With just 27 days left until the gubernatorial primaries, Democratic candidates Mike Johnston, Donna Lynne, Cary Kennedy and Jared Polis went head-to-head during the taping of the debate series “Colorado Decides” Wednesday.

The discussion covered everything from Bernie Sanders’ influence in the Democratic party to Colorado facing a forthcoming economic recession, as well as the and newly released negative campaign ads by one of Kennedy’s ally groups.

CBS4 political specialist Shaun Boyd asked Kennedy, “A new ad by a super PAC that supports you is attacking a couple of your opponents here. You did take a clean campaign pledge, so do you denounce this ad and will you request that the PAC take it down?”

Kennedy confirmed that she did, in fact, take a clean campaign pledge and will continue to only produce positive ads, but never explicitly denounced the ad. Instead, she steered the blame to a teachers’ group that is endorsing her campaign and produced the commercial.

“This is an ad that they’ve used to communicate the differences in our approaches to education policy, and it’s important that the teachers have the ability to express their opinion in a race that matters to them,” Kennedy said.

Boyd reiterated the question to secure a yes or no answer. “I don’t like negative campaigning, but this was the teacher’s ad, not mine,” Kennedy replied.

One of the opponents who was attacked in the ad was former state Sen. Mike Johnston. The ad highlighted Johnston’s work on conservative-leaning “anti-teacher” legislation for promoting a bill that connected teacher evaluations to student progress.

In response, Johnston questioned Kennedy’s leadership in the handling of the situation and attempted to hold her accountable for “her coalition’s” ad.

“If you’re going to lead in this situation you could, one, say, ‘I denounce this ad and call for them to take it down.’ Two, if they won’t take it down, (say) ‘I’ll call the donors who’ve given to that fund and ask them to withdraw their money.’ Third, if they don’t, I’d ask those coalitions to rescind their endorsement.”

Polis, who was also mentioned in the ad, wasn’t quiet about his thoughts on the ad, either. “I think this is a pattern here for Cary Kennedy,” he said. “Real leaders don’t shift responsibility. They take ownership.”

Lynne, the lieutenant governor, wasn’t mentioned in the ad, but she jumped in with a quip.

“Leaders don’t bicker,” she said. “They move forward.”

The remainder of the conversation focused on transportation, the public employees’ pension, the needs of Colorado’s elderly population and education.

“Colorado Decides” was hosted by “Colorado Inside Out” host Dominic Dezzutti, who was joined by Boyd and independent political analyst Eric Sondermann. It is set to broadcast on CPT12 Friday night at 9.

The debate was a joint production between Colorado Public Television, KOA NewsRadio, CBS 4 and KUNC.

Editor’s note: Gabrielle Bryant is a producer for Colorado Public Television.