Editorial
Once upon a time, Colorado was considered an independent purple state, with no political party deemed dominant. But with the legalization of marijuana in 2012, the demographics of the state began to change. Moreover, Democrats began changing virtually every voting law in their favor, often aided by moderate Republicans who viewed themselves as more in line with the Left than with populist Republicans.
The advent of mail-in voting and then the legalization of ballot harvesting resulted in no Republican being able to win a statewide election by 2018. Money from outside Colorado poured into Republican primaries in the reddest of red districts. Soon, Republican legislators elected in districts that could not be won by Democrats were, in many cases, simply RINOs (Republicans in name only).
With the last election, Democrats now have supermajorities in both the state House and state Senate. There is little reason for Republican legislators to even go down to the Capitol these days, even the RINOs.
The only part of the November election that drew any suspense was the 14 ballot measures put up for voter approval. Six of those measures were funded by Advance Colorado, a nonprofit underwritten by wealthy Republicans like billionaire Phil Anschutz and the Coors family. Only one of those measures passed, Proposition 132, which increased sentences for fentanyl-related crimes.
The wealthy establishment Republicans who prop up Advance Colorado, in fact, cared little whether the amendment passed or not, but very much cared whether Colorado kept its flat income tax. Colorado did not. Amendment 87 passed by only 3.2 points, replacing the 4.4% flat tax with a seven-stage progressive tax, and Advance Colorado’s countervailing measure failed by a larger margin.
As a result, wealthy Coloradans can expect their rates to continue to rise every few years from now on. That, in turn, among many other reasons, will cause successful businesses to flee the state in ever-increasing numbers. It is clear that short-selling the Colorado economy is a very good bet these days.
If there is a silver lining for state conservatives in the election, it is the passage of Propositions 134 and 135, championed by Protect Kids Colorado. That organization is truly a grassroots group that had no funding from the wealthy establishment, the Republicans who back Advance Colorado. The group had to rely 100% on unpaid volunteers to gather all the necessary signatures across the state to get on the ballot.
Proposition 134 requires K-12 schools and colleges to designate athletic teams as male, female, or co-ed based on “biological reproductive systems,” effectively barring transgender kids from playing on teams that do not reflect their biological sex. Proposition 135 bans surgeries intended to alter a minor’s biological sex characteristics and blocks insurance or public funding for such procedures, though it does not restrict nonsurgical care like counseling.
Both passed by narrow margins of under 5%.
Republicans are deep in the political wilderness, and there is no clear path out of it, even when economic hard times come to Colorado as a result of Democratic policies. Often, when one party becomes totally dominant, it splits into two or more factions. The future for Republicans in the state of Colorado appears to be choosing which Democratic faction they wish to join.
— Editorial Board
