Rural Reckoning
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Rural Reckoning – A special series dissecting Colorado’s urban-rural divide
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The four-week Rural Reckoning series examines the critical and often overlooked issues facing rural Colorado, where challenges to healthcare access, affordable housing, agricultural sustainability, and population growth are compounded by a growing disconnect with the state’s political and economic power base along the Front Range. Despite being a vital contributor to Colorado’s overall prosperity—through energy production,…
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Rural Reckoning | What does rural Colorado want to see in the next governor?
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In 2026, Colorado voters will head to the polls to select the next governor. With Gov. Jared Polis terming out, that new state leader will take over at the start of 2027. When Colorado Politics asked Polis what advice he is going to give to his successor, he smiled and said that, with 18 months…
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Rural Reckoning | Colorado highways are crumbling, and so is the funding to fix them
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With the build of a football lineman and the grit of a rancher, Republican Sen. Byron Pelton gripped the steering wheel of his truck and pointed toward the highway ahead — a stretch of road that runs through the heart of his district in the Eastern Plains. “Do you see how bad this is?” Pelton…
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Rural Reckoning | Colorado’s energy shift leaves rural livelihoods in limbo
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As Colorado races toward a “renewable” energy future, rural lawmakers like Ty Winter argue it is leaving its backbone behind — the ranchers, coal miners and oil field workers who, without a voice at the state Capitol in Denver, now face economic extinction, despite having powered its rise. For Winter, Colorado’s rural-urban divide boils down…
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Rural Reckoning | From support to disapproval, rural sentiment shifts against Gov. Jared Polis
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STEAMBOAT SPRINGS • Once upon a time, Marsha Daughenbaugh supported Gov. Jared Polis from her working cattle and hay ranch some 8 miles outside of Steamboat. “Let me preface this,” Daughenbaugh said, while making day-before preparations for a Fourth of July gathering for family and friends, before pausing and adding, “I voted for Governor Polis the first…
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How deep is Colorado’s rural-urban divide? 10 takeaways from the Rural Reckoning series | Vince Bzdek
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How bad is the rural/urban divide in Colorado? That’s what a team of reporters at Colorado Politics and The Colorado Network, our statewide collective of freelancers, set out to measure and understand. Through extensive interviews, data analysis and community voices, our journalists have documented the yawning gap between what rural areas contribute to the state…
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Rural Reckoning | Polis, lawmakers say housing, health policies benefit rural Colorado
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Amid the tension between rural and urban leaders at the state Capitol, the governor and lawmakers have tackled housing, healthcare, food security and mental health access across Colorado’s rural communities, advocates from both sides of that divide said. They pointed to measures they said directly target rural areas, as well as other policies that apply…
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Rural Reckoning | Wolves prey on relationship between Polis and rural Colorado
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While the COVID-19 pandemic became the defining issue of Gov. Jared Polis’ first term, the reintroduction of wolves on the Western Slope is likely to cement his legacy — however history ultimately judges his time in the executive office — in his final four years, particularly for rural residents. Voters, primarily on the Front Range, narrowly approved the…
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Rural Reckoning | Colorado rancher: ‘This is no longer an agriculture-friendly environment’
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Janie VanWinkle is contemplating something she never thought she’d ever consider — selling the family ranch after four generations of living and working in Colorado. “The political environment is so toxic that if we do speak up at all, it falls on deaf ears,” said VanWinkle, a Western Slope rancher. “This is no longer an…
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Rural Reckoning | Front Range counties dominate Colorado’s population and political influence
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To Paul Lundeen, the numbers reveal the truth about how well Colorado’s 53 rural counties are represented — or not — at the state Capitol, particularly when compared to the 11 most populous counties that hold the most influence. Lundeen, who recently served as the minority leader in the state Senate and resigned in June for a…
