President Donald Trump and his administration’s approach on immigration took center stage as the four Republicans battling for a chance to be Colorado’s next governor faced off Tuesday evening in their final debate before the June 26 primary.

Each candidate at the showdown hosted by The Denver Post, Denver7 and the University of Denver voiced support for Trump, but they hedged on his policy of separating immigrant parents crossing into the U.S. illegally from their children.

Only one offered a full-throated rejection, despite mounting pressure from Republican leaders nationwide.

Colorado Treasurer Walker Stapleton did not denounce the president’s action. “The last thing anyone wants to see is families broken up,” he said while blaming federal lawmakers for the problem.

“I think Congress needs to fix this policy,” he said. “I call on Congress to fix this policy.”

Businessman and former state lawmaker Victor Mitchell took a similar tact, saying “from a humanitarian standpoint, of course, no one wants their kids separated.”

But, Mitchell said, “I think the president is on the right track when it comes to comprehensive immigration reform.”

Former Parker Mayor Greg Lopez said parents are putting their children in harm’s way, but he is upset by what he’s seeing. “I truly believe that separating kids from their parents is not something we ever want to see,” he said.

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Businessman and first-time candidate Doug Robinson was the only one of the four to fully push back on the president’s highly controversial action.

“I do not support the president’s policy,” he said. “These scenes from the border are heart-wrenching. This is not who we are as Americans. It’s not who we are as Republicans.”

After the candidates differentiated themselves over immigration, the debate became a contest of who could align themselves most closely with the president. Polls show Republican voters in Colorado remain loyal to Trump.

Mitchell is the only gubernatorial candidate who didn’t vote for Trump for president, opting instead for independent candidate Evan McMullin.

He nonetheless had high praise for the job Trump’s done so far — and even said he was most like the president among the GOP gubernatorial candidates, citing their business backgrounds and relative lack of political experience.

“I think the president has done by and large what he promised to do, and I support what the president is doing in many respects,” he said. “I mean, just take a step back and step away from his demeanor at times and look at what’s actually happening.”

But he expressed concern about Trump’s trade policies and damaged relationships with U.S. allies. “I worry a great deal about him getting into a trade war with our friendly neighbors,” Mitchell said.

Stapleton, who has been tying himself to Trump in television ads, continued his embrace of the White House. “I think it’s actually helpful for the governor to work with the president,” he said, vowing to still push back against Washington when Colorado’s values are at stake.

Lopez called Trump a true leader. “I think he is a good role model” for children, he added. But he criticized his decision to sign the omnibus spending bill raising the national debt.

Robinson said he was a big fan of Trump’s tax cuts, but raised concerns about the president’s trade decisions, however, saying on that issue he’d “stand up and be bold about that.”

“I think he’s done some really great things for Coloradans,” Robinson said.

The group had different opinions on Trump’s repeated claims that the media is the “enemy of the people.”

“I think that’s a little bit strong,” Stapleton said of the president’s take, while still accusing Colorado’s largest news outlets of having a liberal bias.

Lopez said the media is “not necessarily the enemy of the people,” but advised them to strive to be more fair.

“I don’t think the media is the enemy at all,” Mitchell said, and Robinson agreed.

The four candidates all said they didn’t support the “red flag” bill that was rejected by Republicans in the Colorado General Assembly this year, which would have allowed judges to temporarily take away firearms from people deemed a threat to themselves or others.

However, they all voiced some support for the idea generally.

“I was very disappointed that the Senate in the General Assembly killed the bill instead of trying to amend it,” Mitchell said.

Robinson thought the measure should have been narrowed.

“I think we’ve seen the Democrats’ plan,” Robinson said. “The Democrats’ plan is to take away our guns.”

On climate change, Lopez was the only one on stage who said he didn’t believe the global phenomenon stemming from greenhouse gases is caused by humans.

The candidates did all agree, however, on their dislike for Gov. John Hickenlooper’s executive order Tuesday requiring Colorado to adopt California-style low-emission vehicle standards by 2025.

“This is a mandate for us to buy vehicles we don’t need at prices we can’t afford,” Stapleton said.

All four candidates said they would reject a proposed ballot initiative to extend oil and gas drilling setbacks from development to 2,500 feet and that they approve of the current setback regulation of at least 500 feet — a point that stirred crosstalk about who on stage has taken campaign money from the industry.

“There’s no free lunch,” Mitchell said, noting Stapleton and Robinson have accepted industry money while saying he hadn’t. “They’re going to be coming calling. It’s an absolutely critical industry to our state, but I don’t think any of us should be indebted to any of these powerful organizations.”

From the debate stage, Stapleton made a naked plea by calling on the oil and gas industry to spend more money on his campaign — “I hope they’re listening because it’s going to need to be a lot more” — so he can win the general election should he face Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Polis in November.

“I think it’s a little bit disingenuous of Victor to talk about he’s not taking money from these other parties when he’s investing a great deal of money on his own,” Robinson said in a swipe at the millions of dollars Mitchell has given his own campaign.

On education, all four candidates voiced their belief that teachers are undercompensated, with Mitchell calling educator pay abysmal and Lopez calling for their compensation to be decided at the local level.

Robinson and Stapleton agreed that educator pay is too low and called for greater school-spending transparency.

“We need to move money from the administration into the classrooms across the state,” Robinson said.

Stapleton added: “The structure for K-12 education funding is broken. We need more transparency to understand where our money is actually going and why it is not ending up in the classroom.”

Tuesday’s debate followed a Monday showdown involving the four Democrats vying to be the state’s next governor.

Staff writer John Frank contributed to this report.