As they say on Colorado Public Radio’s Marketplace, let’s do the numbers. April 2026 voter registrations continued a long-term Colorado trend with a large majority of new or changed voter registrations joining the unaffiliated cohort.

Total registrations of Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated active voters increased from April 2025 to April 2026 by 566,731. Unaffiliated voter registrations shot up by 371,239. Republican numbers climbed by 102,171 and Democratic totals increased by 100,973. Though the difference between Republicans and Democrats in new registrations is about 1,200 votes, Republicans were in a much deeper hole in 2025. They should celebrate any inroads.

How less popular are the two major political parties to unaffiliated voters? Combine Democratic and Republican registrations from April 2025 to April 2026, and the sum is 203,144. That’s 168,095 shy of unaffiliateds in the same time period.

Democrats continue to lead GOP active voters by 102,000. The demographics of the two parties are very different. Women voters make up almost 60% of the Democratic party to 47% GOP women registrants. Unaffiliated voters are 52.6% men to 47.4% women.

Within the Democratic Party, 19 counties, mostly rural and/or Republican, have more than 60% women membership. El Paso and Douglas County Democratic registrations show 60.1% and 62.1% majority women while the GOP shows 48.3% women registrations in El Paso and 47.7% in Douglas.

Based on new registrations in the Democratic Party, women exceed men in every county and every age group. The only age group in the GOP in which women exceed men is 75-plus, because women live longer.

The Democratic Party is the leading player in the legislature. The state House, generally seen as the more liberal or progressive chamber, has 31 elected Democratic women members to 12 men. The state Senate has 10 women Democrats to 12 men. As with party registration trends, women Democrats are the majority overall in the General Assembly. In the Republican Party, men are the majority at 11 women to 23 men.

With so many women setting their registrations as Democrats, and with Democratic women the overall majority in the General Assembly, it’s logical to assume progress on issues such as childcare, senior home and nursing home care, public K-12 education, and family leave and work supports.

The party’s ostensible leader, Gov. Jared Polis, is on his way out, but he didn’t leave a sterling record in any of the above areas other than childcare. Five bills passed this year related to “children and domestic matters.” The childcare income tax credit was continued. In 2023, the most recent year with data, 15,900 contributions averaged $2,073 and produced $33 million. The current legislation extends the credit for 10 years to 2038.

The governor burned his final bridge with Democrats with his commutation of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters’ prison sentence. But the governor had already stretched good relations by his veto last year of workers’ rights legislation on union organizing, and his pushes this year to protect artificial intelligence technologists and data center developers.

Though many of the governor’s business priorities were protected, nursing-home and home-care providers took an $8.7 million hit to wages to balance the state budget. Another bill to help individuals transitioning out of nursing facilities failed. Some low-income pregnant women were made ineligible for Medicaid.

As to economic development, the governor’s record is supportive. Colorado’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade will receive $62 million this year. Of that, $15.4 million goes to “advanced industries.” Only $1.7 million will go to “small business,” where women would most benefit.

These dollar allocations beg some questions: Why do “advanced industries” receive $15.4 million, but homecare and nursing-home-care businesses see an $8 million cut in wage supports for their workers? Does this governor’s office see investment in advanced industries as more important than the documented need for more workers who can care for our rapidly aging senior community? Filling any gaps in this care will no doubt fall on women who may also be working and raising children.

Shiny new technologies coming to Colorado are exciting and match the governor’s concept of bold. Maybe it’s time to flip that switch. Maybe the argument for attracting new businesses should no longer be tax incentives. The pitch should be the state helps make Colorado livable and affordable for hardworking women and men by growing businesses that make it easier for hardworking men and women to work hard.

Current candidates for governor on the Democratic side are men. State Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer is running on the GOP side, but without unaffiliated voters joining the GOP fray, it’s possible she’ll be defeated by male candidates who believe Trump won the 2020 presidential election.

This state of affairs leaves women Democrats in a spot. They have registered as Democrats in hopes they will receive support for their complicated work keeping Colorado moving forward. They must figure out whether Attorney General Phil Weiser or U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet will ease their large caregiving and financial responsibilities. Gentlemen, what are your plans?

Paula Noonan owns CapitolCommons.ai, the state’s premier legislature tracking platform.