As a former Coloradan and blogger in 2010 on Colorado politics, I long ago wrote that for all practical purposes, there is no Colorado Republican Party.
Colorado is solid Blue because former leaders some 20 years ago got on the wrong side of abortion and other social issues.
What you describe is certainly a good part of things; also for the most part the Democrats have chosen high profile statewide leaders pretty well (Polis most obviously of course, but also e.g. Hickenlooper). I don't know the ground level details of how that came to happen - it would be a good study for Democrats actually interested in winning in purple states.
Granted CO's demographic and economic development profile (solid tech/"New economy" sector, too cold to be attractive to that many retirees, no international border to the south) are not on first glance going to that easy to replicate anywhere else (other than WA and OR which made their "final" swings blue rather earlier than CO did; note that both those states having, AFAIK, broadly sane state level Republican parties and rather less competent state level Democrats was unable to prevent the demographic tide).
UT might in some ways match - e.g. highly edumacated and youngish population, developing technology sector with less governmental inertia favoring agriculture/extractives/low value add employment - but UT is also sui generis because of the Mormons (I mean that not at all as a criticism of Mormons just to be clear).
Yes, I comment on The Dispatch, The Free Press, WaPo and wsj.com.
And, yes, Colorado was a purple state with Democrat governors and senators for both parties when we moved there more than 30 years ago. By late 2020, when we moved to Florida, it was a purples state on the verge of turning solid Blue.
The transformation was led by Jared Polis and his fellow billionaire Democrats. They joined forces about 20 years ago after Republican legislators went over board on social issues.
A huge inflow of people from California, Illinois and other Blue states coupled with a surge in young transplants turned the state very Blue over time.
Along the way, Democrats gained the power to gerrymander legislative districts.
And, as you point out, Democrats' candidates became much better than the Republicans.
The state's caucus system enabled both parties' extremists to prevail and the Democrats' extremists are in control.
Although I'm a small government Republican/libertarian/conservative, I've long thought that Polis has been a pretty good governor. Biden should make Polis his nominee for VP, but he has the Colorado votes so he'll probably do his DEI thing with someone else.
I have to update it now with new platforms now out but … for my political parties class I made word clouds from 3 state GOP platforms & 3 state Dem platforms (WY, VT, WI)
Heartening in that it provides evidence that the takeover of RNC by the Trump campaign hasn't progressed to the state level or their core concern, 2020, would be more emphasized.
What strikes me is the low degree of centrality shown by the swing states, other than NC. NC has tagged as a possible flip. However, it was a Biden loss in 2020 and the first three months of polling there has not resulted in a winning credible interval.
MI, as you noted, is MIA, and I don’t see PA, AZ. Makes me wonder what's brewing there. NB is singing to the choir, given the number of issues. I don’t know if that is calculated—to hype base turnout in the Omaha district—or they have failed to think that it might be an advantage not to draw attention to the race there.
As a former Coloradan and blogger in 2010 on Colorado politics, I long ago wrote that for all practical purposes, there is no Colorado Republican Party.
Colorado is solid Blue because former leaders some 20 years ago got on the wrong side of abortion and other social issues.
Hi Donald - same you as The Dispatch, right?
When did you leave CO?
What you describe is certainly a good part of things; also for the most part the Democrats have chosen high profile statewide leaders pretty well (Polis most obviously of course, but also e.g. Hickenlooper). I don't know the ground level details of how that came to happen - it would be a good study for Democrats actually interested in winning in purple states.
Granted CO's demographic and economic development profile (solid tech/"New economy" sector, too cold to be attractive to that many retirees, no international border to the south) are not on first glance going to that easy to replicate anywhere else (other than WA and OR which made their "final" swings blue rather earlier than CO did; note that both those states having, AFAIK, broadly sane state level Republican parties and rather less competent state level Democrats was unable to prevent the demographic tide).
UT might in some ways match - e.g. highly edumacated and youngish population, developing technology sector with less governmental inertia favoring agriculture/extractives/low value add employment - but UT is also sui generis because of the Mormons (I mean that not at all as a criticism of Mormons just to be clear).
Hi Bayesian,
Yes, I comment on The Dispatch, The Free Press, WaPo and wsj.com.
And, yes, Colorado was a purple state with Democrat governors and senators for both parties when we moved there more than 30 years ago. By late 2020, when we moved to Florida, it was a purples state on the verge of turning solid Blue.
The transformation was led by Jared Polis and his fellow billionaire Democrats. They joined forces about 20 years ago after Republican legislators went over board on social issues.
A huge inflow of people from California, Illinois and other Blue states coupled with a surge in young transplants turned the state very Blue over time.
Along the way, Democrats gained the power to gerrymander legislative districts.
And, as you point out, Democrats' candidates became much better than the Republicans.
The state's caucus system enabled both parties' extremists to prevail and the Democrats' extremists are in control.
Although I'm a small government Republican/libertarian/conservative, I've long thought that Polis has been a pretty good governor. Biden should make Polis his nominee for VP, but he has the Colorado votes so he'll probably do his DEI thing with someone else.
Very good job, Seth!
I have to update it now with new platforms now out but … for my political parties class I made word clouds from 3 state GOP platforms & 3 state Dem platforms (WY, VT, WI)
Heartening in that it provides evidence that the takeover of RNC by the Trump campaign hasn't progressed to the state level or their core concern, 2020, would be more emphasized.
What strikes me is the low degree of centrality shown by the swing states, other than NC. NC has tagged as a possible flip. However, it was a Biden loss in 2020 and the first three months of polling there has not resulted in a winning credible interval.
MI, as you noted, is MIA, and I don’t see PA, AZ. Makes me wonder what's brewing there. NB is singing to the choir, given the number of issues. I don’t know if that is calculated—to hype base turnout in the Omaha district—or they have failed to think that it might be an advantage not to draw attention to the race there.
It’s like whackamole
Fascinating charts. Thanks for making them.