By nonofficial early indications, big out-of-state Democratic PAC money failed Tuesday to nominate extreme, marginal Republicans who stood little chance of winning in the November general election where centrists determine outcomes.

This is bad news for the Democratic Party, which has abused control of nearly all facets of government. It sets up Republicans for a potential change of the guard in the Legislature and statewide offices.

The Gazette’s editorial board had early hopes the Democratic takeover of every statewide office, the University of Colorado Board of Regents, the Colorado State School Board and both chambers of the Legislature would showcase the party’s ability to lead.

Though most of the candidates we endorsed were defeated in the Democratic landslide of 2018, we are all Coloradans and want the state to succeed in every way imaginable for our friends, families, colleagues and everyone else who calls our state home.

Our hopes were not realized. Under one-party control, politicians and the institutions they control enacted a litany of policies that have made our once-peaceful state a leader in crime and death. As of this primary, Colorado leads the country in car thefts and bank robberies. Every category of violent crime, including murders and rapes, are on an alarming upward trajectory.

Inspired by Colorado Springs Republican Rep. Shane Sandridge, the left chose to decriminalize hard street narcotics. That insane policy tracks with a spike in the rate of fentanyl deaths second only to Alaska’s — where a tiny population base artificially skews the rate.

Under one-party leadership, excessive regulations have reduced our state’s potential to produce oil and gas at a time when scarcity of these essential energies undermines that state, national and global economies.

It is no exaggeration to conclude one-party leadership has taken our state from great to mediocre and on a downward trajectory. People used to move here from New Jersey, New York, San Francisco and other megacities to avoid the exact same problems our new laws and regulations encourage and facilitate.

Lots of Democrats love Colorado, have great ideas for improving it, and over the years have proven the ability to lead. They haven’t done so in the past four years because they have far too much power. No one said it better than 19th and 20th century historian Lord Acton: “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

In November, Colorado’s majority of mostly moderate unaffiliated voters have an extraordinary chance to restore their state’s stature as a purple swing state in which the two political parties have adequate representation to ensure discussion, debate and compromise.

With balanced leadership this past legislative session, for example, legislators and Gov. Jared Polis could have considered reasonable amendments to our ignorant and deadly fentanyl law. The same goes for the country’s most radical and shameful abortion law, which allows terminations of children during labor and delivery and possibly beyond. Instead of reasonable policies, extremists gave us extremes.

At press time, it appeared most candidates endorsed by The Gazette editorial board — all of them relatively centrist Republicans — won against opponents with weird agendas that included overturning the 2020 election and arresting county clerks who they blamed for President Joe Biden’s election.

Consider a few of the biggest races: Self-made businessman Joe O’Dea won the nomination for the U.S. Senate, which should give U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet concern. Self-made businesswoman and statewide Regent Heidi Ganahl won the chance to take on Polis, who signed into law too many bills pushed through by his party’s far-left base.

Gazette endorsee Pam Anderson, the highly qualified and successful former clerk of Jefferson County, will take on the radical left-wing activist Jena Griswold in the race for secretary of state. In the highly contested Colorado Congressional District 3, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert defeated a self-dealing media darling who deceptively sells THC-laden products as drug-free “hemp.”

On down the list, in major primary races throughout Denver, Colorado Springs and the rest of the state, primary voters made two clear statements. 1. They did not fall for deceptive big-money campaigns the left developed to nominate unelectable Republicans; and 2. They want serious candidates for the sake of political balance and the return to saner, safer and more peaceful days in the state they love to call home.

Colorado Springs Gazette editorial board