This story was first published at ColoradoNewsline.
DENVER | Republican candidates for Colorado governor during a forum last week were skeptical of a plan to send federal troops into American cities.
“I’m very nervous about the idea of using our military domestically,” state Sen. Mark Baisley said. “I would invite, but to come in as augmentation to our law enforcement officers, but not to operate independently. I think that’s a little bit dangerous.”
In a speech to military leaders last week, President Donald Trump suggested that American cities should be used as “training grounds” for the armed forces. Trump has already deployed National Guard troops to Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Portland, Oregon, and other American cities to support immigration enforcement and “law and order.”
Baisley has sponsored multiple pieces of state legislation to lift Colorado’s restrictions on local law enforcement working with immigration authorities.
“There are circumstances in a declared emergency disaster, both at the state and at the presidential level, that you would call in the National Guard to assist. It’s a last resort if the local government refuses to help keep us safe,” state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer said.
Joshua Griffin, a veteran, was more direct.
“I would never put one of our people in the city, because we’re trained to kill, not to police,” he said.
The candidate forum, one of the first of the 2026 election cycle, was hosted by the Denver Press Club and moderated by Marianne Goodland and Ernest Luning of Colorado Politics. It featured nine candidates: Baisley, Griffin, Kirkmeyer, Bob Brinkerhoff, Jason Clark, Jon Gray-Ginsberg, Kelvin “K-Man” Wimberly, Greg Lopez and Will McBride.
State Rep. Scott Bottoms and Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell were not at the forum. Neither was ministry leader Victor Marx, who announced his candidacy this week and has the backing of U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert of Windsor.
It is shaping up to be a crowded GOP primary field. Nineteen Republicans are vying for the party’s nomination in the governor’s race next year, when voters will decide the replacement for Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, who is term-limited. Republicans in Colorado have lost power at the state level in recent years, and the last Republican governor was Bill Owens, who left office in 2007.
Kirkmeyer is among the most high-profile candidates and has the endorsement of Owens.
Colorado currently has a trifecta, with a Democratic governor and Democratic majorities in both legislative chambers.
“For the last seven years, Colorado has been turned into the ugly twin sister of California by a single party’s rule. Government today is not allowing us to live the American dream and not allowing us to fulfill our own destiny,” said Lopez, who served a short stint in the U.S. House of Representatives last year and also ran for the Republican nomination for governor in 2022.
The next governor likely will need to lead the state through an ongoing budget shortfall. Lawmakers had to cut $1 billion from the budget this year, and there’s an estimated $1.2 billion gap next year. That is in addition to a higher state cost share for safety net programs like Medicaid as the federal government cuts its own spending for the programs.
Kirkmeyer, who sits on the Joint Budget Committee in the Legislature, said she wants to enact a 10% across-the-board cut to state spending. She also said she would overhaul the management and implementation of Medicaid through the state’s Department of Health Care Policy and Financing.
“There are personnel services and line items that could be cut,” she said. “Over the course of the last seven years under one-party control, decisions have been made by the liberal Democrats that have put us into this mess. It’s over-spending.”
McBride, a lawyer, said the state needs to prioritize “essential services and infrastructure, not bloated bureaucracy.” He also wants to eliminate the state income tax.
The candidates were nearly in agreement about pardoning Tina Peters if elected. Kirkmeyer said she would consider it if “faced with new facts” and Griffin said he would consider commuting her sentence. Peters, who denies the results of the 2020 presidential election, was sentenced to nine years in prison for her role in a security breach in her own elections office when she was the county clerk in Mesa County.
All of the candidates also said they support a pause in gray wolf reintroduction in the state.
The state’s primary elections are on June 30 next year.
This group should be characterized as MAGA-lite. They don’t want to use military force on our streets, but will consider Peter’s pardon. They will cut further services and support for the poor and other essential services at a time when we should be increasing spending on education to reach the national average. Still, the real loonies were on the sidelines; I’m sure they are testing the support of their base to see how unhinged they can get. Meanwhile, the head loony is in Washington deciding where to send the next wave of troops to “restore law and order” after pardoning insurrectionists who actually harmed hundreds of police officers. This is nothing but a show for the base. They should use their heads and start to realize they’re getting conned so billionaires can get millions in tax breaks!
To the comment by Joshua Griffin who stated, “I would never put one of our people in the city, because we’re trained to kill, not to police.”, you might want to remember that a significant number of our police officers are veterans, so yes, they are indeed trained to kill. The Republicans running for the candidacy for the governors race need to show some backbone and demonstrate their support for law and order in our no-so-great state. Colorado has been run amok by the liberals for far too long, starting with Bill Ritter. We need someone in the capital with a firm hand to get rid of California politics and get Colorado back to the conservative values that the people deserve. Less crime, less government, lower taxes; that’s what Coloradoans want. If you don’t like it, I’m sure California, Illinois, New York and the other radical blue states will be happy to take you.