The campaign for governor has barely started and already Donald Trump occupies center stage. Both U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser are framing their candidacies around their opposition to this White House.

That is all well and good. However, Colorado faces real challenges of its own. In their spare time, Bennet, Weiser and others might respond to these 20 issues and queries.

1. Has TABOR benefited Colorado or done it a disservice? If the latter, would you work to adjust it or seek its wholesale repeal?

2. Rapidly rising Medicaid costs constitute the monster devouring ever larger portions of the state budget. What is your plan for controlling these costs while keeping health care accessible for Colorado’s most vulnerable?

3. Led by Democrats, recent legislative sessions have seen a pronounced chipping away at open meetings and open records requirements. What is your position on such legislation and your commitment to such guarantees of transparency?

4. What reforms would you propose to Colorado’s election process to promote moderation and reduce extremism? Do you support a singular, all-comers primary election? And/or do you support ranked-choice voting?

5. What is your assessment of Colorado’s transportation system? For coming investments, what should be the balance between new lanes for automobiles versus other forms of transit including bike and scooter lanes, rail and buses?

6. On that subject, when was the last time you drove I-76 to the Nebraska border? Or I-70 to the Kansas line? Why have those highways been allowed to fall into their current state of disrepair?

7. Colorado has sunk rather precipitously in national rankings of state economies. Many attribute this decline to a heightened regulatory climate at the state level and in some localities. Do you share this analysis and how would you rectify it?

8. The national wealth divide is perhaps even more pronounced in Colorado. What specific plans do you have to promote opportunity in some communities and affordability in others?

9. Colorado ranks in the top 10 states for violent crime and the top five for property crime. Why is crime so prevalent here and what is your planned remedy?

10. Many states feature Capitol complexes that are local jewels and tourist draws. The area around the Colorado Capitol is blighted and overrun by drug dealers and parking lots. What can be done to put a shine on our State Capitol and its surroundings?

11. Charter schools have been a feature of Colorado for over 30 years. Is the state better or worse off for them? As governor, would you seek to expand them or dial them back?

12. How do you gauge the linkage between per-pupil school funding and educational outcomes? If funding levels are to appreciably increase, should voters have the expectation that achievement levels will rise commensurately?

13. The reintroduction of wolves into Colorado – good idea or failed experiment? What was your position on Proposition 114 when voters were confronted with it back in 2020?

14. Gov. Polis’s relations with rural Colorado have been strained at best. How did it come to that? What would you do as governor so that rural residents feel included and respected?

15. Given Colorado’s central role in a couple of Supreme Court cases, what is your take on a religious right of conscience and the ability of providers of creative services, as distinct from public accommodations, to withhold services that run counter to their personal morality?

16. Colorado Healthy School Meals for All program has run into budget shortfalls in getting off the ground. Do you support the universal nature of this program to give every public school student a free breakfast and lunch? Or should this be limited by family income?

17. Let’s discuss the perpetually-ignored, ticking time bomb of PERA, Colorado’s public employee pension fund. How would you change PERA’s governance structure? Would you answer its chronic underfunding through benefit reductions or increased contributions? Is the current status of a 50-50 chance of being fully funded by 2048 satisfactory?

18. Colorado is one of just five states never to have elected a female governor or U.S. senator. With you two gentlemen dominating the governor’s race and John Hickenlooper seeking reelection to the senate, that streak is likely to extend. What is your explanation for this? At what point does it go from being an aberration to an embarrassment?

19. Do you intend to go through the caucus and assembly process or petition your way onto the primary election ballot?

20. For the sake of transparency, will you pledge to announce your pick for Lieutenant Governor before ballots go out in advance of the June 2026 primary election?

Eric Sondermann is a Colorado-based independent political commentator. He writes regularly for ColoradoPolitics and the Gazette newspapers. Reach him at EWS@EricSondermann.com; follow him at @EricSondermann.