The Colorado governor’s race turned on aspirations, financial realities and a blue wave of support for Democrats, drowning Republican gubernatorial nominee Walker Stapleton in favor of Democrat Jared Polis, who becomes the first elected openly gay governor in the U.S., and will become the state’s first Jewish governor.

Polis will take office with his party running both houses of the state legislature and apparently holding every statewide office for the first time in decades.

News outlets began projecting Polis as the winner within an hour of the polls closing. As of 12:36 a.m. Wednesday, with 75 percent of Colorado counties having fully reported results, Polis led Stapleton by 6-2/3 percentage points, 51.6 percent to 45 percent.

Polis took the stage to declare victory at the Colorado Democratic Party’s election night party at the Westin Denver Downtown hotel as Bob Dylan’s 1960s anthem “The Times They Are A-Changin'” played.

“In Colorado, we dream, we dare, we do,” said a beaming Polis, flanked by his running mate, former state Rep. Dianne Primavera, and his family, including his partner, Marlon Reis, and their two young children.

“We don’t back down when something is challenging. We see problems as opportunities in the state of Colorado.”

Polis thanked the “LGBTQ pioneers” who he said “endured hurt to make it possible for so many of us, myself included, to live and to love openly. I am profoundly grateful.”

Then he turned to Reis – “The first ‘first man’ in the history of Colorado,” he said – and hugged him.

In the wake of a brutal campaign waged by Stapleton and his allies, Polis was generous with olive branches. He declared: “As your governor, I pledge to serve all Coloradans – no matter your party, no matter where you live, no matter your race, no matter your gender. We’re all in this together.”

Polis said he’s already been in touch with state Rep. Jim Wilson, R-Salida, to discuss putting together a bipartisan plan to pay for full-day kindergarten, one of the campaign promises Polis listed when he launched his campaign.

“We’re going to do this all together as a team,” Polis said. “Republicans, independents, Democrats, greens, libertarians and [the unaffiliated].

“All too often in campaigns, people see it falsely as a zero-sum game – us vs. them,” he said. “For this transition, and as we move into government, we’re going to show that we can all win together. I want us all to win, and tonight is the beginning of this incredible journey.”

As the crowd waved Polis signs and pumped their fists in the air, Polis said:

“Tonight we celebrate, and tomorrow we role up our sleeves and get ready to work with Republicans, independents and Democrats and Coloradans of good will. Together, we’re going to get back to work, because we have work to do to turn a bold vision into reality here in our amazing state of Colorado.”

The scene at the Colorado GOP’s victory party at the Denver Marriott South at Park Meadows in suburban Lone Tree was more subdued.

“It’s hard to put lipstick on this pig,” state Republican Party chairman Jeff Hays told the crowd.

Stapleton was the first of a series of Republicans who conceded at the Republican gathering, which turned somber as discouraging results rolled in.

“Today I’m sustained by my family, my faith and my friends,” he told the disappointed ballroom with his wife and three children at his side on stage.

He said his children “are going to get to see their dad in the months ahead, and the years.”

Stapleton called on Republicans and Democrats to put aside their differences for the good of Colorado after the tough, sometimes divisive campaigns.

He said the state belongs to everyone, no single politician.

“I will fight every day for the people of Colorado and that will never change,” Stapleton said, citing needs for transportation, schools, health care and sustaining the energy industry.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet took the stage at the state Democrats’ party soon after polls had closed as early returns showed Democrats jumping out to double-digit leads in statewide races and in the battleground state Senate seats.

“I’m not surprised because I know what happened here in 2016 in the state of Colorado, where we rejected the politics of division, we rejected the politics of fear, and we rejected a politics that’s completely inconsistent with our finest traditions as Americans,” Bennet said from the same stage where he declared victory in his re-election bid two years, the same night President Donald Trump won an unexpected victory that left pundits and politicians stunned.

Those traditions, Bennet said, include embracing the Constitution, the rule of law, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, “and embracing the freedom to marry the person that you love.”

“We understand that this country has been built by the sweat of immigrants, among other people,” Bennet said, his voice nearly drowned out by cheers from a crowd estimated at 1,000 people.

“In 2018, Colorado stands to lead again,” he said. “By the time tonight is over, Colorado will be a beacon to the rest of the country that’s seeking to restore our finest traditions.”

Gov. John Hickenlooper, the term-limited Democrat whom Polis will succeed in January, promised the crowd “one heck of a night” shortly after Bennet spoke.

“We are a party that cherishes civil society, built on top of common decency,” said Hickenlooper, who has been exploring a possible run for president. “We believe in facts – facts matter, and that makes us the true patriots.”

Then he addressed the blustery elephant in the room: “Republicans need to dislodge themselves from the president.”

Looming over the election was the Trump presidency, and the fact that, while popular among Colorado Republicans, Trump is phenomenally unpopular among Democrats and also disliked by most independent voters who often decide Colorado elections. A Republican-led poll in June indicated nearly 7 in 10 Coloradans had a negative view of the president, and 57 percent disliked the Republican Party.

In the primary, at least, Stapleton enthusiastically embraced Trump and said the president would be welcome to campaign with him in Colorado. But once Stapleton became the party’s nominee, Trump did not show up in the state to campaign for Stapleton or any other Republican. And when Vice President Mike Pence dropped in on a fundraising lunch in Denver, Stapleton was nowhere to be seen.

However, Trump endorsed Stapleton in tweets, first on Oct. 10, several weeks after former President Barack Obama endorsed Polis and then again in the week before ballots were due.

While Polis spoke of free pre-school, universal health care and 100 percent renewable energy by 2040 – top wishes on almost any progressive wish list – Stapleton attacked Polis as “radical and extreme” and obsessed about government efficiency and relying on the private sector to address issues ranging from transportation and education to healthcare and public pensions.

During the fall debates, Stapleton depicted Polis as a free-spending liberal ready to promise Colorado and its major industries into bankruptcy. If Polis delivers, Stapleton insisted, Coloradans will have to raise taxes and pay higher utility bills.

The Republican nominee argued that renewable energy might be the wave of the future but said that’s no reason to regulate the oil and gas industry out of business, jeopardizing the jobs and tax revenue it provides Colorado.

“It’s a disastrous, job-killing measure for Colorado,” Stapleton told callers to his telephone town hall last week.

Polis, an entrepreneur who struck it rich starting businesses, said cutting spending and costs are ways he can deliver on his education and health care promises. Contrary to persistent attacks, Polis said his pledge to move the state toward renewable energy relies on innovation and encouraging market solutions, not the mandates Stapleton warns will soak consumers.

Polis sidestepped specifics when it comes to tightening regulations on oil and gas production, a cause he championed just four years ago when the congressman from the Boulder-based 2nd District financed – and later withdrew – a ballot measure that would have drastically increased setbacks between occupied structures and drilling operations.

As far as his pledges to provide full-day pre-school and kindergarten, Polis said a combination of spending priorities and social-impact bonds will provide the funding. The bonds, already used in some Colorado communities and by other western states, repay investors with the money school districts save with lower special education and grade repetition costs for students who attend the expanded pre-school offerings.

Polis plans to move the state toward universal health care with multiple proposals aimed at cutting costs and increasing coverage. He said he’ll also explore whether to band together with neighboring states to come up with a regional single-payer system, a process that could take years.

On renewable energy, one of the first promises Polis made when he got in the governor’s race last year, the Democrat listed incremental steps, such as his encouraging solar and wind power on public lands and appointing like-minded members to the Public Utilities Commission.

Mid-term elections historically favor the party that doesn’t occupy the White House. Trump motivated Democrats more than less-aggressive and bombastic Republicans might.

An early trouble sign for Stapleton came in the June primaries, when for the first time, unaffiliated voters were able to take part. About 119,000 more people voted in the Democratic primary than in the Republican matchup, and 66 percent more unaffiliateds voted Democratic than Republican in the primary.

Publicly released polling had shown Polis ahead of Stapleton since the primary.

Several surveys conducted between late June and early October found Polis holding a consistent 7 percentage point lead over Stapleton. The Democrat held a lead in two polls released last week, although the one from a Democratic firm said Polis was ahead by 11 percentage points, while the one from a Republican firm found a tighter race, with Polis leading by 5 percentage points.

Stapleton raised money from some of the state’s richest and best-known business leaders, as well as celebrities such as Denver Broncos legend John Elway, as well as putting $1 million of his own funds into his campaign.

Through the most recent reporting period, Stapleton had hauled in $4 million for his campaign, and his political action committee, Better Colorado Now, had also raised $4 million.

But it was Polis with cash to burn – at last count, contributing $22 million to his campaign from his own pocket.

Polis will be sworn in as the next General Assembly convenes in January. He will inherit a state budget that next year is expected to total $31.4 billion, an increase of $1.5 billion or 4.6 percent, over last year.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that Polis will be the first openly gay governor in the U.S. Actually, he will be the first to be elected.