Democratic primary

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominated

Eliminated in the primary

* Greg Lopez, former mayor of Parker * Victor Mitchell, former state representative * Doug Robinson, businessman

Eliminated at the convention

* Steve Barlock, former Trump campaigner, Colorado Republican National Alternate Delegate and Elector * Cynthia Coffman,

Colorado Attorney General The Attorney General of the State of Colorado is the chief legal officer for the United States, U.S. Colorado, State of Colorado and the head of the Colorado Department of Law, a principal department of the Government of Colorado, Colorado state g ...

* Barry Farah, businessman * Lew Gaiter,

Larimer County Larimer County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 359,066. The county seat and most populous city is Fort Collins, Colorado, Fort Colli ...

Commissioner

Withdrawn

* George Brauchler, District Attorney for Colorado's 18th Judicial District (running for attorney general) * Jim Rundberg, businessman * JoAnne Silva, retired banker *

Tom Tancredo Thomas Gerard Tancredo (; born December 20, 1945) is an American politician from Colorado, who represented Colorado's 6th congressional district, the state's sixth congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to ...

, former U.S. Representative, candidate for governor in

, Constitution Party nominee for governor in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, and

candidate A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group (sociology), group or election to an offic ...

for

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Declined

John Elway John Albert Elway Jr. (born June 28, 1960) is an American former professional football quarterback who spent his entire 16-year career with the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). Following his playing career, he then spent 1 ...

, general manager of the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

and retired

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

player *

Owen Hill Owen Hill (born February 17, 1982) is a former State Legislator for the U.S. State of Colorado. First elected to the Colorado State Senate as a Republican in 2012, he served two terms representing Senate District 10, which encompasses Eastern ...

, state senator and candidate for the U.S. Senate in

( running for CO-05) * Steve House, Chairman of the

Colorado Republican Party The Colorado Republican Party is the state affiliate of the Republican Party in the U.S. state of Colorado. The party's headquarters is located in Greenwood Village, Colorado. The Republican Party was dominant in the state as recently as the mi ...

and candidate for governor in

* Kent Thiry, chairman and CEO of

DaVita Inc. DaVita Inc. provides kidney dialysis services through a network of 2,675 outpatient centers in the United States, serving 200,800 patients, and 367 outpatient centers in 11 other countries serving 49,400 patients. The company primarily treats end ...

* Brian Watson, businessman and candidate for the State House in 2012 ( running for State Treasurer)

Caucus results

Based on information shared by some key counties, as well as a recent survey, the following are believed to be results of the Republican Caucus from key counties.

Pueblo County Pueblo County ( or ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 168,162. The county seat is Pueblo. The county was named for the historic city of Pueblo which took its name from the Spanish la ...

* Steve Barlock – 3.14% * Cynthia Coffman – 7.55% * Greg Lopez – 16.35% * Victor Mitchell – 23.90% * Doug Robinson – 3.15% *

– 45.91% Douglas County * Steve Barlock – 32.5% * Cynthia Coffman – 4.6% * Lew Gaiter III – 2.2% * Greg Lopez – 18.8% * Victor Mitchell – 7.7% * Doug Robinson – 2.2% *

– 23.2% *

(dropped out of the race) – 1.6% * ''Uncommitted'' – 7.2%

Endorsements

Polling

Results

2018 Colorado gubernatorial Republican primary

Third party and independent candidates

Candidates

Declared

* Paul Noel Fiorino (

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates are most common where there is no limit on the number of times that a person can run for office and little cost ...

* Marcus Giavanni (

), radio host * Bill Hammons (Unity Party of America), insurance agent, chairman and founder of the Unity Party of America, and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2014 and 2016 * Scott Helker (

Libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

)

General election

Debates

Predictions

Endorsements

Polling

with Cary Kennedy
with Tom Tancredo

Results

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

* Conejos (largest town:

Manassa Founded in 1851, the Town of Manassa is a Statutory Town and is the most populous municipality in Conejos County, Colorado, United States. The town's population was 947 at the 2020 United States census. Location Manassa is a farming and ranc ...

)

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

* Chaffee (largest city: Salida) *

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis (cartoonist), Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976 (later changed to ''Garfield'' in 1977), then in nationwide Print syndication, syndication from 1978, it chro ...

(largest municipality:

Glenwood Springs Glenwood Springs is a home rule municipality and the county seat of Garfield County, Colorado, United States. According to the 2020 United States census, the city has a population of 9,963. It is located at the confluence of the Roaring Fork ...

)

By congressional district

Polis won four of seven congressional districts.https://davesredistricting.org/maps#viewmap::22b4dc91-5c29-4d11-a408-108feda65390

References

External links

Candidates
at

Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is an American non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected offic ...

Candidates
at

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

Official campaign websites
Paul Fiorino (U) for GovernorMarcus Giavanni (I) for GovernorBill Hammons (U) for GovernorScott Helker (L) for GovernorJared Polis (D) for GovernorWalker Stapleton (R) for Governor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colorado gubernatorial election, 2018

Gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2018 United States gubernatorial elections