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Newsletter — Issue 22 — June 26, 2026
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This newsletter has been published by Engage Colorado.
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The June 30 Primary — Vote by Tuesday
Final Push: Vote Bennet for Governor and Dougherty for Attorney General
This Engage Colorado Newsletter reflects the personal opinions of Dan Caruso, written with the support of the Caruso Ventures team. The Ensuring Colorado's Innovation Future Coalition did not review and has not endorsed this Engage Colorado Newsletter.
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Ballots are in the final stretch. The June 30 Democratic primary is Tuesday. If you haven't voted yet, this is the weekend to do it.
I have published two long-form endorsements of Michael Bennet for Governor over the past several weeks — one laying out the affirmative case, one explaining why I prefer Bennet over Phil Weiser despite both candidates sitting to the left of where I'd ideally want the next Governor to be. This is the closing push.
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My Case for Bennet, Distilled
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→ Real-world executive experience. Bennet has run a complex organization. As Superintendent of Denver Public Schools from 2005 to 2009 — one of the most challenging urban school districts in America at one of its most contested moments — he led the ProComp teacher-pay reform, reversed years of enrollment decline, and improved graduation rates. Before DPS, he spent most of his career at the Anschutz Investment Company doing corporate workouts and restructurings. Weiser, by contrast, has spent his entire career in legal and policy work — clerkships, federal government, law professor, Attorney General.
→ Career-stage. Bennet is at the end of his Washington career. The Colorado Governorship would be the culmination, not a stepping stone. Weiser is mid-arc, with national ambitions that would inevitably shape his administration.
→ Disposition. Bennet, in my view, is more likely to work constructively with Colorado's tech and innovation community — including with leaders whose political views differ from his own — because his focus will be on getting results for Colorado, not on burnishing credentials for a future federal run. He is more likely to be a unifier across all Coloradans. He is less likely to reach for divisive, polarizing rhetoric and politically-driven lawsuits that prioritize activist-base approval over what is best for the state.
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The next Governor of Colorado will shape our state for the next twenty years. I am voting Bennet for the hope of a Colorado Renaissance — and against the continuation of Colorado's negative trajectory.
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If you live in Colorado and you're a Democratic or unaffiliated voter who hasn't yet returned your ballot, please vote Bennet for Governor before Tuesday's deadline.
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• If your ballot is sitting on your kitchen counter, this is the weekend to fill it out, sign it, and drop it in a ballot box.
• If friends or family haven't voted yet, call them. Closing-weekend turnout is everything.
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My Other Recommendations on Tuesday's Ballot
Three other primary races on the same ballot also shape Colorado's trajectory for the next twenty years. I am voting:
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Attorney General: Michael Dougherty — not Jena Griswold. Dougherty is a serious prosecutor with twelve-plus years of trial experience. Griswold is a career politician who uses her political offices to champion extreme agendas, with no record of having prosecuted anyone.
U.S. Senate: John Hickenlooper — not Julie Gonzales. We need Hick to leverage his business and executive experience (Wynkoop founder, two-term Mayor of Denver, two-term Governor of Colorado) to use his Senate platform to help Colorado regain its innovation momentum.
CO-8 Congress: Shannon Bird — not Manny Rutinel. Bird is a centrist with a record of crossing the aisle. Rutinel has championed the kind of divisive, anti-innovation legislation that is driving Colorado's negative trajectory.
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The full long-form case for each of these is on the Engage Colorado website at engagecolorado.org.
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