Barb Kirkmeyer, the leading Republican candidate for Colorado governor in 2026, made a weekend swing through Alamosa and spent time Saturday morning on The Valley Pod talking about her campaign.
We asked Kirkmeyer to address five areas where price increases have far exceeded the growth of household income since 2019, according to figures. Those costs are housing, food, healthcare, childcare and energy.
Kirkmeyer is the state senator for District 23 in north-central Colorado, which includes parts of the growing Larimer and Weld counties. She is a member of the Joint Budget Committee, which writes Colorado’s spending plan each year, has a long background in health and human services policy, served in the cabinet of former Gov. Bill Owens in local government affairs, and spent 18 years as Weld County commissioner.
“We have come a long way, but unfortunately in the last seven years our state is kind of a mess right now. We’re unaffordable, we’re unsafe and quite frankly we’re unraveling in a lot of different areas,” Kirkmeyer said when asked about 2026, Colorado’s 150th year of statehood.
She railed on “overburdensome regulation” by the state and called attention to the 25 counties in Colorado that she says offer no hospitals with maternal health care.
“That means every woman in those counties doesn’t have a place to go for maternal health care. I think that’s appalling.”
Other Republican candidates include Mark Baisely and Scott Bottoms, both state legislators, and Greg Lopez, who is making a third run for governor.
The leading Democratic candidates for governor are U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.
Colorado holds its primary election for governor on June 30, 2026.
Kirkmeyer emphasized her experience working in county government as a Weld County commissioner in addition to her background in state government. She cited Colorado’s last rural governor, Roy Romer, as providing a model for how she would work in bringing together groups with different interests to move Colorado forward.
“I will remind everybody of Gov. Roy Romer, who was a Democrat, but he did the smart growth initiative and it was wonderful. And it is something that I would probably build upon,” she said.
“He did this initiative where he brought local governments to the table. Environmental groups, homebuilders, finance, everybody got to come to the table and talk about ‘What does Colorado look like in the next 20 to 50 years and then how do we get there? And that’s how you do it, by building those partnerships and working with folks.”
The hour-long conversation with Kirkmeyer ends on agriculture, growth and water, and a note Kirkmeyer makes around water rights.
“I don’t think most people understand that water rights are a private property right. People do have the right to sell their water and it’s not necessarily governed by the state of Colorado. It’s a water right and we need to respect that as well and make sure we aren’t infringing on that water right.”
Watch the full conversation here on The Alamosa Citizen YouTube channel. The audio-only podcast posts Monday on AlamosaCitizen.com and all major streaming services.