Proposition HH, which would have lowered property taxes statewide and spent TABOR tax refund money on public K-12 education, went down to a major defeat at the hands of Colorado voters several weeks ago.

Supported by a Democratic Party governor and unanimously adopted by all the Democrats in the state Senate and the state House of Representatives, this omnibus revenue raising measure failed to win in some of the more strongly Democratic areas of the state.

Or put it this way: generating a tidal wave of “no” votes, Proposition HH tore county after county in Colorado from its normal Democratic Party moorings and set them adrift on a sea of conservative tax policy and anti-government spending on public education.

Here is a regional analysis:

Denver metro

In recent decades, the Denver metropolitan area has been voting strongly Democratic. Not this time. Proposition HH lost Denver metro by a vote of 45% yes to 55% no. Only two metro area counties, Boulder (59% yes) and Denver (58% yes) supported Proposition HH.

Even that is bad news for the Democrats. In a normal election, Boulder and Denver tend to vote at the level of 60% to 70% or more Democratic, not 50% to 60% Democratic.

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The big losses for the Democrats in the Denver metro were the large suburban counties surrounding the city. These populous counties have been the major reason for Colorado’s recent shift from being a mainly Republican voting state to a mainly Democratic voting state.

But on Proposition HH, Arapahoe County voted 56% no, Broomfield County 56% no, Jefferson County 60% no, and Adams County 61% no. These are all counties with large populations. Their voting no was the main driver in the outcome of the election.

For the record, Proposition HH lost the Denver metro by about 100,000 votes.

Front Range – not Denver metro

The Front Range is the heavily populated corridor in Colorado that runs from Pueblo to the south through Colorado Springs and Denver to Greeley and Fort Collins to the north. The Denver metro comprises most of the Front Range, but there are five major counties on the Front Range outside the Denver metro.

Two of those counties, El Paso and Weld, are two of the most Republican counties in the state. El Paso County, which contains the city of Colorado Springs, voted 67% no. El Paso County also had the largest victory margin for the no vote of any Colorado county – some 68,000 votes.

Weld County, where Greeley is the county seat, went 71% no.

Pueblo County, with its historic steel mill and union labor, used to vote Democratic but in recent years has been leaning Republican. It voted 59% no. Teller County (Cripple Creek) hit 68% no.

Larimer County (Fort Collins) used to be Republican but, as the home of Colorado State University, has been trending Democratic in recent years. In terms of Proposition HH, however, it voted 58% no.

Taken together, the five Front Range – not Denver metro – counties voted 65% no and sported a pro-no victory margin of about 130,000 votes.

Ski resort counties

We have long been interested in the Ski resort counties high in the Rocky Mountains. Mostly solidly Republican 50 years ago, they have become liberal and progressive and strongly Democratic in recent times. Joining with the Denver metro area, these ski resort counties have become an important component of the recent shift in Colorado from Republican to Democratic.

Please note: We include with the ski resort counties those counties that have popular historic steam railroad trains (the Durango and Silverton narrow-gauge railroad in La Plata and San Juan counties) or have become summer vacation spots for Texans (the city of Creed in Mineral County).

The number of ski resort counties has grown to 14, and they cast about 104,000 votes in this election, close to the same number as Adams County in the Denver area at 101,000 or so total votes.

The ski resort counties drifted away from their recent Democratic bias and averaged 55% no on Proposition HH. Only three of the 14 counties voted yes. Pitkin County, home of the Aspen ski resorts, voted 60% yes. San Miguel County, which has the Telluride ski resort, tallied 61% yes. Lightly populated San Juan County, the Silverton stop on the narrow-gauge steam railroad, came in at 55% yes.

We were surprised at the well-known and upscale Colorado ski resort counties that voted no on Proposition HH. Eagle County (Vail Resort) went 56% no, Routt County (Steamboat Springs ski resort) 54% no, and Summit County (Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper ski resorts) 60% no.

Southern Colorado

With its deep Hispanic roots and culture, Southern Colorado has traditionally been seen as pro-Democratic Party. Apparently that Democratic bias does not apply to taxation and education matters. Southern Colorado voted 63% no on Proposition HH. Its most populous county, Alamosa County, went 67% no.

Eastern plains

Stretching from the Front Range to the Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma borders of Colorado, the Eastern plains consist of large amounts of high prairie, much of it devoted to agriculture. There are 15 counties involved but with relatively small populations. Nonetheless, the Eastern plains are traditionally the most Republican and conservative part of Colorado.

As expected, the Eastern plains cast the highest regional percentage no vote on Proposition HH – 76% no. The 500 or so voters in Kiowa County, located on the Kansas border with the county seat at Eads, cast the highest single county vote against proposition HH – 85% no.

Western slope – no ski resorts

There are eight counties on the Western slope of the Colorado Rockies that contain no ski resorts and thus are mainly rural and agricultural in character. Similar to the Eastern plains counties, these counties are conservative and Republican. They turned down proposition HH by 68% no. The most populous county in the group, Mesa County, with Grand Junction as the county seat, went 69% no.

Eastern mountains

These counties are in the Rocky Mountains but are located on the Eastern slope of the Continental Divide. They are lightly populated and have some agriculture, mainly sheep and cattle ranching. Conservative and Republican, they voted 69% no on Proposition HH. For example, Fremont County, which hosts the Royal Gorge and the Cañon City state penitentiary, cast its ballots 72% no.  

Summary

The voter revolt against Proposition HH was widespread in Colorado geographically. Only Boulder County, Denver County and a few of the more hip and upscale ski resort counties supported it. The ruling Democratic Party in Colorado will have to go back to the drawing board if it wants to increase badly needed tax revenues for Colorado state and local governments.

Three reasons help explain the defeat of HH:

1. It was a poorly worded and confusing ballot measure

2. Coloradans like TABOR refunds.

3. Gov. Jared Polis, who is generally popular, seemed to be trying to sneak this through but he failed to make his case.

Tom Cronin and Bob Loevy are news columnists who write about Colorado and national politics.