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].
False Urgency: The imperative 'Get out and get it done!' creates artificial urgency and pressure to act immediately without deliberation — for example: Get out and get it done!
Appeal to Prejudice: The phrase 'take back Colorado' implies an in-group reclaiming something lost from an out-group, exploiting identity-based us-vs-them framing — for example: Let's take back Colorado!
Glittering Generalities: The vague rallying cry 'take back Colorado' invokes a sense of reclaiming heritage or values without specifying any concrete policy or action — for example: Let's take back Colorado!
False Urgency
Appeal to Prejudice
Glittering Generalities
Looks up the ad's factual claims in fact-checkers, primary sources and wire reporting. Takes up to a minute.
Paid for by Victor Marxfrom 2026-09-30 to 2026-10-03spend $400–49935,000–39,999 impressions
Colorado can still be turned around. Come hear how.
Join Victor Marx and running mate George Markert this Friday at the Centennial Hope Rally: a free evening of faith, freedom, and real solutions for Colorado.
📍 Centennial Gun Club, 11800 E Peakview Ave
🗓 Friday, Oct 2 | Doors open at 6 PM
🎟 Free for all ages, free parking
Reserve your free spot now 👇
no techniques found
Looks up the ad's factual claims in fact-checkers, primary sources and wire reporting. Takes up to a minute.
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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