2018 Colorado Attorney General election


The 2018 Colorado Attorney General election took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the next attorney general of Colorado.
Incumbent Republican Cynthia Coffman did not run for re-election, instead opting to run for governor. The Democratic Party nominated Phil Weiser, who subsequently defeated Republican nominee George Brauchler in the general election. Weiser's victory marked the first time a Democrat became attorney general since Ken Salazar and the second time a Democrat won the office since the 1970s.

Republican primary

Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler won the Republican nomination unopposed.

Democratic primary

The Democratic primary was contested between Phil Weiser, former dean of the University of [Colorado Law School], and Joe Salazar, a state representative. Prior to the primary, outgoing John Hickenlooper took the "extraordinary move" of publicly endorsing Weiser. Salazar's campaign had received support from democratic socialist U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and left-wing organization Our Revolution.

Convention results

Weiser and Salazar qualified for the Democratic primary ballot. Attorney Amy Padden did not qualify.
CandidateTotal raw votesPercentage of vote won
Phil Weiser1,80552.87
Joe Salazar1,24936.59
Amy Padden36010.55

Primary results

Weiser narrowly defeated Salazar by a 50.43% to 49.57% margin.

Libertarian nomination

Attorney William F. Robinson, III was the Libertarian nominee.

General election

Weiser won the general election by a 6.5% margin of victory.

Results by congressional district

Weiser won four of seven congressional districts.
DistrictBrauchlerWeiserRepresentative
26%72%Diana DeGette
37%60%Joe Neguse
52%45%Scott Tipton
60%37%Ken Buck
59%37%Doug Lamborn
45%52%Jason Crow
41%55%Ed Perlmutter