The stage is set for November: U.S. Rep. Jared Polis with his deep personal cash reserves will take on Walker Stapleton, the current State Treasurer who spent the primary running against Polis.
Instead of keeping his eyes trained on his competition during the primary season, Stapleton spent it touting his conservative credentials and - in the 9NEWS GOP governor's debate especially - knocking Polis.
For the most part, he ignored Doug Robinson, Vic Mitchell and Greg Lopez, his three challengers for the GOP candidacy. His strategy seemed to work: 9NEWS political analyst Floyd Ciruli called the race for Stapleton about 15 minutes after polls closed Tuesday night.
Stapleton currently leads by nearly 20 points over his closest challenger - he's got 40 percent of the vote to Mitchell's 30 percent.
At his speech accepting the GOP nomination, Stapleton warned supports that a Polis governorship would drive 200,000 jobs out of the state and take cash out of their pockets.
"Let's win this for future generations," he said. "Thank you, and thank you Colorado."
Polis, who won't accept campaign donations over $100 and is using his considerable fortune to bankroll his campaign, spent his time in the primary battling Cary Kennedy. She nearly doubled up Polis on the number of delegates earned at the state assembly: 63 percent to 33 percent.
Despite her early lead and an endorsement from the state's largest teacher's union, she is currently losing by nearly 100,000 votes in the primary. 9NEWS called the race for Polis about 40 minutes after the polls closed.
At last check, Polis led Kennedy by 19 points: Polis' 44 percent to Kennedy's 25 percent.
At his speech accepting the Democratic nomination, Polis told the gathered crowd that Stapleton was on the wrong side of nearly every question facing voters, from honesty to health care and even human rights.
"I could not be prouder in this fight," he said. "I could not be more humbled to be your Democratic nominee for governor of Colorado."
This was the first time in the state's history that unaffiliated voters - the largest block of voters in the state - were allowed to participate in major party elections, but were only allowed to pick one major party primary to cast a ballot.
9NEWS has covered both candidates extensively in the lead up to the primaries. A selection of our content can be viewed below:
GOP PRIMARY DEBATE: See Walker Stapleton pivot several times to denouncing Jared Polis as a bad candidate for Colorado and talk up his own credentials for the job as 9NEWS anchor Kyle Clark and 9NEWS political reporter Brandon Rittiman moderate.
DEM PRIMARY DEBATE: See Jared Polis fend off attacks from several challengers as he talked up his own vision for the future of Colorado, including a single-payer health care system and his promise to take on the NRA in Colorado as the state's governor.
POLIS ON COLORADO POLITICS: Jared Polis wrote an op-ed for Colorado Politics outlining his vision for Colorado. The big takeaway is his vision for fixing the state's troubled infrastructure: sensible spending and new revenue. There are more nuggets in the piece, including his plan for universal public access to the internet.
STAPLETON ON COLORADO POLITICS: Walker Stapleton also wrote an op-ed for Colorado Politics outlining - you guessed it - his vision for Colorado. He also focused on the state's troubled roads, arguing the $9 billion funding gap in transportation could be handled without raising taxes. He also offers other thoughts on the state, including an indictment that the Colorado Department of Transportation needs to do more than "business as usual."
Walker Stapleton Truth Tests: 9NEWS political reporter Brandon Rittiman took a look at several campaign ads from the Republican nominee.
In the most recent, Rittiman noticed Stapleton's claim that he was a "fourth-generation Coloradan" was a little hard to buy since he was born in Connecticut.
Another Truth Test from early June sees Rittiman taking a look at the claim that 9NEWS caught Stapleton lying. To accuse someone of lying means they knowingly and deliberately told a falsehood. Rittiman made the decision that, yes, Stapleton lied.
Jared Polis Truth Tests: 9NEWS political reporter Brandon Rittiman also took a look at some claims coming out of the Polis camp.
In the one - from May 15 - features Rittiman taking a look at Polis' hope to bring universal full-day pre-school and Kindergarten to Coloradans. While this is part of his campaign, Rittiman explained that this is just something out of the governor's hands. The legislature would need to be brought in.
Polis and Kennedy (along with the rest of the candidates on the Dem side) took what's called a "Clean Campaign Pledge." It's something the Democrats running for governor have started doing recently that means they won't stoop to a smear campaign against their challengers.
Well...
FULL ELECTION RESULTS: While both Polis and Stapleton are projected to win, full results are and will remain available at this link: https://on9news.tv/2lCLvDJ
