Author: Eric Sondermann
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Michael Bennet and ‘the question’ | SONDERMANN
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The train usually runs only one way. The route goes from the state Capitol to Washington, D.C. State legislators become members of Congress; governors become senators. See Hickenlooper, John. Including our junior senator, no matter his years, a total of 12 current U.S. senators arrived there after first serving stints as governors of their respective…
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The biggest accelerant of our political tribalism | SONDERMANN
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In years past, my go-to word in describing our political condition was “polarization.” I used it endlessly and still do on occasion. But as time has moved on, and the divide has only grown in depth and toxicity, polarization no longer seems to fully capture the magnitude of what has overtaken us. In its place,…
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Unsolicited advice to both Republicans and Democrats | SONDERMANN
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This even-numbered year will be one of political turnover in Colorado with the governor’s chair opening up, along with the other state executive offices (attorney general, state treasurer, and secretary of state), all due to term limits. A U.S. Senate seat will also be on the ballot. The ultra-competitive 8th district to Denver’s north will…
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8 exemplars to guide us into the new year | SONDERMANN
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It started as a one-off in my first year of writing this regular column. To ring in the new year back in the eventful year of 2020, I offered a shoutout to eight Coloradans who served as models of how to lead lives to meaning, decency and contribution. The response to that initial piece quickly…
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Julie Gonzales’s long but not impossible odds | SONDERMANN
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Allow me to start with a flashback. It was Thanksgiving 2024, just over 12 months back. For the first time, our son Clarke hosted the family Thanksgiving near New York City. It is a sign of our aging when the kids start to step into the role of host and convenor. The occasion was lovely.…
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Dear Abby: A better answer to your question | SONDERMANN
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It was the beginning of October. I had been invited to speak to a class on political journalism at Colorado College, my old alma mater. The class was taught by none other than Vince Bzdek, the editor-in-chief of this paper and its sister publications. This was a relatively small seminar of perhaps a dozen undergraduate…
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COLUMN: Significance of Democratic triumph still unknown
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Excuse the truism, but winning sure beats losing. Rarely has a political party needed a victory as badly as Democrats did in the off-year elections two weeks ago. Theirs was a party in despair, struggling to come to terms with how they were so thoroughly routed by Donald Trump and his partisans last November and…
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Please spare us your obvious pronouns | SONDERMANN
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Oct. 15 is almost upon us. Can you feel the excitement? No, that is not Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day, as some states call it, or Cabrini Day, as it is known in Colorado. That all takes place earlier in the week on Monday. Federal workers will have the day off – oh, never…
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Some hard truths for Democrats amidst the despair | SONDERMANN
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Across the country, Democrats remain deep in despair, accompanied by more than a bit of lingering disbelief that they lost to Donald Trump a second time. This is all compounded by the powerlessness of seeing the Senate and House also run by Republicans, mostly Trump apparatchiks, to go along with a Supreme Court dominated by…
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How does this fever break? | SONDERMANN
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We have seen this play too many times and with increasing frequency. A news alert pops up or a text appears from a friend with a report of some new, shocking, horrific act of political violence. We then dial up our favorite news sources or jump on social media in search of what happened and…
