{"id":976,"date":"2026-05-15T13:34:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T13:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=976"},"modified":"2026-05-15T13:34:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T13:34:07","slug":"gop-gubernatorial-candidates-clash-on-budget-election-security-in-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=976","title":{"rendered":"GOP gubernatorial candidates clash on budget, election security in debate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

This story was first published at CPR News.<\/em><\/p>\n

DENVER<\/strong> | Republican gubernatorial candidates state Rep. Scott Bottoms and state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer faced off Thursday in their first televised debate ahead of the June 30 primary election.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the hour-long live broadcast sponsored by CPR News, Denver7 and The Denver Post, the candidates made their cases on their leadership styles, reasons for running, how they would address Colorado\u2019s budget, Democratic control of state government and the economy. The third GOP candidate, Victor Marx, declined to participate.<\/p>\n

Kirkmeyer has deep roots in the state as a 4th-generation Coloradan. She lives in Weld County now and grew up on a dairy farm, helping feed calves by 5 years old. She served as a Weld County commissioner for two decades and has been a strong proponent of the oil and gas industry.<\/p>\n

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In recent years, she has said a top goal is to balance quality of life with the need to bring businesses and high-paying jobs to the state and make Colorado more affordable. Elected to the State Senate in 2020, she is serving on the Legislature\u2019s powerful Joint Budget Committee, which crafts the state budget. She said Democrats have mismanaged state government and voters want change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have just made a mess of our state. We\u2019re unaffordable, we\u2019re unsafe. People are telling us, Unaffiliateds, Independents, Republicans and Democrats, everyone is saying this state is going in the wrong direction. They are ready for new leadership. In fact, they\u2019re begging for new leadership,\u201d Kirkmeyer said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rep. Bottoms just wrapped up his fourth year serving in the Colorado House and lives in El Paso County. He\u2019s also the senior pastor at The Church at Briargate in Colorado Springs. During his time at the Capitol, he\u2019s been one of the most conservative voices on issues such as parental rights and pushing back against reproductive rights and LGBTQ rights, and against the Democratic control of state government.<\/p>\n

Bottoms has said as governor, public safety would be a major focus and is a key reason he\u2019s running for the office. He said he wants Colorado to put pedophiles in jail for life and he ran a bill at the Capitol to put sex traffickers in jail for life, which did not pass. He said he doesn\u2019t shy away from social issues and said he opposes Colorado\u2019s spending priorities. Bottoms also said voters want change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re sick and tired of being scared to walk outside. They\u2019re sick and tired of everything. Just controlling every single aspect of their life, including all the taxes and regulation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Here are six takeaways from the debate:<\/h2>\n

Areas of disagreement<\/h3>\n

Kirkmeyer and Bottoms have a lot of differences when it comes to policy and leadership approaches. Bottoms said the state\u2019s elections aren\u2019t secure; Kirkmeyer thinks they are secure. He doesn\u2019t want Unaffiliated voters to participate in the GOP primary elections; she does. They also disagree on how Colorado prioritizes spending. Bottoms said Colorado is mismanaging millions of dollars, and he voted against the state budget. Kirkmeyer not only supported it, she helped write it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have hundreds of millions of dollars right now that are going to illegal immigrant abortions and transgender surgeries. You can find these through the budget line items,\u201d Bottoms said.<\/p>\n

Kirkmeyer said Bottoms\u2019 assertion was not true.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRepresentative Bottoms, point to me which lines exactly in the budget that he\u2019s talking about because they aren\u2019t there,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat he talks about with regard to cutting certain things, and that we\u2019re funding transgender and abortions for undocumented immigrants. Certainly not hundreds of millions of dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kirkmeyer said she works across the aisle at the Capitol and pointed to her bills with Democrats to lower property taxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in the minority both in the Senate and the House, and you have to work across the aisle to get anything done,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Bottoms has only passed one bill during his time in the legislature to create the \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d license plate. None of his other policies have gained traction.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocrats have an agreement that if I run a bill, my name\u2019s on it, they won\u2019t pass it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter whether it\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working with the federal government<\/h3>\n

Kirkmeyer said she would try to work with the Trump Administration, but disagrees with President Donald Trump\u2019s decision to move Space Command out of Colorado Springs, to deny disaster emergency declarations in Colorado and his veto of a bipartisan bill to fund the Arkansas Valley water project to bring clean drinking water to Southeast Colorado.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kirkmeyer said she would hope that Trump would remember \u201cwe\u2019re all his constituents as well\u201d and start working with the state better. But she said Democrats don\u2019t make things easier with lawsuit after lawsuit against the administration.<\/p>\n

Bottoms did not list any specific disagreement with Trump and said the president has done some pretty amazing things.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the one trying to stop mail-in balloting, which is the easiest way to cheat in any election,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Audits of Colorado elections and paper ballot counting machines have not found fraud.<\/p>\n

Bottoms said the state needs to stand on its own two feet and that he would enact a Department of Government Efficiency plan in Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a reformer. I do not mind looking at people in power,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s why when we DOGE, we\u2019re going to DOGE Republicans and Democrats, but if Trump does things that are good for Colorado, I support it. If he doesn\u2019t, I won\u2019t, but I don\u2019t have Trump derangement syndrome and I\u2019m not going after Trump at every sentence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bottoms blasted the Democratic candidates for governor, U.S Sen. Michael Bennet and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, for focusing too much on Trump\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing they have is \u2018we hate Trump,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cThey don\u2019t have policies; they don\u2019t have anything that\u2019s moving forward. They\u2019re definitely not going to DOGE the state and try to uncover corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes or No questions<\/h3>\n

During a lightning round of questions, the candidates agreed on most points. Neither support the dismantling of NCAR, the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. Both agree that Donald Trump is not eligible to run for another term as president. Neither think it\u2019s fair for states to redistrict for partisan gains ahead of the mid-term elections. Both said, as governor, they would work to bring Space Command back to Colorado.<\/p>\n

Their one point of disagreement was on the 2020 presidential election. When asked if Joe Biden won the election, Bottoms answered \u201cno,\u201d while Kirkmeyer said \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Audits, recounts, and lawsuits found no credible evidence that the 2020 election was stolen and, in fact, showed the opposite: that it was a free and fair election.<\/p>\n

Addressing the state budget<\/h3>\n

The candidates differed sharply on the state\u2019s budget issues. Throughout the debate, Bottoms charged that the state is stealing hundreds of millions of dollars through mismanagement of the state budget. That clearly struck a nerve with Kirkmeyer, a member of the Joint Budget Committee that\u2019s constitutionally responsible for delivering a balanced budget in each legislative session.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of things that through the budget have been mishandled greatly,\u201d Bottoms said. \u201cThere are some things when it comes to healthcare, Medicaid, Medicare, that we have to protect. We actually have a constitutional obligation to protect these things. But the problem is, those are also being misused and there\u2019s corruption within those\u2026The problem with our budget is it\u2019s not balanced. I voted against it four years in a row because one day it\u2019s balanced, the next day we owe $880 million. That is not a balanced budget just because it looks like it on paper and everybody signs off, that\u2019s not balanced.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kirkmeyer shifted some of the blame onto the administration of Gov. Jared Polis, but also went after Bottoms for some of his claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, there probably is some corruption, there is going to be some fraud, but the problem is this administration is one of the worst-managed administrations there is,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it is a balanced budget as required under our Constitution \u2013 just because in your checkbook, if the money goes up and down within your checkbook or within your savings account, doesn\u2019t mean that the budget is not balanced, because it is balanced.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are not hundreds of millions of dollars that are being done in a corrupt manner that are going from one program to another program \u2013 that can\u2019t happen. And Representative Bottoms has said in many cases that he\u2019s able to cut billions of dollars out of the budget. Yet I have not seen one amendment from him that actually cuts anything out of the budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boosting the state\u2019s economy<\/h3>\n

When it comes to the economy, Kirkmeyer said she knows how to govern and get the job done and pull back on regulations in areas she feels the state has gone too far, such as energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to create an environment where people want to come here and invest in our state and bring jobs to our state and pull back on regulations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Kirkmeyer also said she wants to focus on a top issue for voters: making the state affordable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI have lowered property taxes, I have cut regulations, I\u2019ve cut spending, made my county more affordable, led it to zero debt and also have been working on bills that I\u2019ve passed that have also made us more affordable here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Bottoms agreed that Colorado needs to reduce regulations on businesses and it is expensive. But he said corruption needs to be tackled first.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore we can have affordability. We\u2019ve got to deregulate, and we\u2019ve got to DOGE every single thing in the state of Colorado,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bottoms also said he would focus on reducing overall taxes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that property tax, I believe income tax is also a big issue. Taxes in general, we\u2019re six most regulated state in the United States,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Addressing social issues<\/h3>\n

For Bottoms, \u201csocial issues\u201d largely came down to pedophilia, human trafficking and trans rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe very deeply that the people of Colorado are tired of where we are in this state and this is both sides of the aisle,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is unaffiliated voters, this is everyone. They\u2019re tired of the bigger issues that have to do with boys and girls sports and those kinds of things. I do not shy away from the social issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe that this is just about the budget and potholes. I believe it\u2019s about some much bigger issues \u2026 I\u2019ve tried to pass many bills that have specifically to do with that leadership, grooming our kids, trafficking, kids, parental consent, pedophilia, all of these different subjects. I\u2019ve stood strong on those for four years as a representative and as a governor, I\u2019ll continue to provide top-tier leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also alleged that Colorado has a ring of pedophiles running through the statehouse and governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no way I can prove this right now because I\u2019m not a federal investigator. I\u2019m also not a prosecutor. But we\u2019ll see. And here\u2019s the thing is even after, if I somehow do not get elected governor, I\u2019m not going to let this go. We\u2019re going to go after this. I\u2019ve been fighting pedophilia in this state for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

A moderator pointed out that Bottoms admitted he has no way that he can prove his allegations at this time, which he disagreed with.<\/p>\n

Kirkmeyer discussed whether cell phones in the classroom should be restricted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI personally think that cell phones probably should be banned,\u201d she said. \u201cI think there might be some situations where there could be a case where there would be cell phones, especially in the case of emergencies, that type of thing. But in the classroom, having them on, I think it\u2019s a distraction.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said cell phones can be a huge distraction. Bottoms agreed and said the state also needs to work on regulating how AI is used for minors.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou own your retinas, fingerprints, your voice, your face, you own you, your person. And we\u2019ve got to be able to regulate that when it comes into the AI space because this is what we\u2019re seeing in the school districts, is take a picture of a young lady and then you put all of this other stuff to it using her face, but nudity and all of this. And this is a major big issue,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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This story was first published at CPR News. DENVER | Republican gubernatorial candidates state Rep. Scott Bottoms and state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer faced off Thursday in their first televised debate ahead of the June 30 primary election.\u00a0 During the hour-long live broadcast sponsored by CPR News, Denver7 and The Denver Post, the candidates made their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":975,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[258],"tags":[1238,1239,1240,45,853,1241,1242],"class_list":["post-976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colorado-news","tag-barbara-kirkmeyer","tag-cpr-news","tag-denver7","tag-donald-trump","tag-scott-bottoms","tag-the-denver-post","tag-victor-marx"],"yoast_head":"\nGOP gubernatorial candidates clash on budget, election security in debate - Denver Moving Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=976\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GOP gubernatorial candidates clash on budget, election security in debate - Denver Moving Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This story was first published at CPR News. DENVER | Republican gubernatorial candidates state Rep. Scott Bottoms and state Sen. 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