A comparison of sorts can be made between Republicans in Colorado and Democrats on a national scale.

Both are in political disrepair, have suffered major damage to their brands, and are not trusted by vast numbers of voters with the keys to government.

There will be time aplenty to dissect the daily, hourly excesses of this far more calculating Trump administration to go along with the bootlicking, sycophantic acquiescence of far too many in his party who put personal loyalty or intimidation ahead of their institutional responsibilities.

However, the corollary question must be asked of how Democrats managed to lose, rather decisively, to a person and party who did not exactly make a secret of their intentions.

In red and purple states and even, to a growing extent, in blue locales, voters looked around and did not like what they saw where Democrats were in charge. Across the country, they felt lied to by the Democratic Party and its media mouthpieces about the previous president’s diminished capabilities.

At the federal level and doubly so in one big city after another, all prominently led by Democratic mayors, voters found leadership focused on the wrong things, given to excess and beholden to the loudest, most extreme voices in their coalition.

With an eye especially on urban America, where Democrats still hold the reins, the widespread perception is that of disorder and decline. Big cities are seen as crime-ridden and overpriced with homelessness all too prevalent and decay widespread.

Given that Democrats still exert control over these big cities and a number of state capitols, voters will increasingly look in those directions to judge whether the party has learned and adapted.

In simple terms, voters will demand that Democrats be capable of governing where they are already in charge before expanding their territory or again entrusting them with the Washington levers.

This is where Denver Mayor Mike Johnston enters the equation. He is already a player of national stature and, indeed, of national ambition.

Johnston’s colleagues among the top ranks of Democratic mayors are hardly an overwhelming lot. Eric Adams in New York, Brandon Johnson in Chicago and Karen Bass in Los Angeles seem overmatched.

Under indictment, Adams’s approval rating resembles the temperature during Colorado’s recent cold snap. Johnson weighs in with similarly dismal approval numbers without the excuse of pending criminal charges. His spending plan is described as “budget-busting,” and crime is, well, it’s Chicago. Add it all up and the city is experiencing record out-migration.

LA’s Bass had the abysmal judgment to be in Ghana on a government junket when the fire broke out across her city. Her administration has been defined by an obsession with the DEI doctrine, while housing costs continue to be exorbitant due, in large part, to regulatory straitjackets.

Democrats across the country are desperate for accomplishments in big-city leadership. Johnston has the opportunity to answer that hunger.

At this point, a year and a half into Johnston’s tenure, any fair-minded grade would have to be “incomplete.”

Johnston had led the effort to get a couple of thousand homeless individuals off the streets and into shelters. Yet, the overall homeless count continues to rise. There is unquestionable value in improving individual circumstances, but the evidence is that the problem is still expanding.

Housing affordability remains a crisis, along with the overall cost of living. Those who are struggling or just getting started are being forced to leave. Downtown remains an uninspired mess, not close to rebounding from the pandemic’s hollowing out.

Crimes rates are marginally down, yet appalling instances of violent crime and scary cases of property crime are still all too frequent. The police department remains well below its authorized strength.

The City Council increasingly challenges Johnston from the outer precincts of the ultra-progressive left, following a pattern that cost Democrats dearly this past November. Johnston also suffered a rare mayoral rejection when voters turned thumbs down on his not-ready-for-prime-time ballot proposal for housing funds.

Across Denver, while there is broad sympathy and support for the homeless as well as immigrant families, a sense prevails that funding priorities are out of whack and core city services are short-changed.

Johnston brings boundless energy and high intelligence to any task. His political ambition is no secret.

No matter the formidable challenge, if he can write a success story in Denver that answers the broader doubts about whether Democrats can govern, he could be part of the comeback for Democrats currently deep into depression and outrage.

Eric Sondermann is a Colorado-based independent political commentator. He writes regularly for ColoradoPolitics and the Gazette newspapers. Reach him at EWS@EricSondermann.com; follow him at @EricSondermann