Denver Sen. Chris Hansen’s decision to leave the state Capitol for a job in southwestern Colorado while endorsing two Democrats to ascend the political ladder behind him has frustrated party officials and sparked fresh criticism of the process that’s served as a gateway for a third of the state legislature. “The optics are (expletive),” summarized … Read more
State Sen. Janet Buckner, an Aurora Democrat, announced Thursday that she plans to resign at the start of the legislative session in January. Buckner is the second senator to announce their resignation in the weeks following their reelection. She was unopposed in her Nov. 5 reelection. Buckner has served in the legislature since 2015, when … Read more
Former Vice President Mike Pence warned against “populists” seeking sway over conservative politics during a Friday speech at Colorado Christian University, and he called for a defense of “traditional” conservative values on foreign policy, abortion and marriage. Pence’s speech at CCU, a small conservative school in Lakewood, came 10 days after his former running mate, … Read more
Cynthia Hawkins and Bill Christopher both depict themselves as moderates whose vote preferences this year are being steered, at least in part, by worries over immigration. But it’s not driving their votes the same way. Instead, their shared concerns about the sheer number of new arrivals to the country in recent years, along with the … Read more
Living in Colorado, for many, means spending a lot of time worrying about how to make the rent or the mortgage — or whether they’ll ever be able to buy a home. Housing costs have been on a long and sometimes sharp climb throughout the state. In Colorado Springs, home prices have risen 119% since … Read more
Valdamar Archuleta built the platform for his long-shot run against U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette to represent Denver in Congress in part on what voters told him they cared about. The first plank of what the Republican hopeful calls his “commitment to Denver” is focused on his strategies for reducing the cost of living — specifically … Read more
Colorado’s 7th Congressional District, centered on suburban Jefferson County, hasn’t had a Republican in the seat since Bob Beauprez left Congress nearly 20 years ago. But Sergei Matveyuk, an antiques repairman from Golden and the GOP contender for the seat in the Nov. 5 election, urges voters not to count him out in his battle … Read more
Donald Trump’s visit to Aurora on Friday for a sold-out rally will mark the first big public event by a major-party presidential candidate in Colorado this year — with Trump’s visit motivated more by the chance to amplify his rhetoric about migrants than to seize on any likely prospect of winning Colorado. His planned afternoon … Read more
Amendment J would protect same-sex marriages in Colorado by repealing the state constitution’s now-defunct definition — which recognizes only unions between a man and a woman. Same-sex marriages were legalized nationwide in 2015 by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the Obergefell v. Hodges case. Colorado was already issuing gay marriage licenses the prior year, … Read more
Outside committees have spent more than $1.2 million on a handful of Colorado legislative races already this election cycle, highlighting the electoral fights that could determine how much power the majority Democrats will have in the Capitol for the next two years. The spending, most of it by party-aligned independent expenditure committees, largely targets nine … Read more
