President Ronald Reagan famously quipped, “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The party left me.” More than a half century later, the modern equivalent seems to be, “I didn’t leave the Republican Party. The party went crazy, traded its principles for conspiracies, and began throwing dishware at my head.” At least, that is what it […]

Mario Nicolais
Special to The Colorado Sun
Twitter: @MarioNicolaiEsq
Nicolais: Supporting Brittany Pettersen for Congress is about more than just politics as usual for me
For the first time in almost a decade, since I ran for state Senate, I will open my home to a political event this Saturday evening. Ironically, it will be for the person who currently holds the office I had hoped to fill. Along with former state Rep. Cole Wist, former FirstBank CEO John Ikard, […]
Nicolais: Could Republicans’ focus on inflation backfire at the polls in November?
Last week I paid over $90 for an oil change. As someone who used to change his own oil, the inflation-fueled sticker shock took a minute to comprehend. Was my mechanic price gouging? Was I the victim of a nefarious plot by Dark Brandon, the alter-ego of President Joe Biden? What led to near triple-digit […]
Nicolais: Tina Peters’ post-election actions portend a scary future
Tina Peters’ Quixotic attempt to win Colorado’s top election official would be comical if it were not so terrifying. The state’s foremost election denier spent more than a quarter-million dollars on a recount to find out that she lost by the exact same margin the original tally indicated. Peters lost by more than 88,000 votes […]
Nicolais: Strong local reporters become more critical in a post-truth political world
With just over three months until the 2022 general election, fabrications, half-truths, omissions and utter lies will dominate political discussion from now until November. It is the same song, just at a different tempo. We live in a post-truth political world. Misleading characterizations have always been a part of the political world. More than two […]
Nicolais: A frightened sprint through Las Vegas casinos proved my point about the Active Shooter Alert Act
There was something surreal about sprinting through Las Vegas casinos a week ago with my wife and friends as we searched for a safe place to shelter from an alleged active shooter. A couple days before, I submitted my column on the Active Shooter Alert Act but knew it had not been published yet. The […]
Nicolais: The national Active Shooter Alert Act is a step in the right direction
A few days ago, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Active Shooter Alert Act in the wake of yet another mass shooting, this time during a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park near Chicago. The bill is a step in the right direction. It will not solve gun violence in America and may […]
Nicolais: Demaryius Thomas could not outrun the “minor” injuries that led to his death
My enduring memory of former Denver Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas is watching him streak across the middle of the field, catching a slant route from Tim Tebow on the first play of overtime, stiff-arming one defender, and out-running the rest to win a playoff game in 2012. What Thomas could not outrun were the […]
Nicolais: Colorado’s unaffiliated voters flex their primary muscle to reject extremists
Colorado primaries have come and gone, and the November general election has officially begun. The state GOP avoided its nightmare scenario and Democrats have already pivoted from attempts to manipulate Republican voters into attacks on the victorious candidates. Even as the two major parties begin battering each other, the role of unaffiliated voters still deserves […]
Nicolais: America is losing faith in its judicial system, with good reason
Faith in the courts is on life support in America. On Thursday we heard Department of Justice officials talking about election conspiracies debunked in courts across the country — rulings that a substantial portion of our citizenry on the right of the political spectrum rejects. The same day the U.S. Supreme Court issued rulings that […]