Talk about the meta-settlement that you reached last week with them on social media.

This is a really big deal.

Lori Schott, who's from my state, was held up by the Surgeon General as someone, as a brave mom who lost her daughter, Ana, who died by suicide.

She looked at Ana's phone and there was information from Instagram being fed to her saying, don't talk to your parents about your mental health because they're going to institutionalize you.

We've seen self-harm rates go up.

If you're a girl like Ana, you're twice as likely to get self-harm as other people.

So we took this on.

What are voters telling you?

And instead of asking Republicans about that, you should go ask the Democrats who are holding all this stuff up.

I'm asking you, why are you holding it up? I think Mike Johnson needs a refresher course on the Constitution.

It's the power of the states, and I'm quoting from the Constitution, to decide the time, the place, and the manner of our elections.

Colorado does mail ballots to everyone.

It's a gold standard to make it safe, easy, and secure to vote.

We have the second highest rate of voting in the United States.

People in Colorado like having their ballots early.

Yeah, let

We're up against some of the highest-priced legal talent out there, and we were going to win the case.

I agree with that point.

Why? What was your feeling about that?

Well, first, Jacob, I appreciate the praise for Jason and the team we put together.

It's worth noting Colorado co-led this with other states in the federal court, and we were up against some of the highest-priced legal talent out there, and we were going to win the case.

I agree with that point.

The second response is look at the New Mexico case, which was litigated to a final decision.

New Mexico won.

Why go that route? I always feel like if they're willing to give you $18 billion, they probably would have been willing to give you more.

I wanna emphasize the importance of this case is not the money per se, it's the change in behavior.

For now, coming up on a decade, our kids have not been sleeping.

Our kids have been distracted at school.

They're getting these notifications and alerts And they're going down these dark holes, often seeing content that makes them feel worse.

All that is now going to change because of an historic settlement that's going to call on Meta, Instagram and Facebook to limit how much people are on, to limit how they operate.

So this case was first and foremost about behavior change.

Where do you stand on data centers? What has been the experience in Colorado, as we mentioned, which has almost five dozen of them?

But from the consumer perspective, you know, a teenager, in the same way that they might ask somebody o- who's of age to go into a liquor store and buy them some beer, h- how does that work for this?

Let me start with what Meta had been doing, and this was part of our case.

If you're a 12-year-old, an 11-year-old, you're not supposed to be able to sign up for Instagram under a law called the, um, Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.

The law says parents have to consent to their kids being marketed to by an online platform.

If I were 11 or 12 years old, and I put in my actual age to sign up for Instagram, it would say, "You can't sign up.

Put in a valid age." The same exact person, the user, who Meta knows who that person is at this point, just puts in a different age, say 10 years older, it lets them have an account.

The turning a blind eye to minors on the platform was wrong, it was illegal, and we're now gonna stop it.

So how can regulation actually impact what young people do if they still see social media as something that is cool, as something that they want to use, and if they're still allowed to use it ultimately?

How much of this settlement really changes the financial incentives that you argue helped create the problem in the first place?

This settlement makes meaningful progress- To protect kids on many fronts.

Let me mention one I haven't talked about yet.

Because of the opportunity to get coo- kids hooked at a young age, Meta marketed to kids under 13, signed them up, and kept them, even knowing that they had 12-year-olds, 11-year-olds, 10-year-olds on the platform.

That was part of a strategy fueled by a decision to make money and to put profits over kids' health.

We're changing all that.

We're forcing them to use age assurance to not allow young kids access to this platform.

What makes you confident this agreement will do the same for social media?

How much of this settlement really changes the financial incentives that you argue helped create the problem in the first place?

This settlement makes meaningful progress to protect kids on many fronts.

Let me mention one I haven't talked about yet.

Because of the opportunity to get kids hooked at a young age, Meta marketed to kids under 13, signed them up and kept them even knowing that they had 12-year-olds, 11-year-olds, 10-year-olds on the platform.

That was part of a strategy fueled by a decision to make money and to put profits over kids' health.

We're changing all that.

We're forcing them to use age assurance to not allow young kids access to this platform.

What makes you confident this agreement will do the same for social media?

How much of this settlement really changes the financial incentives that you argue helped create the problem in the first place?

This settlement makes meaningful progress to protect kids on many fronts.

Let me mention one I haven't talked about yet.

Because of the opportunity to get good- kids hooked at a young age, Meta marketed to kids under 13, signed them up, and kept them, even knowing that they had 12-year-olds, 11-year-olds, 10-year-olds on the platform.

That was part of a strategy fueled by a decision to make money and to put profits over kids' health.

We're changing all that.

We're forcing them to use age assurance to not allow young kids access to this platform.

What makes you confident this agreement will do the same for social media?

How do you enforce these limits? How do you force Meta, for example, to make sure that kids can't just, you know, pose as an adult to open an Instagram account that's not subject, uh, to these limits?

One of the requirements of this decree is gonna be age assurance, that we're going to be able to prevent kids from pretending that they're of an appropriate age.

So kids under 13, they're not allowed to join Instagram or be marketed to without parents consenting.

And if kids are currently wanting to be on Instagram, it's been real easy, 'cause you put in your actual birthday, and they say you can't join, so then people get the memo.

They put in a different day, and they join.

There's been a lot of ways in which Instagram has been well aware this is happening and kids under 13 are on the platform.

That's gonna stop.

How are you gonna make sure that, uh, this, uh, Meta settlement money will actually benefit kids on this issue that you, uh, that's very important to you?

So some critics might say, "Well, if you have nothing to hide, why not just put it out there?"

We don't have anything to hide.

If people wanna watch how we manage elections in Colorado, we're very transparent.

We have Democrats and Republicans who monitor the elections.

We are critical in terms of how we have these ballots.

They are paper ballots that are managed and counted appropriately.

I'm really proud of how we make it easy, safe, and secure to vote.

Attorney General, is Colorado prepared for the possibility of future elections being contested?

Is that something that you'll do?

What we have with Leslie, and this is extraordinary, we have a best available athlete who can play multiple positions.

So for baseball fans, think Shotae Ohtani, great pitcher, great hitter.

That's Leslie.

She can play multiple positions.

So my honest answer, I don't know how we're going to use her, and that's a luxury because she can cover so many different positions.

Let's take wildfire resilience.

How do you respond?

For

the record, the schlamiel is one who spills the soup, and the schlamazel is the one who the soup gets spilled on.

And when you're in a family...

I don't think it's fair to say you ever expect your brother or your son or your parent is going to end up being governor.

And this was not some part of a plan that I had.

This was a culmination of my commitment to public service.

And one thing my brother said there that I will lift up because it's true.

Do you want candidates? Well, do you want members of Congress as well to consider reforms to the Supreme Court?

Why do you think Democrats in your state chose you to lead it in a race you're favored to have given Colorado's 50-year history of electing all but one Democratic

governor? Reverend Al, and I've heard you talk about this point, which is the power of really showing up for people.

Teddy Roosevelt, one of our great presidents, has a quote that I think about a lot.

Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.

And I rooted my campaign in my family story, in my work as attorney general, and in showing up for Colorado.

What that means is I shared my story as a first-generation American.

That birthright citizenship case, I was fighting Trump on it all the way to the Supreme Court because it's personal for me how we protect our immigrant community.

Are we seeing a sea change in Colorado?

To the extent that you're aware of what she has said about Israel,

do you see anti-Semitism there? Well, I want to pick up one point because it's personal to me and I believe she said something about this in your interview.

What happened on June 1st in Boulder was an anti-Semitic attack.

I knew Karen Diamond.

She was a supporter and a friend.

I know Lou Diamond, who's now a widow.

We cannot look at that murder and say anything else happened than a hate crime.

What would you say to those progressives and conservatives in Colorado?

Why do you think the voters in Colorado chose you over Michael Bennett?

Voters in Colorado are frustrated with those they see as representing an establishment that isn't focused on meeting their needs.

We ran an upstart campaign.

I am what The New York Times called a scrappy fighter, which is I said, "I'm gonna fight for Coloradans," and I've shown this as attorney general, obviously against the lawless and bullying Trump administration.

I've sued them 67 times and counting.

I've also taken on corporations that have harmed people, like when Kroger and Albertsons, two of our largest grocery stores, wanted to merge.

That would have ru- hiked up prices for consumers, that would have lost jobs, and it would have hurt local farmers.

And tonight it appears Polis has fired two clemency board directors who opposed her commutation, and I just have to ask what, what your reaction is to that.

What do you make of his decision to fire those two members of the clemency board?

I should emphasize here, I prosecuted Tina Peters along with the Mesa County district attorney.

He's a Republican.

I'm a Democrat.

The prosecution led to a just sentence.

Uh, it was close to nine years, and Governor Polis's commutation of that sentence against the advice of the board was a huge, historic mistake.

What the individuals you're referring to said in an op-ed was that Tina Peters was not remorseful, which is, to my mind and to their mind, a fundamental requirement to get your sentence commuted.

Something you actually noted as you won last night about yourself personally that I just thought was, was remarkable is that you're a first-generation American, and your mom was born in a Nazi concentration camp in 1945.

You're a Democrat about to run a race against Republican, but do you think Colorado would be better served if it had a more functional and competitive Republican party?

My background is in antitrust law.

I believe in competition.

Competition makes us stronger.

It's not healthy for any state to have one party who's dominant because another party is dysfunctional.

And to that end, If the Republicans aren't putting forward functional Republican candidates, it makes my job harder because I've got to look harder for that counterargument.

If the people of Colorado get to see that debate, it's better.

What would you say to those progressives and conservatives in Colorado?

HARI SREENIVASAN,

I say to that voter, do you want a candidate backed by out-of-state billionaires, corporations and dark money, because that's the campaign Michael Bennett has brought to you, or do you want a candidate who wants to take on Citizens United here in Colorado, do something about who controls our elections? I'm running a people power campaign.

What you can know as a voter in Colorado is I fight for you.

I hear from a number of

And frankly, that's why I'm running for governor.

We have to choose, and we have to choose what's best for Colorado.

And I got at this in the last answer, and it's really important that people think about it.

Michael Bennett will be chair of a committee this fall when the Democrats take the Senate, the Agriculture Committee.

Second concern I hear from undecided Democratic primary voters in your race is the idea that they see you and Michael Bennett as somewhat interchangeable in terms of ideology and see you both as a continuation of the Polis administration, and they're not necessarily motivated to get involved in this race if you'll just be a continuation of Jared Polis and his policies.

We could have a whole other interview on how I'm different from Jared Polis, both on substance and on style.

I want to first take your point on Michael Bennett, then the one on Jared Polis.

Michael Bennett has a lot of experience as a senator.

A lot of times in the campaign trail, he's talked about what he's done in the Senate.

And the few times he talks about plans as governor, like he talks about a cap and invest plan, he can't describe what the plan is.

We had a debate, Colorado Sun hosted it, where the question was, is this plan closer to 50 million or 5 billion? He couldn't answer it.

What is something that you are hearing from voters out there that has not become part of the media conversation about this race or the more broader conversation about this race?

What, what exactly is your sell to Colova- Colorado voters as they head to the polls?

What Colorado voters know about my campaign is I'm committed to fighting for them, whether it's taking on the lawless, bullying Trump administration, we filed our 67th lawsuit today standing up for Colorado, taking on Big Pharma, we brought back close to a billion dollars to address the opioid crisis and put that money to work to save lives, corporate landlords, Live Nation, Ticketmaster.

I'm gonna always fight for the people of Colorado.

And secondly, if you look at our campaign, we're running a people power campaign, and the campaign against us has out-of-state billionaires, corporate money, special interests.

What Coloradans know about my commitment is my true north is to serve the people of Colorado, and I believe in doing it at the grassroots.

And finally, when we're looking for someone to lead our state, we want someone who's ready to take the work on, who knows our state inside and out, knows state government.

Senator Michael Bennett has 18 years experience in the Senate.

And I, I understand that there are a whole host of issues that you oppose the Trump administration on, but can you give me a, even one example of, of a way that you could work with the administration going forward if you become governor?

Well, you wanna start with, uh, the hire- Start with the hiring.

I, I wanna say this has been one of the more bittersweet experiences of my life because, as you know, we're hiring talent that before this administration we couldn't hire.

I've known extremely competent, high-quality professional lawyers at the Justice Department, in other law offices, in the federal government, and they would say to me, "The pay scale that the feds offer just is not one we can compete with." And they say, "We have a great situation here.

We're not gonna leave." And that was the word that I heard again and again during my entire time as attorney general until January 2025, when lawyers started saying to me, "Phil, I can't stay.

My professional ethical standards are at risk.

The work I'm being asked to do, I don't believe in.

I wanna be in public service, but I can't be a part of this Justice Department." We've hired over 22, 22 people and counting from the federal government who wanna stay in public service but can't be a part of an administration that is so lawless and that is undermining the values we hold dear.

But then they wanna know, what do I do with this information besides just voting myself? What else can I do?

I mean, this is part of this bigger approach, again, to, uh, from, I think from Polis' perspective, to address growth, address affordability issues, address density, and, uh, I wonder, do you think that if this was the pushback from these municipalities, was this the right move by Polis?

There are some important principles that have been pushed to the state level, getting rid of parking minimums, ADUs as of right, and at the same time, I understand your point, and I have heard from local governments the same thing, which is, "Don't treat us like we're stupid.

Don't essentially freeze us out.

Instead, invite us in." And I do have that as my governing philosophy, and I, and I would mention, we talked about the opiate crisis before, look at the way I've led in that context.

What I did is we took the money we had, 900 million, and then I said to local governments, "How do we create the best strategy?"And I really listened.

We ended up with a number of different regions.

90% of the money goes to the regional and local level.

[laughs]

Weiser, you're first on this one.

Let me start with my career working with our entrepreneurial community.

I founded Startup Colorado, helping startups all across Colorado.

A entrepreneurial network helping companies scale up.

I've been working at the state level realizing that we've got some challenges.

How do we get the regulatory environment right? I often say regulation should be like garlic and cooking.

Just enough, but never too much.

So I think that this set of issues, which has divided some people in the legislature and where the Attorney General has kind of been back and forth on this issue, I think we have the chance together to unify our state to be on the cutting edge.

what

you're... is the vibe of how we're addressing the opioid crisis.

And just to change the communities, in the opioid crisis, the San Luis Valley has done an extraordinary job.

Lori Lasky has led their opioid response.

We, in this opioid crisis, decided how to give money.

We got $900 million by taking on Big Pharma.

We had that money, and the question was, how do we solve the problem? And I worked hard to design a solution that's about regional collaboration, which includes transparency and accountability.

Another report.

It's an important question.

For those who want the short version, look at the video Future.

It talks about my commitment to our kids who deserve better.

We had a roundtable.

Cheryl Goodan was there.

She's here today.

She lost her son to fentanyl.

Mr. Weiser.