The former dean of the University of Colorado Law School and onetime Obama administration official announced Friday he is seeking the Democratic nomination for state attorney general in 2018.
Phil Weiser made clear his top priority is rebuffing President Donald Trump and pointed to actions by attorneys general in other states who filed lawsuits to block the administration’s travel ban from six Muslim-majority countries.
“The election of Trump and the disregard for civil liberties and the effort to undermine the rule of law really strikes me at a deep level,” said Weiser, citing the story of his mother, who was born in a German concentration camp before coming to America at age 6. “I have a real commitment to the values of this country and civil liberties and constitutional rights.”
The 49-year-old Denver resident took aim at Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman, a Republican, for “aiding and abetting” the White House by not taking action.
Weiser is a first-time political candidate, but he enters the contest with a big-time endorsement from Ken Salazar, Interior secretary under former President Barack Obama, and a former U.S. senator and state attorney general.
“For almost twenty years, Phil has led the charge to train Colorado’s lawyers of the future, to advocate for them, and to be a champion of inclusiveness,” Salazar said in a statement issued through the campaign.
The race also creates a down-ballot proxy battle between warring factions in the Democratic Party.
State Rep. Joe Salazar, D-Thornton, announced his bid for attorney general in March, hoping to draft from the energy of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who he supported in the presidential race.
Weiser’s other initial endorsements include top Obama administration officials — connections from his time as a senior White House adviser on technology and innovation and deputy attorney general for the antitrust division at the Department of Justice.
Earlier in his career, Weiser clerked for U.S. Supreme Court justices Byron White and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
If elected, he said his two areas of focus would be environmental protections and consumer advocacy. He criticized Coffman for filing a lawsuit against Boulder County for delaying its oil and gas regulation and for joining other Republican attorneys general in challenging Obama’s clean power plan.
“She’s not protecting our environment,” he said.
