By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance
Two of Colorado’s leading potential gubernatorial candidates suggested Wednesday that the state should focus more attention on maintaining and upgrading highway infrastructure, signaling a potential shift could be coming in transportation policy.
Democratic Attorney General Phil Weiser and Republican state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, who are both rumored to be eying runs to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Jared Polis in 2026, spoke at a Move Colorado event on what’s next for transportation in the state. Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse sent a video to the event because Congress remains in session, while Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a fourth rumored candidate, had to miss the event because of a pressing issue, organizers said.
Weiser and Kirkmeyer, who fielded questions from Move Colorado Executive Director Tamra Ward, lined up fairly closely on a number of their approaches in an event that some attendees referred to only half-jokingly as the first debate of the gubernatorial race. Both supported greater usage of public-private partnerships to fund major construction, both said that transportation-related land-use planning should originate from local governments and both backed existing environmental regulations on transportation emissions.