You’re getting a free edition of today’s edition of The Unaffiliated, our twice weekly newsletter pulling back the curtain on Colorado politics and policy, as an Election Day courtesy.
To get this newsletter delivered every Tuesday and Friday, become a Premium Colorado Sun member here:
Already a member? Thank you for supporting independent journalism! Log into your account and select “upgrade” in the Memberships tab to upgrade to the Premium level and start receiving The Unaffiliated. If you’re currently a Premium level member, simply opt in to receive The Unaffiliated in your account newsletter preferences.
It’s Election Day in Colorado. You have until 7 p.m. tonight to cast your presidential primary ballot.
Here’s what The Colorado Sun politics team will be watching for as the results roll in this evening:
Bonus: Colorado is one of 15 Super Tuesday states holding their presidential primary election today. We’ll be keeping tabs on how the results here compare with the results in other parts of the country.
Welcome to The Unaffiliated, the politics and policy newsletter from The Colorado Sun. Twice a week, we take you inside the political arena to deliver news and insights on Colorado politics. Keep reading for even more exclusive news.
If you’re reading this newsletter but not signed up for it, here’s how to get it sent directly to your email inbox. And please send feedback and tips to jesse@coloradosun.com.
CORRECTION: Items in the Feb. 2 and Feb. 23 editions of the newsletter misreported how much money the Colorado GOP received in ballot-access fees from Republican presidential candidates. The party received $260,000 in fees from eight presidential candidates.
MORE: The votes cast in Colorado’s presidential primary will determine how many Republican and Democratic delegates candidates will get from Colorado to the parties’ national conventions later this year.
How those delegates are apportioned is seriously complicated and it will probably be a few days before they start being divvied up.
Both parties allocate delegates proportionally based on how they perform statewide and in each congressional district. Democrats require candidates to receive 15% of the vote before they start receiving delegates, while the GOP threshold is 20%.
Colorado Democrats will send 87 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August. Colorado Republicans will have 37 delegates at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in mid-July.
WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEK
STORY: It’s presidential primary Election Day in Colorado. Here’s what to know.
STORY: Takeaways from Donald Trump’s Supreme Court win in Colorado case: His legal peril is just starting
MORE: The Colorado House didn’t meet Sunday after Democrats in the chamber passed two bills Friday aimed at ensuring transgender people can use their chosen names.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: Colorado Democrats advance bills to protect transgender people’s use of a chosen name
EVEN MORE: If you’re preparing to caucus, The Unaffiliated has a list of candidates who’ve filed to run for state legislature and Congress. Candidates trying to make the ballot through the caucus and assembly process must pick up the support of at least 30% of delegates in their district to advance.
The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office has a list of candidates who are gathering signatures to try to make the ballot, though some may be collecting signatures and going through the caucus and assembly process to try to make the ballot. Candidates going the dual track need the support of at least 10% of delegates at their district assembly to make the ballot.
And remember, not every candidate is going to make it onto the primary ballot.
YOU HEARD IT HERE
Well, then, consider the 4th District Republican primary over — and almost certainly the general election, too.
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert was endorsed Saturday by Donald Trump in a development that wasn’t surprising, but certainly wasn’t guaranteed given the year of bad press she’s had.
Trump called Boebert “a proven conservative and effective leader who delivers for Colorado and our America first agenda.”
“Lauren Boebert is a trusted America-first fighter and has my complete and total endorsement for Colorado’s 4th Congressional District!” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site.
The Post called the endorsement a deus ex MAGA — a play on deus ex machina, the Latin phrase used to describe when a theater character is saved from something akin to divine intervention.
The 4th District is Colorado’s most Republican congressional district.
THE WASHINGTON POST: Lauren Boebert doesn’t want to lose the House
MORE: Boebert joined Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams, party vice chair Hope Scheppleman and party secretary Anna Ferguson in a letter Monday blasting Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold for her support of an effort to remove Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot. They questioned her ability to run a free and fair election.
“We will not allow your failure as secretary of state to go without repercussions,” the four wrote. “All legal options available to us will be considered, including a formal recall effort.”
That last part is outlandish — laughable, even.
It would require collecting roughly 625,000 voter signatures — the equivalent of 25% of the close to 2.5 million votes cast in the race for the office in 2022 — in just 60 days to force a recall vote for Griswold, a feat that’s never been accomplished in Colorado.
COURTS
Judge orders Auon’tai Anderson to pay $60K to BLM 5280, activist he unsuccessfully sued for defamation
A Denver District Court judge last week ordered former Denver Public Schools board member Auon’tai “Tay” Anderson to pay $61,060 to cover the attorneys fees and costs of Black Lives Matter 5280 and Amy Brown, an activist associated with the group, whom Anderson sued for defamation.
Anderson brought the defamation suit in 2021, alleging that Black Lives Matter 5280 and a group of activists and DPS parents “knowingly and willfully published false allegations” that he committed sexual assault. An independent investigation solicited by the school district could not corroborate any sexual assault claims made against Anderson.
But in April 2022, Denver District Court Judge David Golberg dismissed the case against BLM 5280 and Brown under Colorado’s relatively new law against strategic lawsuits against public participation, also called an anti-SLAPP statute, because he found that Anderson failed to state a claim. The anti-SLAPP law lets defendants petition a judge to recoup their costs if a case is dismissed.
Anderson told The Unaffiliated on Monday that he may appeal the ruling ordering him to reimburse BLM 5280 and Brown.
“My legal team and I are currently reviewing the order and we are considering all available options, including an appeal,” Anderson said in a text message. “I continue to be appalled by the actions of this organization and the false statements they made about me on their social media platforms in 2021.”
You should know: While the investigation commissioned by DPS didn’t find any evidence that Anderson committed sexual assault, it revealed that Anderson engaged in flirtatious social media contact with a 16-year-old DPS student after he was elected a board member and that he posted threatening social media messages during the investigation into the sexual assault allegations made against him.
The defamation case isn’t totally over. Not all of the defendants have had Anderson’s case against them dismissed.
Anderson was running for a state House seat, but dropped out of the race at the start of the year to focus on a new nonprofit he formed.
MORE: While speaking on the Colorado House floor Monday in support of a bill aimed at protecting victims of sexual offenses, Rep. Leslie Herod, D-Denver, brought up sexual assault allegations made against her.
“I had to go through multiple hearings to find that this person was wholly uncredible,” Herod said of her accuser. “This person is someone who works with us in the Capitol, who made false accusations — and we later found out had made false accusations against other people for political gain. Sexual assault accusations.”
Herod said the “wholly uncredible” determination was made by a judge, but she didn’t elaborate.
Herod also name checked Rep. Brandi Bradley, R-Littleton, who alluded last week to the allegations against Herod during House floor debate.
Herod didn’t name her accuser, but on Dec. 14, Sheena Kadi, a vice chair of the Colorado Democratic Party and spokeswoman for Colorado Treasurer Dave Young, posted on social media that she had been sexually assaulted by Herod. (The treasurer’s office is in the Capitol.) The post, which didn’t include details of the alleged assault, has since been deleted.
Kadi didn’t comment Monday when contacted by The Colorado Sun.
COLORADO POLITICS: Colorado lawmakers advance expansion of “rape shield” law
Want to reach Colorado political influencers and support quality local journalism? The Sun can help get your message attention through a sponsorship of The Unaffiliated, the must-read politics and policy newsletter in Colorado. Contact Sylvia Harmon at underwriting@coloradosun.com for more information.
THE POLITICAL TICKER
TV ADS: The American Petroleum Institute is airing TV ads starting this week aimed at a “Colorado energy ban,” according to documents filed with the Federal Communications Commission. The ad purchase is in the six figures, based on contracts filed thus far with the FCC. The institute didn’t return calls or emails seeking information about the ads. It’s not clear what specifically the ads are opposing. There is a measure being debated at the Capitol that would ban new oil and gas permits from being issued by 2030, but, as we’ve previously reported, it lacks enough support to pass in its current form. The organization lists five lobbyists representing it in opposition to several air quality bills being considered by the legislature.
5TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: Republican Jeff Crank, a conservative commentator, turned in petition signatures Friday to make the ballot in the 5th Congressional District GOP primary. He’s the first to turn in his signatures of the four Republicans running to represent the district who are trying to make the ballot by gathering voter signatures. The deadline is March 19. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minnesota, endorsed Crank last week. The district is currently represented by U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, but he’s retiring. Also running to replace Lamborn is Colorado GOP Chair Dave Williams.
STORY: The cost of universal pre-K in Colorado: Thousands of at-risk kids got less classroom time
STORY: Colorado GOP sends pro-Trump mailer attacking chairman’s primary opponent, newspaper
STORY: Colorado’s medical aid-in-dying residency requirement won’t be lifted
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: Rotting bodies, fake ashes and sold body parts push Colorado to patch lax funeral home rules
THE DENVER POST: Colorado Senate passes bill exempting lawmakers from part of open-meetings law
THE DENVER POST: Bill would require Colorado middle and high schools to provide free period products
COLORADO PUBLIC RADIO: A lobbying frenzy builds around air pollution legislation focused on reducing summer smog
KUNC: High schoolers descend on the Colorado Capitol, pressure lawmakers to pass gun control bills
CHART OF THE WEEK
There are only a handful of examples of Colorado congressional seats flipping from one party to another since the 1996 election.
The most recent example was in 2018, when Democrat Jason Crow ousted Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman in Colorado’s 6th Congressional District. You’d have to go back three election cycles, to 2010, to find another example of a U.S. House seat changing partisan hands.
That year, Democratic U.S. Reps. John Salazar and Betsy Markey were swept out of office in the 3rd and 4th Congressional Districts in a national Republican wave. Markey, of Fort Collins, held the seat for a single term starting in 2009 (the only Democrat to hold the seat since 1973). She lost to Republican Cory Gardner, then a state House member. Salazar, of Manassa, was a three-term congressman.
Only one of the state’s eight congressional districts has consistently been represented by a Republican since 1997. That’s the 5th Congressional District, which has been controlled by the GOP since it was created after the 1970 census.
Democrats, meanwhile, have controlled the 1st and 2nd congressional districts for decades.
Why we’re thinking about it: U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo, D-Thornton, is running for reelection in the toss-up 8th Congressional District. If she isn’t successful in November, she would be the first Democratic U.S. representative to lose to a Republican challenger in Colorado since 2010.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Corrections & Clarifications
Notice something wrong? The Colorado Sun has an ethical responsibility to fix all factual errors. Request a correction by emailing corrections@coloradosun.com.
