The two Democrats running for governor of Colorado agreed on nearly every policy-related topic but vehemently clashed over which of them is best equipped to lead the state through what one described as an “existential moment” in a televised debate Thursday night in Denver.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Attorney General Phil Weiser each made the case that they’re the one who should replace term-limited Gov Jared Polis, a fellow Democrat, during the hourlong contest on the University of Denver campus, held just days before primary ballots are scheduled to go in the mail to Colorado voters.

Sponsored by 9News, Colorado Politics and The Denver Gazette, the debate aired on KUSA-TV and streamed live on all three media outlets’ websites.

State Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer, state Rep. Scott Bottoms and ministry leader Victor Marx are vying for the Republican nomination in the June 30 primary in a state that has only elected a single GOP governor in the last 50 years.

While exchanges between the two Democrats at times grew heated, it was a decidedly more conventional debate than the one that took place on the same stage two nights earlier, when the three Republicans debated for the first time in an often testy colloquy filled with bizarre exchanges prompted by confrontational questions from the moderators.

Instead, the two Democrats outlined their plans to address what Bennet called Colorado’s “cost of living crisis” amid what Weiser characterized as “this lawless, bullying administration,” referring to President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House.

In between, Bennet and Weiser vented over a series of attacks they’ve hurled at each other all year, from Weiser knocking Bennet for voting to confirm multiple Trump cabinet nominees, and Bennet jabbing Weiser for declining to sign on to numerous lawsuits challenging the first Trump administrations’ policies.

Trump, who lost the vote in Colorado three times, by increasingly larger margins, could have been a third candidate on stage, as often as he appeared as a foil. According to a rough count, the moderators and candidates invoked his name nearly 50 times during the debate.

Responding to the mutual accusations — which have been inundating voters for weeks in TV and digital ads paid for by the two Democrats and their independent expenditure committees — both candidates reiterated defenses they’ve been articulating for months.

Asked whether he still stands by his votes for specific Trump nominees, including Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, Bennet said he did, citing what he called “the reality” that “Colorado and the American West are going through an existential fire crisis, and we need the resources that the Forest Service is bringing to bear in Colorado.”

“The easiest vote in America is to vote against one of Donald Trump’s nominees, but when it’s the right thing to do for Colorado, when it’s the right thing to have the resources that we need and the attention that we need, I’ve done that,” Bennet said.

Weiser, who has touted the dozens of lawsuits he’s filed against the Trump administration since the Republican took office again last year, said that Democratic attorneys general were better prepared to counter Trump during his second term. That stands in contrast, he added, with what he charged is Bennet’s business-as-usual approach in the Senate, a characterization Bennet denied.

After Bennet alleged that Weiser was “missing in action” during the first Trump administration, Weiser shot back that his opponent was making a groundless charge.

“He’s making a charge — it’s a serious charge — calling me an opportunist, bringing lawsuits for political reasons, not to protect the people of Colorado,” Weiser said. “When I sue, every time I take it seriously, and I ask two questions: is the law being broken, and are Coloradans being harmed?”

9News anchor Kyle Clark, who moderated the debate with the station’s chief political reporter, Marshall Zelinger, at one point asked the Democrats to set their stance toward Trump aside.

Describing the primary race as a “contest to see who can blame Donald Trump for more things and promise to fight him harder,” Clark asked for the candidates to talk about issues facing Colorado that aren’t Trump’s fault and that they’ll tackle if elected governor.

Bennet said he disagreed with the characterization, noting that he hears about plenty of topics unrelated to Trump on the campaign trail.

“Most of what we’re talking about is the cost of living crisis that Colorado is having. Most of what we’re talking about is the inability for people to be able to live the life that Susan and I lived here in Colorado,” Bennet said, referring to his wife. “And I believe that’s where the origins of Donald Trump come from.”

Added Bennet: “No, I don’t think he’s caused every single problem for Colorado or America. I think he is a symptom of the economic challenges that too many Americans and too many Coloradans are facing.”

Weiser said he’s taken on issues from gun violence and fentanyl abuse to the harms children face from social media.

Saying he’s attended recent gatherings that also included Bennet, Weiser said he has brought fully articulated plans to the table instead of simply “(describing) the problem again and again,” like he alleged Bennet has been doing.

“Compare the specificity about my plans on gun violence prevention. Compare my commitment to oversee and regulate social media, which is harming our kids, harming their mental health,” Weiser said after referring voters to his website and YouTube pages.

“Look at my plans to scale up a mentoring program, so every Colorado kid can have multiple mentors today — 40% have no mentors — and build a Colorado Corps, calling young people to service in teaching, nursing, fire fighting, counseling, and more. We must do more for our kids. Our kids deserve better. That’s my agenda,” Weiser added.

The race for the Democratic nomination could be tightening as the primary approaches, according to a poll released Wednesday by Fighting for Colorado, an independent expenditure committee that supports Weiser.

The survey, conducted June 1-2 by Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, showed Bennet leading Weiser 36%-30% among likely primary voters, — just outside the poll’s 4.4% margin of error — with 34% undecided. The new poll portrays a closer race than a survey released in February by a pollster hired by Bennet’s supporters, who found the three-term senator with a 27-point lead.

Polis won reelection to his second term four years ago by a nearly 20-point margin, at the same time Democrats swept every statewide office and held on to the majorities the party has enjoyed in both chambers of the state legislature since the 2018 election.

That’s one reason every national nonpartisan election forecaster ranks Colorado’s gubernatorial race as safely Democratic.

County clerks can start sending primary ballots to Colorado voters on June 8, and they must be returned by 7 p.m. on June 30. Democrats and Republicans receive their party’s ballots, while unaffiliated voters get both major parties’ ballots and can vote and return one of them.