Photo: Greg Lopez, then a Republican candidate for Colorado governor, attends the Western Conservative Summit in Aurora on June 4, 2022. He will be on the 2026 ballot as an unaffiliated candidate for governor. (Chase Woodruff/Colorado Newsline)
This story by Lindsey Toomer appeared on Colorado Newsline on July 28, 2026.
Former U.S. Rep. Greg Lopez will be on the ballot as an unaffiliated candidate for Colorado governor in November.
The former Republican, who spent six months representing Colorado’s 4th Congressional District in Congress in 2024, has run for governor twice before, losing in primary elections in both 2018 and 2022.
The secretary of state’s office announced Tuesday that Lopez submitted a sufficient number of signatures to appear on the November ballot. Unaffiliated candidates for governor must submit 1,000 valid signatures from each congressional district in Colorado, and he comfortably cleared that requirement. The secretary of state’s office verified just under 12,000 of the signatures Lopez submitted.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser won the Democratic primary election for Colorado governor in June, defeating U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet. Victor Marx won the Republican nomination, and Jeff Peckman is running as a member of the Unity Party.
The winner will succeed Governor Jared Polis, who is term-limited.
Weiser is the heavy favorite in the race. Colorado has only elected one Republican governor since 1975, and Democrats are widely expected to hold on to the governorship and other statewide offices in a favorable midterm election this year.
Lopez became a self-described “placeholder” in Congress following former U.S. Rep. Ken Buck’s resignation in March 2024. Shortly afterwards, a small committee of Republican Party members nominated Lopez to finish Buck’s term, and he went on to defeat Democrat Trisha Calverese in the June special election. GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert of Windsor won election to a full term representing the 4th District later that year.
Lopez also previously served as mayor of Parker.
Marx, who lives in El Paso County, is the founder of All Things Possible Ministries, a nonprofit that purports to do humanitarian work around the globe. Throughout his primary campaign, he declined to answer questions about the organization’s specific activities and scope of work. He also dodged questions about whether he’s killed people or how many.
Colorado Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: info@coloradonewsline.com.