Colorado Politics

 Rep. Kyle Brown to replace Shannon Bird on Colorado’s Joint Budget Committee

Colorado House Speaker Julie McCluskie appointed Rep. Kyle Brown to the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee. Brown, a Louisville Democrat, was chosen to replace Rep. Shannon Bird, D-Westminster, who announced on Friday that she would be stepping down from the committee...

 Why do out-of-state donors have more power than in-state voters? | Vince Bzdek

Why is Michael Bloomberg, the former presidential candidate, three-term New York mayor and founder of the financial info firm that bears his name, spending millions on Colorado elections? The short answer: because he can. The liberal New Yorker has donated...

 Democrat Amie Baca-Oehlert ends campaign to challenge Republican Gabe Evans in Colorado’s 8th CD

Calling the political system “rigged against working-class people,” Democrat Amie Baca-Oehlert, a former president of Colorado’s largest teachers union, on Friday ended her bid to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans in the state’s most competitive congressional district. Baca-Oehlert’s exit...

 School safety, staff compensation, girls’ sports top issues for Douglas County school board race

School safety, board transparency and girls’ sports emerged as some of the common themes for Douglas County School District candidates vying for four seats in Tuesday’s election. Eight candidates are running on similar issues, notably safety amid violence at schools...

 Colorado Democrat Joe Neguse calls on House GOP to end ‘paid vacation,’ hold town halls | TRAIL MIX

After concluding the 17th in-person town hall he’s held this year — more than every other member of Colorado’s U.S. House delegation combined — Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse vented frustration over the state’s Republican lawmakers’ refusal to schedule any...

 Candidates in Adams County rake in thousands

Candidates in Adams County, Commerce City, Thornton and Northglenn secured thousands in the final weeks of this year’s election season. Here are their latest campaign finance report. Commerce City The Commerce City City Council has nine members with four seats...

 Ranked voting debuts in Fort Collins

FORT COLLINS • There isn’t much Delynn Coldiron has not seen or done in her 30-plus year career working as a city government employee — that is, perhaps, until this year.  The Fort Collins City Clerk and her staff have...

 Centennial City Council candidates secure tens of thousands

The 11 candidates for Centennial City Council raised tens of thousands, according to their latest campaign finance reports. Mayor Christine Sweetland Sweetland received thousands of dollars from dozens of local contributors, some of whom are running for other council seats. ...

 Election 2025: Over 500,000 Coloradans have cast ballots

Over 500,000 Coloradans have voted in the 2025 election so far, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. As of Tuesday afternoon, 506,249 ballots have been returned. Statewide voter service and polling centers officially opened on Monday, allowing residents to...

 Jeffco candidates ramp up spending, fundraising in final stretch of election campaign

Candidates throughout Jefferson County have ramped up their spending and fundraising, as they headed into the final stretch of this year’s elections. Lakewood: 5 council seats There are five Lakewood City Council seats up for election on Nov. 4, including...

 400,000 Coloradans have cast votes so far

More than 400,000 Coloradans have already voted in this year’s elections so far, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. As of Monday, 402,282 ballots have been returned statewide. Voter turnout in odd-numbered election years is typically lower than in...

 Westminster voters to choose mayor, councilmembers

Westminster residents will elect three city councilmembers and a new mayor during the Nov. 4 election. Voters in the city of around 115,000 will choose from eight City Council candidates running for the open seats and three mayoral candidates, two...

 Jason Crow lays out foreign policy rooted in ‘working-class interests,’ homegrown values | TRAIL MIX

U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, the Aurora Democrat who represents Colorado’s 6th Congressional District, last week called for Congress to reassert its role in steering a revamped foreign policy that lives up to American values, rejects corruption at home and abroad,...

 Denver voter guide 2025: Key races and ballot questions across the metro area

Colorado voters will go to the polls on Nov. 4, when they will decide the fate of several issues, including two statewide measures and several local questions. Voters will also pick the leaders of several offices, notably several education officials...

 Pueblo to vote on strong mayor government, sales tax, and four City Council seats on November ballot

Pueblo voters will decide on six ballot questions and four of the Pueblo City Council seats during the November 4 municipal elections. The standout ballot question asks voters to overturn the 2017 ballot measure that established the “strong mayor” form...

 Colorado voters to decide fate of additional funding for school meals program, SNAP

Two statewide ballot measures are up for voter approval early next month, the aim of which is to raise additional funds for free school meals program and help pay for the federal food stamp program. Both Propositions LL and MM...

 Influencer, podcaster join race for State House seat

An Instagram influencer and a podcast host have joined the primary race to represent a state House seat representing Denver in next year’s election. Rayna Kingston and Justine Sandoval, both Democrats, are running to represent House District 5, which extends...

 Elissa Slotkin, Jason Crow urge fellow Democrats to ’play offense’ in response to Trump | TRAIL MIX

Calling the second Trump administration “an existential threat to democracy,” Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin urged donors attending a campaign fundraiser for fellow Democrat U.S. Rep. Jason Crow to push party leaders to abandon their defensive crouch and get serious. Delivering...

 Colorado Republicans Gabe Evans, Bill Owens endorse Barb Kirkmeyer’s gubernatorial campaign

Republican State Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer’s campaign to be Colorado’s next governor has landed endorsements from the last Republican to unseat a Democratic member of Congress in the state and the last Republican to be elected governor. U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans...

 Colorado Democrat John Hickenlooper’s reelection campaign tops $1.7 million in 3rd quarter

U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper raised over $1.7 million in the latest quarter for his reelection bid, the Colorado Democrat’s campaign said Wednesday. Hickenlooper finished the three-month period ending Sept. 30 with more than $3.6 million cash on hand, with total...

 Ministry founder, ‘high-risk’ missionary Victor Marx joins Colorado’s Republican gubernatorial primary

Christian ministry leader Victor Marx launched his bid for the Republican nomination for governor Wednesday before a packed house at a country-western music venue in Colorado Springs. The 60-year-old Marine veteran and founder of Colorado Springs-based All Things Possible Ministry...

 Colorado officials ramp up finger-pointing as federal government shutdown’s midnight deadline looms

Members of Colorado’s congressional delegation on Tuesday blamed their counterparts across the aisle for failing to avert the federal government’s first full shutdown in almost seven years. Shortly before casting a vote against a Republican-led temporary spending bill to extend...

 House District 14 vacancy process deemed insufficient by Colorado Secretary of State, requires a redo

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold has rejected the nominating paperwork for the vacancy in House District 14. On Sept. 22, a Republican vacancy committee met to choose a replacement for former Rep. Rose Pugliese of Colorado Springs. The issue,...

 Colorado Republicans again weigh whether to boot unaffiliated voters from party primaries | TRAIL MIX

For the fifth time since Colorado voters created the state’s semi-open primary system, Republican Party officials are set to decide if unaffiliated voters can cast ballots in the party’s upcoming primary. More than 400 members of the Republicans’ state central...

 Hickenlooper pitches in $100K for Colorado Democratic Party’s grassroots organizing

U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper has raised $100,000 for the Colorado Democratic Party’s organizing efforts ahead of next year’s election, the party said on Thursday. The former two-term governor, who is seeking reelection to a second Senate term in 2026, said...

 Jeff Hurd primary challenger Hope Scheppelman signs Libertarians’ pledge in bid to avoid ‘spoiler’

Hope Scheppelman, the Bayfield Republican challenging first-term U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd in next year’s GOP primary, has signed a pledge prepared by the Colorado Libertarian Party as part of an arrangement meant to discourage the minor political party from running...

 Q&A with Colorado lawmaker Barb Kirkmeyer | Republican says she’ll be a governor who ‘knows how to govern’

State Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer says her decades of experience in government — as a county commissioner, director of a state department and state legislator — have prepared her to be a “really great governor,” and the Brighton Republican argues that’s...

 CU Regent Wanda James aims to deny Denver Democrat Diana DeGette a 16th term in Congress | TRAIL MIX

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Denver Democrat and the senior member of Colorado’s congressional delegation, has gotten used to facing primary challengers in the last decade, though she’s fended them off almost as easily as she’s sailed to reelection every...

 ‘Heartbroken’: Colorado political leaders, organizations condemn assassination of Charlie Kirk

Colorado elected officials and political groups expressed grief, outrage and resolve against political violence in reaction to the fatal shooting of conservative organizer and nonprofit leader Charlie Kirk on Wednesday at Utah Valley University. “Today is a really hard day,”...

 The ‘people’s outlet’: How ballot initiatives shape Colorado policies

For more than a century, Colorado voters have used the ballot box not just to elect leaders but also to make laws, shaping the state’s most defining policies through citizen-led initiatives. Those two avenues of policymaking — the first by...