Unaffiliated numbers continue to rise as major figures in both parties repel Colorado voters.

As of Aug. 1, unaffiliated voters accounted for 49.5% (2,029,337) of the electorate with Democrats at 25.3% (1,036,115) and Republicans at 22.8 percent (936,002).

But the real story is that unaffiliated voters have increased by 61,019 since January while Democrats decreased by 9,411 and Republicans decreased by 7,265.

Ignoring the reality of a changing electorate, some Republican leaders might declare victory since the party lost a couple of thousand fewer voters than the Democrats while Democratic leaders might boast “We’re number two!”

The Democratic primary races for governor and attorney general are vapid campaigns that offer little more than incessant attacks on President Donald Trump. Listening to these “leaders,” issues such as deteriorating roads, declining public schools, assaults on the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR), increasing energy costs, crime and homelessness don’t exist.

Self-entitled three-term U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet seems to think the governorship is a glorified Senate seat that comes with a mansion and a nice view from the State Capitol from where he can attack Trump rather than from his hometown of Washington, D.C.

Term-limited Attorney General Phil Weiser spent the past seven years building a political base to run for governor only to watch Bennet muscle his way into the race as the frontrunner.

Weiser has turned the office of attorney general into a taxpayer funded launching pad to attack Trump, having filed 35 lawsuits against the administration. How many hundreds of hours of time have taxpayer-paid lawyers spent on these partisan, politically driven lawsuits?

Weiser is going to file yet another lawsuit to challenge Trump’s decision on Space Command, which is almost comical. Whether you agree with Trump or not, he is the commander in chief and Weiser is not. God forbid if politically driven attorneys general start making military decisions.

U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper is intent on turning 80 years old during a second term in the Senate. He complained during the 2020 race he was exhausted by campaigning and declared “I need my sleep” when he refused to debate his primary opponents.

Blindly partisan, incompetent Secretary of State Jena Griswold is running for attorney general. If elected, she might actually visit the AG’s office when she’s not preening for her next appearance on MSNBC, or whatever it is called now after NBC dumped it, to attack Trump. 

But some Republican leaders have not covered themselves in glory.

Trump is moving Space Command from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Alabama citing how he carried Alabama by a large margin. Trump lost Colorado by 11 points to Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 which came on the heels of him losing to Hillary Clinton by 5 points in 2016 and by 14 points to Joe Biden in 2020.

El Paso County was once a Republican bastion but now unaffiliated voters are a majority, which has helped propel some Democratic victories. Having a Republican president move such a critical national defense institution to Alabama will alienate unaffiliated voters and certainly not help Republican candidates.

Trump said one of the main reasons he moved Space Command to Alabama is because Colorado uses “corrupt” all-mail ballots in its elections and he blamed Democratic Gov. Jared Polis.  

Polis is certainly culpable in many ways for a declining Colorado but it was the people of Colorado who voted for all-mail elections in 2013 after the vast majority had requested mailed absentee ballots in previous elections. Colorado’s all-mail ballot process is safe and secure not because of Griswold but because 64 county clerks actually conduct elections.

Meanwhile, Douglas County overwhelmingly rejected a power play by the all-Republican Board of Douglas County Commissioners to impose “home rule” on the county. “Home rule” was defeated by a mind-boggling 71% to 29%.

Fortunately for Republicans, there are strong, effective leaders in the state legislature despite being grossly outnumbered.

Senate Minority Leader Cleave Simpson, Assistant Senate Minority Leader Byron Pelton, House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese, Assistant House Minority Leader Ty Winter, and the two Republican members on the powerful Joint Budget Committee, state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer and state Rep. Rick Taggart, have offered principled opposition to Democratic excesses.

Also, Colorado Republicans elected three new members of Congress in 2024, U.S. Reps. Jeff Crank, Gabe Evans, and Jeff Hurd, who are off to outstanding starts in their first terms.

The question in 2026 is if unaffiliated voters, who now make up half of Colorado’s 4 million voters, will continue to reward a Democratic Party whose sole agenda is to trash Trump while letting the state decline.  

Or can Colorado Republicans nominate candidates who have real agendas to improve roads, reform education, protect TABOR, make energy abundant and affordable, and reduce crime and homelessness. Candidates who don’t wallow in stolen election conspiracies or promote lawsuits to disenfranchise unaffiliated voters from voting in primaries.

In other words, Republican candidates who are worthy of unaffiliated votes.

Dick Wadhams is a former Colorado Republican state chairman who managed campaigns for U.S. Sens. Hank Brown and Wayne Allard, and Gov. Bill Owens. He was campaign manager for U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota in 2004 when Thune unseated Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle.