Tuesday’s election offered a wide range of results to digest, both in Colorado and nationally — at times going in different directions.
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, the state’s most prominent Republican on the national scene, won a third term after a risky bet paid off. Colorado Democrats, meanwhile, remained in firm control of the state legislature, while voters answered ballot questions with answers that weren’t necessarily predictable.
As the fallout from the election begins to take shape — including the change looming for the White House — here are early takeaways.
Ballot measures offer an ideologically mixed bag
For those keeping score at home: Colorado voters approved a sweeping constitutional amendment protecting abortion access, were on track to OK a new tax on gun and ammo sales, and approved a measure to remove anti-same sex marriage language from the state constitution — all red-meat Democratic issues.
Simultaneously, as of early this morning they also were passing conservative-backed ballot measures to tighten criminal penalties and increase funding for law enforcement (which will pose serious issues for state budget-writers in the coming months). But they were on track to reject a core conservative measure to enshrine school choice in the state constitution.
Finally, voters also soundly rejected Proposition 131, a vaguely centrist pitch to overhaul the state’s election systems, including by instituting a form of ranked-choice voting.
Make of that what you want, but — given that Democrats looked to hold near the status quo in the statehouse — there’s no evidence that Colorado voters shifted right. The state as a whole is reliably blue.
But Tuesday’s ballot results perhaps suggested that the exact shade of blue was still being ironed out.
Boebert’s move appears to pay off
After she nearly lost a shocker in 2022 and then had a scandalous day at a Denver theater last year, Boebert skipped over the Front Range and, on Tuesday night, won a return to the U.S. House for a third term in a new district. Simultaneously, her Western Slope primary challenger-cum-replacement — Republican lawyer Jeff Hurd — led Democrat Adam Frisch narrowly as the night wound down.
If that result holds, then Republicans will have successfully defended what looked like a toss-up on the Western Slope, while Boebert got to keep a different congressional seat — despite huge Democratic money and the bad headlines working against her.
Hurd still appeared to be running behind what would be the expected baseline for the solidly conservative 3rd Congressional District. And Boebert likewise underperformed in the 4th. But if the GOP keeps its House majority, Speaker Mike Johnson won’t care.
State Rep. Gabe Evans addresses his supporters after a long night of watching the numbers come in during his watch party in the race for the 8th Congressional District at the Bella Sera Event Center in Brighton, Colorado, on Nov. 5, 2024. He is the Republican challenger to Democratic U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo. As of Tuesday night, the race was still too close to call. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Of course, the situation will look even rosier for Republicans if state Rep. Gabe Evans manages to close the gap on Democratic U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo and flip the 8th Congressional District. Caraveo was up by less than 4,000 votes after midnight, and she won a squeaker two years ago.
But if — if — Evans turns it around, then Colorado Republicans will end this cycle with a 4-4 congressional split in a state that’s otherwise turned pretty blue.
Verdict on Denver tax increases still out
Faced with two large sales tax increases on their ballot, Denver voters were more willing to support the city’s safety-net hospital. The second tax measure, an increase that would raise $100 million a year for affordable housing investment and programs, was losing in early returns — though its supporters weren’t ready to concede yet.
As of late Tuesday, the Denver Health tax was winning over 57% of voters. The Affordable Denver tax proposal had been rejected by 51.7% of voters so far.
But something to watch: That rejection percentage had ticked down slightly with each update of results, giving hope to Mayor Mike Johnston and other backers that as roughly 100,000 outstanding ballots are processed, support might eventually overtake opposition.
Elsewhere on metro Denver ballots, voters were on track, by varying margins, to approve billions of dollars in bond proposals by school districts — including in the Denver, Aurora and Cherry Creek school districts.
Democrats’ Capitol control strong
Democrats’ control of the Colorado Capitol wasn’t seriously in doubt heading into Tuesday, but they appear likely to miss out on complete supermajority control of the building, which would require reaching that threshold in the Senate. Republican Sen. Cleave Simpson successfully defended his seat, and Republican Rep. Marc Catlin led in the race for an open Senate seat that Democrats had also targeted.
In the House, a few tight races were too close to call, but Democrats there looked close to holding their current supermajority — a threshold that legislative leadership had downplayed the importance of in recent days. House Speaker Julie McCluskie declared victory, while Minority Leader Rose Pugliese said she was “optimistic that we have an opportunity to gain back seats in the House.”
Colorado House Speaker Julie McCluskie speaks during a Democratic Party watch party at Number 38 in Denver on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Two years ago, some Democrats had stared with wide-eyed surprise at the 46-seat House majority they won in that cycle. But if Tuesday’s results hold, this election may show that this level of Democratic dominance here is the standard, at least for now.
That may be further cemented by what was looking like a second likely Donald Trump presidency — after the first one helped kickstart Colorado’s blueward tilt.
Colorado’s place in a new Trump era?
Sitting with reporters at Rep. Gabe Evans’ congressional watch party in Brighton, former Republican state Rep. Colin Larson shook his head.
“It’s 2016 all over again,” Larson said.
The presidential race still hadn’t been called, but initial results were looking favorable to Trump — a dynamic that continued to develop into the overnight hours. In downtown Denver, Democrats celebrated wins in the state — including Vice President Kamala Harris earning Colorado’s electoral votes by a wide margin — while urging caution in the presidential race.
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat, noted that when the nation went to bed four years ago, it wasn’t clear that Joe Biden would win the presidency. He acknowledged that Democrats were poised to lose control of the U.S. Senate, but he kept hope about winning back the House. It would mean a renewed need for bipartisanship, he said, even in a hyper-partisan era.
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It was otherwise too early to interpret the results.
“We have always had moments in American history where the parties have been at each other’s throats — where there doesn’t seem a way for people to work together — and then periods of cooperation break out,” Bennet said in an interview. “I think the American people want to see us finding ways to work together where we can. But I think they also care a lot about preserving our democratic institutions, and they are going to want to make sure we do that.”
As for whether Colorado is out of step with the rest of the nation?
“I wouldn’t say we’re out of step,” Bennet said. “I think we’re a place that a lot of places around the country can take some inspiration from. And depending how tonight goes, they may need it.”
Staff writer Joe Rubino and public affairs editor Jon Murray contributed to this story.
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