Colorado Lt. Gov. Donna Lynne to make ‘major announcement’ regarding 2018 governor’s race on Thurs.

DENVER – Colorado Lt. Gov. Donna Lynne is set to make a “major announcement” regarding her possible candidacy for governor in 2018 Thursday morning, she announced Wednesday.

She is expected to announce her run—or her less-likely decision not to run—after months of speculation over whether she’d try to succeed her current boss, John Hickenlooper, who is term-limited in 2018.

Lynne filed her “Lynne for Colorado” campaign committee on Aug. 1, and officially filed her candidacy for the governorship on Aug. 11 as was required after filing her committee.

Her press officer, Curtis Hubbard, sent out a press release Wednesday morning alerting to Lynne’s announcement, which will happen at 8:30 a.m. at the Spring Café near 14th Avenue and Grant Street in Denver.

She is expected to be joined by “friends, family and supporters,” according to the announcement.

After Lynne registered her candidacy, her registered agent, Ethan Susseles, said Lynne was still in an “exploratory phase to identify supporters and to hear from key Democrats across the state.”

She has hinted at a 2018 run for months after saying in 2016 she wouldn’t try to succeed Hickenlooper, but faces a crowded primary field should she decide she’s running.

Rep. Jared Polis, ex-state Sen. Mike Johnston, Colorado’s former Treasurer Cary Kennedy, and Noel Ginsburg, a Colorado businessman, have already declared their candidacy on the Democratic side.

Rep. Ed Perlmutter was also running as a hopeful to replace Hickenlooper, but dropped out of the race not long after he initially announced he was running.

The Republican field is already packed as well, with 18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler, former state lawmaker Victor Mitchell, and Doug Robinson, who is Mitt Romney’s nephew, among the candidates who have declared.

Lynne served 20 years in the New York City government before she moved to Colorado and became an executive at Kaiser Health.

Hickenlooper has said in the past he would stay neutral in the governor’s race in 2018, but dropped more hints recently that he supported her run.

However, he told the Denver Post he doesn’t want to tip the scales: “The last thing she needs is for everyone to say, ‘The governor is trying to get her elected’ or ‘pushing her out there to do this.’”