Colorado Governor 2026: the ads, and who's paying for them
Phil Weiser (Democrat), Victor Marx (Republican), Eric Mulder (Libertarian), Stephen Hamilton (Constitution), Jeff Peckman (Unity), Erik Underwood (Approval Voting) and Greg Lopez (independent) are the candidates for governor of Colorado in the November 3, 2026 general election. Semblen has analyzed 15 ads in this race; 7 used at least one manipulation technique, most often loaded language and glittering generalities.
Phil Weiser (DEM), Victor Marx (REP), Eric Mulder (LIB), Stephen Hamilton (CON), Jeff Peckman (UNI), Erik Underwood (APV), Greg Lopez (IND).
On the ballot as listed by Colorado Secretary of State, 2026 General Election official candidate list. 15 ads analyzed, 7 with at least one technique in the copy.
Newest first. The paid-for-by line is the advertiser's own filing. Updated 2026-10-08.
6 of 14 (43%) flagged · Glittering Generalities (4), Loaded Language (4), Appeal to Prejudice (3)
YouTube
1 of 1 flagged · Appeal to Fear (1), Bandwagon Appeal (1), Black-and-White Fallacy (1)
Reported Meta spend
$5,000–7,277 on all ads, $1,500–2,688 on flagged ads · Meta reports ranges; these are the sums of their ends
Example
“irresponsible corporations” — Loaded Language, paid for by Phil Weiser for Colorado
· the flagged ad with the highest reported spend that shows the most common technique
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Leaving out the softer ones (loaded language, glittering generalities, slogans, exaggeration, repetition): 47% of ads.
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Money in this race
Candidates for governor report their fundraising to Colorado's state campaign-finance office, not the FEC. This page doesn't cover those reports yet, so it shows no money figures.
The ads
15 ads, newest first. Video transcripts are shown as the model read them, without caption cues like [music].
Showing the 1 ad paid for by Phil for Colorado. Show all 15 ads
Lori Schott Testimonial
Paid for by Phil for Coloradovideo · 0:30from 2026-10-06
Social media companies bear responsibility for my daughter's death. These platforms have basically pushed content that desensitized children to suicide. I have reached out with my daughter's story to so many people, but Phil was different.
Phil Weiser listened to what my family went through and got to work. The social media platforms, they're preying on kids and we need someone who isn't in their pocket to fight for us. That's Phil Weiser.
Loaded Language: Emotionally charged words chosen to trigger a reaction rather than convey facts. — for example: preying on kids.
Appeal to Fear: The claim that social media platforms are 'preying on kids' creates anxiety about threats to children to motivate support for a specific candidate — for example: preying on kids
Black-and-White Fallacy: The sentence implies only two types of people exist: those 'in the pocket' of social media platforms and those who will fight for families, leaving no middle ground — for example: someone who isn't in their pocket to fight for us
Bandwagon Appeal: The short declarative 'That's Phil Weiser' functions as a rallying conclusion implying he is the obvious collective choice after framing the stakes — for example: That's Phil Weiser
Loaded Language
Appeal to Fear
Black-and-White Fallacy
Bandwagon Appeal
Looks up the ad's factual claims in fact-checkers, primary sources and wire reporting. Takes up to a minute.
Watch on YouTube ↗Transcript above is auto-generated; the analysis is of the spoken words.
Follow the Colorado Governor race
An email when new ads come in from either side or the outside groups: the techniques, the words doing the work, and who paid. And each debate's analysis the morning after. One-click unsubscribe.
An ad is on this page because its own "Paid for by" line is a campaign in this race; or it ran mostly in CO and names a nominee for governor — unless its sponsor is a campaign for some other office (a U.S. Senate or House campaign included), or it also names CO's Senate nominees, in which case it is on the Senate race's page. Ads from outside groups appear alongside the campaigns' own.
The candidates are the ones certified for the November ballot, from the source linked at the top. Governors are state offices, so there are no FEC filings behind this page: no money figures, and outside groups are placed on a side only when they are a campaign or a party committee.
Campaigns run one text as many separate ads. Identical text from the same sponsor is one card here, marked with its number of variants.
A technique is a specific manipulative move in the wording, found by our model and explained in one line. It is not a claim that the ad is false.
Claims are checked when a reader asks: press "Check this ad's claims" on a card. The check runs once and its result is shown to everyone afterwards. The ten ads with the most money behind them in each race are checked ahead of time.
Claim verdicts say what the cited sources say. A verdict that an ad is wrong or misleading is shown only when it cites an established fact-checker or an institutional record — Congress, a federal agency, a court — and its confidence is not low; a weaker one is not shown at all. Each verdict shows what it rests on and how confident it is. If we got one wrong, press Disagree: a verdict that readers dispute and no one defends comes down.
Video ads come from the campaigns' own YouTube channels; the transcript is analyzed. Meta ads are analyzed on their text; their video and images are not, yet.
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