ONLY ON: The Future of Colorado after the Blue Wave

Many considered Colorado a purple state, one that was represented evenly by Democrats and Republicans but seven months ago that all changed in the 2018 Midterm Election.

The so-called, “Blue Wave”, crashing through the state. Democrats not only winning the Governor’s seat but Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer and 41 seats in the house. Giving them the majority in the house, senate, and executive branch.

Many Republicans did not anticipate the drastic change Colorado would go through. That includes former Secretary of State Wayne Williams, who was voted out of office in the midterms despite having the endorsement of every daily newspaper. Williams would go on to be elected to Colorado Springs City Council.

Williams says only one of out 50 Coloradans voted for both parties. The other 49 voted a straight ticket — either all Democrat or all Republican. That’s something very rare in an election.

Williams says, “In past elections cycles, you’ve seen a lot of more looking at individual candidates unfortunately that didn’t happen this time.”

Republicans believe part of the reason for the blue uprising was in response to Donald Trump winning the Presidency. Protests across the country in response to the election, and that includes Colorado.

Then on January 4th, 2019 we were there when the newly reformed Democratic-controlled legislature convened for the start of the session. Incumbent Senator Jessie Danielson says the new legislature would be able to push through bills that were previously struck down by the GOP.

“Some of the critical measures that have failed in a party line in a republican controlled senate,” Danielson says.

Since then, Democrat-sponsored bills were aggressively pushed through and signed by Gov. Jared Polis. So far 154 bills have been signed into law. Some of the bills received bipartisan support, but the most talked about bills did not.

The most controversial one was the Red Flag Bill. We were there as Polis put his signature on the legislation. It allows law enforcement to take away guns from people who are deemed a threat to themselves or others.

When it was proposed and making its way through the legislature, it received major pushback from Colorado sheriffs. Nearly half the counties in the state said they were against it because it takes away citizens’ due process and doesn’t address mental health.

With the Red Flag Bill and other bills getting passed, it put the GOP in a frantic position of trying to win back what they lost.

At their state convention back in March, Republicans said the challenge is to make sure they don’t lose any more ground moving forward. At the top of their list is making sure U.S. Senator Cory Gardner wins his re-election in 2020.

So far eleven candidates have declared they will be running against Gardner. The senator says he isn’t too worried about losing his seat because of the control Democrats have and the bills they are streamlining despite what Coloradans have voted for in the past.

Gardner says, “I think when one party decides they are going to try and change the rules of the game to their advantage it’s a concern and that’s exactly what you see at the state legislature.”

Still, Republicans have a lot of work ahead of them to save the last major conservative in the state and only a short amount of time before the 2020 election.