Posted inPolitics and Government

The top story in Colorado politics in 2020 — and what to expect in 2021

If you enjoy politics, 2020 didn’t disappoint. And if you don’t, it probably left your head spinning. The year started with talk about the impeachment of President Donald Trump, the Democratic presidential primary and the battle for a U.S. Senate seat in Colorado. Then, the pandemic quickly upended the political landscape — and the conversation. […]

Posted inElection 2020, Politics and Government

John Hickenlooper spent $41 million to win Colorado’s U.S. Senate race, far surpassing Cory Gardner

John Hickenlooper spent $41 million to defeat Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, emerging as the top spender in the nationally important race, new campaign finance records show. Gardner spent about $27.6 million through Nov. 23 in his losing bid for a second term, according to the reports filed Thursday.  The candidates’ combined fundraising more than […]

Posted inElection 2020, Politics and Government

How the Cardboard Cory protest in Colorado helped Democrats defeat Gardner in the U.S. Senate race

Days before the election, even as the outcome of the U.S. Senate race in Colorado looked all-but-certain, Katie Farnan refused to believe it. The mother-turned-activist from Boulder worked for the better part of four years for this moment, all in the hopes of defeating Republican incumbent Cory Gardner. She carried a cutout known as Cardboard […]

Posted inElection 2020, Politics and Government

Colorado continues to shift blue: The 2020 election, explained in graphics

Colorado’s political map is looking more and more blue. The 2020 election continued the decades-long shift toward Democrats in Colorado, led by voters in suburban counties and punctuated by huge turnout in the party’s strongholds of Denver and Boulder.  “Colorado is officially blue. Not purple, not periwinkle, not powder blue,” says Steve Welchert, a veteran […]

Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns

Littwin: Colorado is now bluer than blue. But is anyone more blue today than Gardner and state Republicans?

Now it’s official. Colorado is no longer a blue state. It’s now a deep-blue state, a deeper-than-the-ocean-blue blue state, bluer-than-a-B.B.-King-Eric-Clapton-duet blue state. While we still don’t know who’s going to win the presidential race, and may not for a while, we know that Joe Biden clobbered Donald Trump in Colorado. Trump lost by five points […]

Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns

Littwin: If Gardner loses, where does that leave Colorado’s already troubled Republican Party?

Our question for today is what will become of Colorado’s Republican Party if Cory Gardner, as many expect,  loses his Senate seat to John Hickenlooper? I mean, besides, in what should be the first order of business, kicking Ken Buck out as party chair. And as a follow up, couldn’t Gardner, a talented politician after […]

Posted inNews, Politics and Government

John Hickenlooper, Cory Gardner tangle in translated Spanish debate

By Nicholas Riccardi, The Associated Press Republican Sen. Cory Gardner and his Democratic challenger, former Gov. John Hickenlooper, faced off in a Spanish-language debate on Tuesday, tussling over immigration, health care and the response to the coronavirus pandemic. The debate was taped in English on Sunday and aired with Spanish translations on Tuesday, so neither […]

Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns

Opinion: Shame on Cory Gardner. It’s time to debate important issues

Listening to the dark-money political ads, one might conclude that former Gov. John Hickenlooper committed numerous serious ethical violations. He did not. These complaints, most of which were dismissed, were politically driven to provide a “basis” for the false ads that are circulating now.   And now Sen. Cory Gardner is making these “ethical” issues the centerpiece […]