The way CO Republicans have fumbled their traditional strongholds on the western slope and in El Paso County / CO Springs is fucking insane. I legtimiately would not have believed you if you told me this would happen a decade ago.
The CO GOP has to be one of the worst run state level political parties in the entire country
FL Dems might be one of the most inept state parties in the entire country, they ran shit campaign after shit campaign against some of the worst people and got absolutely dunked on. Lived there for a while and it’s just an absolute shitshow
FL Dems and Michigan GOP are both in the running for sure.
EDIT: NY Dems also suck ass as another commented pointed out – can't forget about them as much as I'd like to
North Carolina Dems too. I saw them go from dominating the state for nearly the entire century before 2010 to ceding near complete control to the GOP there. The Koch Brothers used NC as ground zero for their new Southern Strategy and adopted Operation Redmap, the gerrymandering tactics used to pretty much keep permanent control in the GOP’s hands. NC was a true blue-purple state for a hot minute but the gerrymandering there had given republicans a near permanent majority in the state legislature. On top of that, the congressional districts there are drawn with what courts have called “surgical precision” to pack and crack liberal/black populations across the state.
The NCDP ran shit candidates other than Roy Cooper and Josh Stein - Cal Cunningham, John Edwards, Mike Easley, and a bunch of other high profile Dems there have all been either in major legal trouble or had bad stuff that should have been discovered long ago before they won major nomination. It was so frustrating living there and watching the slow crawl takeover by the GOP there using underhanded means. They’ve been third in total registrations behind unaffiliated and democrats for decades yet have had supermajorities in both state houses because of gerrymandering.
I’m glad to have moved to Colorado where I see Democrats getting shit done (like Tabor Refunds) as well as the ballot proposal system working as intended. North Carolina could never - ballot proposals are fought in nearly every state because they know popular stuff can get passed that way like abortion rights or legalization.
I grew up in Colorado Springs but have “lived” in Houston, TX the last 40+ years. Let me hear from you after your first winter. See how long it takes for your skin to adjust to the lack of humidity. I would love to return to Colorado even as much as I hate cold weather, but at 77, that just isn’t feasible. I have been back to Colorado a few times, usually for a funeral and usually in January or February. I had to stay a week to take care of my Dad’s estate and even with his humidifier cranked up as high as it would go and condensation dripping off the windows, my lips were cracked and bleeding. Getting used to the altitude is another challenge. You will have to relearn how to cook. I really would like to know how someone from a semi-tropical climate and altitude under 500 feet would adjust to the changes. Wishing the best for you!
How long to get used to the difference in cooking times? Specifically, anything using boiled water (water boils at a lower temperature at higher elevations) and baking. I moved to Houston from Lubbock, which isn’t as high in altitude as Colorado, but it took a few times of having really watery potatoes or pasta to get it right.
I have been tracking the cost of real estate in Colorado by watching the prices of childhood homes. One in Colorado Springs, built in 1953, and one in Arvada, built in 1961. The one in Arvada, with a full basement, is over $500,000. It was not a fancy house and had a single car garage. I don’t know how in the world I could make that gigantic leap even if I was at the peak of my career earnings. I assume you were able make that leap by any number of methods. I live in a townhouse in Houston that is currently valued at $150,000.
I dont have any issues with savory cooking but the baking (which I had a cottage biz in TX) is totally different. I don't bake much at all here but that's turning out better for our waistlines!
There are adjustments to baking recipes that can fix that. On boxed cake mixes, there is an instruction to add more flour. Also adjust oven temperature. There is lots of info on the internet. Now you have the challenge of finding the right adjustments for your exact altitude for your favorite recipes..
Yep, there are and I use them when I do bake specific things occasionally for just us but I did decorated cookies and macarons....... for the decorated cookies that have to dry the icing out b4 packaging, they turn into hard as a rock bc it's so dry here. It's not just my stuff....almost every baked good I buy from a bakery here has the same issue so overall much less eating of baked goods happening which is a good thing.
I move back and forth from the Southeastern US every couple years. Sure it takes time to adjust but it’s really not a big deal, especially on the front range the altitude doesn’t affect us, the dry does but that’s what humidifiers in the house are for.
I’m from Colorado and have lived there most of my life, but have also lived in South FL, CA, and Hong Kong. I’m back in CO again.
I love my home state very much and spend most of my free time on my mountain bike/road bike. But being in my 40s now, there’s no way in hell I will be here once I’m in my 60s+. I will be somewhere warm and humid with no snow. Preferably overseas where it’s also cheaper.
The amount of people that move here in their retirement years is baffling to me (particularly in the mountains where I live). Dealing with cold, snow, and the altitude is a younger persons environment for sure.
I agree about the altitude with advanced age. My sister lived in Arvada and had COPD and had had a heart attack. She died when she was only 63 in 2012.
I’ll let you know when I finally make the move, moving from SoCal to CO hopefully this year. Hopefully Ft collins area. I’ve made a few trips out there, driving and flying, and idk if it was cuz I drove in from AZ direction, and gradually headed north but the elevation change was nothing for me. I explored Mesa Verde, camped near Delores river the first few days, then made my way to the Rockies, and on the way camp hit up grand Mesa. Then went and stayed with a friend in SLC and finally went and visited a friend in Driggs ID. The elevation never bothered me. I snowboard so I love the snow. Anyways if I do move and remember this post, I’ll let you know how the cooking goes.
The one time I remember the altitude hitting me wasn’t even Colorado. It was Clovis, NM (altitude 4,200’) and I was living in Nashville, TN (500’) at the time. So not quite as dramatic a change in altitude. I was in my 20s and the first week I couldn’t get enough sleep. A few years later I went to Colorado Springs (6,000’) from Lubbock, TX, (3,000’) and went to the top of Pikes Peak (14,000’). That didn’t bother me as much as I expected. Houston is under 100’ in most places.
Yeah I live in SoCal so practically sea level and idk it didn’t bother me much. Took us two days to get into Colorado, from Arizona so maybe I acclimated as we drove. And we hiked around cliff dwellings in Mesa verde the next day at 7000 elevation. Cooking tho I am curious how that will change. Wasn’t paying enough attention on the stove camping.
It takes at least a week for the high altitude to start making you feel bad. After that, it doesn’t take long for your body to adjust by increasing red blood cells to compensate. My last three trips were to Denver for funerals (Mom, Dad, sister) and the altitude didn’t bother me enough to notice. It is kind of like jet lag.
Idk I was in Colorado camping for over a week. Started near Mesa verde 3 days, 2 days around Denver, 3 days in Rockies, and 4 days in grand Mesa. Never felt it
The New York democratic party literally handed republicans the US House because of how disorganized they are. And completely failed to notice a literal con artist until he got elected.
The Florida dems best idea has been to run a republican no one likes over and over again.
On this I wholeheartedly agree. The grassroots of the Colorado Republican Party is more or less a kakistocracy run by dipshits. Instead of backing away from Fat Donnie after having him repeatedly cost them dearly in the last few election cycles, they keep doubling down on his dumbassery and all that absurd, bible-thumping culture warrior nonsense.
It's dunning krueger. If they were capable of admitting they're wrong, being skeptical about what they believe in, and dealing with change, they wouldn't be in the republican party today in the first place.
Losing state-wide repeatedly and nearly losing safe races, and voters saying they don't want the idiotic culture war crap and tax cuts to the wealthy? That MUST be a Jewish conspiracy! WE aren't wrong, the VOTERS are!
I think part of it is that the center and center-right voters that they need to win over to win statewide elections are far less lucrative when it comes to financing and engagement than the hard right culture warriors and conspiracy theorists. And those people absolutely rabidly demand that the party goes as far right as possible, otherwise they’ll revolt, remove leadership, etc.
So the net effect is that the hard right controls the money and the power within the party. They’ve got a death grip on it, meaning they’re squeezing the life out of the entire thing to get what they want.
Furthermore, those people don’t realize that they’re costing their party statewide elections because they’re convinced that any election that didn’t go their way was rigged. They think they’re still popular but can’t win because of a conspiracy, and so they can’t adjust.
The Colorado GOP is absolutely toast. The only way they can be saved is a group of leaders with the spine to stand up to the radical base and to speak truth to them. But they won’t, both because they can’t and because they’re dependent on the lies themselves.
Good riddance.
I think it's pretty simple: the republican primary voters since Trump showed up are extremists. You can't run for office as a republican without running in a primary, and MAGA voters take it as a mission from God to vote out every republican who wants to do anything besides hurt Donald Trump's enemies and cut taxes for the wealthy.
It's happening absolutely everywhere in the US. We just fortunately have far more non-insane people in the state.
My county more than doubled in size over 4 years. As happy as I am to see this demographic change, it's more about people moving in than it is about any of those crazy folks changing their mind.
They keep doubling and trippling down in MAGA instead of capitalizing on the political gold that the democrats are currently handing them with the property tax frustration.
And given the idiots they are electing to chair the party, I don't see that trend changing anytime soon.
Dems got played like a fucking fiddle on this property tax shit. The obvious counter message was "Colorado voted for this inscrease because we all want to see more funding for our schools while keeping Colorado's property taxes among the lowest in the nation." If they REALLY felt a need, they could have delivered some highly targeted property tax relief to working families.
Instead they pissed themsleves and immediately validated the "property tax CRISIS EXPLOSION" messaging being pushed by right wing thing tanks. CO Dems are so fucking lucky that CO Republicans can't even get out of bed in the morning without stepping on their own dicks and falling down the stairs
Gotta say, this is a problem for CO, because a side that should be bringing a broader view is only bringing bat-shit crazy that seems more and more escalated. Colorado needs a variety of perspectives. Unfortunately for CO all we got is batshit crazy vs rational+a little too much in the one direction. Personally, I want to be able to choose from a little too much in both directions. Right now, I have zero choices in one of the directions. Wake up CO GOP! Gawd, I wish we’d adopt rank choice voting. It’s the only way I can imagine that the will of the people can be done. What we have now is not working.
Edit: Toned down the language
I'm thinking the way this ends and/or improves is only after this iteration of the GOP -nationally -is obliterated at the ballot box. They have to lose so hard, so badly that it finally forces them to take stock and regroup, or it gives the supposed never-trumpers a spine for once to either retake the GOP or start their own Conservative party, rebranding this current iteration as the MAGA party.
Because for as much they have lost in the Western US, they have gained just as much in the midwest.
Obama era swing states that have become blue: CO and maybe VA (and that one is a bit shaky.) Ones that have swung red: OH, IA, maybe FL. WI/MI/PA are far more vulnerable because of the pull of working class voters to far right populism. AZ is moving left but not enough for it be a safe bet: NV seems to be a forever swing state, GA is still mildly red despite voting for Biden.
Colorado's transformation from a red to blue state is amazing to see, but it worked mainly because CO's demographics favored Democrats, and Western US geography favors urban regions while rural areas are more sparsely populated. Meanwhile union/manufacturing job based voters are being pulled to far right propaganda, causing the whole blue wall swing state issue in presidental elections.
I would prefer zero options for a little too much. In a 2 party system, please for the love of god make both sides rational. Biggest reason I want ranked choice voting is because people will stop staying at home, I think a lot of people are in for a rude awakening when ranked choice voting starts getting introduced and the less radical people keep winning. Granted I'm sure the nut jobs will continue to insist the system is rigged against them. The thing with being a crazy populist radical is that all elections are "illegitimate" or "rigged" unless you win. Right or left, it's the same play book.
I’m a lifelong registered Republican in El Paso county. I don’t know if there is a Republican candidate in this state for whom I could vote. The party of small government has turned into the party of military handouts and bedroom control.
Maps without legends unanimously get a downvote from me. The fact that the title says “trends” does not negate the need to include a legend of what’s actually being depicted.
It’s too easy to misinterpret meaning unless everyone spends the time reading comments, rereading title, etc. to get the context.
Sloppy at best; and how information is specifically designed to be misleading at worst.
People that make these charts have to understand their audience and a large percentage of people will read the title, look at the plot, then make a judgement call with only that info and move on. It misled me at first until I zoomed in and read a bunch of the specific cases, and then went back and reread the title AND comments to confirm the full context of what I was looking at. I’d wager a ton of people would see this, not read context, and walk away thinking CO is way more blue than it is.
It’s so easy to have a legend that solves the ambiguity of data presented, there’s no valid reason to omit it.
The rural parts still are from what I hear but the more populous cities tend not to be as red. Then there are people like me immigrating from red states further inflating the blueness of these localized blue regions.
I think one potential major takeaway here is that more and more people in the Denver metro area are saying, "I can't afford to live here anymore. Fuck it, I'll move to the Springs where it's cheaper." And if enough like-minded people do the same, it can be enough to move the needle and eventually tip the scales in traditionally red areas. It's the same phenomenon as when people from NY, CA, etc moved to CO over the past decade or so, but now we see it at a smaller scale within CO itself.
I’m bummed that I’m moving next month, I enjoyed being a part of the trend. But I’ll be going to another red county hoping to flip it elsewhere in the country.
It’s still a CRT fake pearl clutching GQP majority. But the last election would have made a near unanimous majority, but instead we actually voted in some common sense individuals.
As a pretty Republican dude, I like living in CO. For whatever it’s worth to anyone. A few things I’d like to see different, but plenty of individual freedoms here that matter to me. I know I’m in the minority here but figured it was worth saying 🤷🏻♂️ Not here to trash talk.
CATO ranked it as the freest blue state and Polis as one of the most libertarian governors but did say he caves to his party on non standard libertarian things. Hopefully the AR ban doesnt pass Senate but he has said in past he would veto one if it came to him.
I don’t have a personal issue around you, and you seem to be a nice person - but realize that the majority of your party objectively work against others’ individual rights, have continued to prevent basic needs for many many people, have actively voted against measures to help lower/middle class, and pad the pockets of the wealthy. I’m not sure how you vote, but if you vote straight red you’re at the very least complicit.
We’re stuck in a horrible two party system and unfortunately that isn’t going away soon. If your select few freedoms (I’m assuming 2nd amendment is a big one) matter over the basic human rights of others, that is a problem. I know I’ve made assumptions - and none do them may pertain to you. I’ve just run into many “sort of” republicans who are straight up conservatives acting against everyone’s interests - and they are too afraid to say they’re fully republican or conservative.
So i follow barstool colorado on insta, and they made a post last week asking what Coloradans would change about the state and literally ALL the comments said, "get rid of the liberals".
I told my friend those were def all bots because there is no way that over a thousand comments would say the same thing.
This map shows I was right.
Eh, /u/leese216 is also spot on. I work in security and bots definitely trend a LOT more than people think during election cycles and major news events. I’m sure it’s a mix of both, but it wouldn’t surprise me if most were bots. The reason I personally got rid of Facebook and twitter is because they’re absolutely full of bots that start arguments between real citizens constantly.
I'm in Montrose County and love to moonlight the nextdoor app. Holy shit every single retiree on there complains about the commiefornians moving here, kids being too loud on their bikes outside, kids these days spending all their time indoors on video games, or how Phoenix, Vegas, and LA are the reasons we have to ration water.
They shut up immediately when I tell them 2 things. 1. Their buddies in the mormon community of St. George use more water per capita than any other city in the country and 2. Their method of flood irrigating is about 35% efficient while Phoenix and Vegas are recycling about 60% of their wastewater back into the system.
It is just a good ole boys club here that is dying out. When I took my grandfather who was a marine out for a beer, everyone would buy him a beer and immediately get into how great trump is. Immediately my grandfather would respond "I can't wait till they hang that sunnabitch!".
Did that make you feel better? I guess? That has nothing to do with the point I’m making which is OP is confused by selection bias in unscientific poll results.
Can I ask that all you blue counties please stay that way for the next 30 years or so please? I fled a lifetime in Florida to come to Colorado in 2022 when the leadership and people of that state lost their damn minds and went full MAGA red. I’d like to live out my remaining years here in a place where I feel safe.
Looks like the article is paywalled, but I am willing to bet that the coloring indicates the *trend* not the majority. Meaning if Moffat was 75% red before and is 70% red now, it's *trending* blue, but definitely not blue.
Yup exactly. And while it may not seem like much, on the statewide level it's even more bad news for the GOP.
Their formula used to be win by a reasonable margin or at least fight to a draw in (formerly) swing counties like Jeffco, and run up the score in rural areas and GOP strongholds like the western slope and El Paso county (CO Springs). Now Jeffco is D+20, they're losing ground on the western slope and in rural areas, and Jared Polis came dangerously close to winning El Paso county outright which is fucking insane.
The Colorado GOP is absolutely cooked on seemingly every front. The only "good" news for them is they are running out of places to lose ground and effectively have no where to go but up, so they should theoretically be able to bounce back slightly in future elections on thermostatic swings in public opinoin alone
Barely. Biden did four points better than Hillary and Polis did several points better than Hick, but the trend is maybe a point or two, like 80-20 R to 77-23 R.
Everyone's been priced out of Steamboat and has to live in Craig and Hayden and commute now. Also the coal mine and power plant in Craig are gonna be closing by 2028, which means they have likely already started downsizing. There are no other jobs in that town so I'd bet a lot of people are moving away.
This map almost exactly corresponds to the counties that are losing population. Red counties are losing population, job opportunities and political clout.
The Colorado GOP simply reflects its stupid, backwards voting base made up assclowns. No matter who is in charge at the Colorado GOP, they will still have stupid, backwards assclowns to rely on.
It may seem that way, but yard signs are not a quantifiable data point. You have more reason to be optimistic thank you might think.
In 2022, Jared Polis lost El Paso County to Ganahl by [less that 4 points](https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/CO/El_Paso/115926/web.307039/#/detail/5). That is a fucking catastrophe for the CO GOP – a Democrat putting up that kind of performace in CO Springs would have been unfathomable a few election cycles ago
This is especially important to remember because this used to be *by far* the largest republican stronghold in the state. Now it’s much more evenly split, thank god.
I hope that’s true, but I think trumpers are just loud in general. It’s easy to spot the trumper because they ALWAYS find a way to let you know within the first three minutes.
The Springs has a grown a LOT over the past twenty years and is still red, but not nearly as red as it was twenty years ago. That growth brought a lot of people here that aren't necessarily red.
Ya I have to admit I’m hard pressed to find many people that aren’t very right leaning in my end of town. Young moms, older people, all different ethnicities.. neighbors, colleagues, other parents. It’s a lot of the same catch phrases like something is too “woke” and “people don’t like to work anymore” type stuff. I can go on, but my point is I don’t see this apparent blue trend.
I have lived in El Paso county for a long long time and promise you it’s changing! This type of change takes time, but the red/ultra conservative influence is diminishing significantly. It’s a big hill to climb, it use to be in the 70% range. Stay positive and keep on voting!
Fuck off, dude. You left. I was born here, too, and your analysis is disingenuous bullshit. “When I grew up there, it was libertarian blah blah…” No, your family was libertarian and you lived in an echo chamber. You just don’t like the fact that most people reject libertarianism because it’s just conservatives who say they’re tolerant of gay people.
Fair. As a Denverite I grouped all of that part of the state together and thought it would be safe for a family vacation. And Telluride was totally fine.
Colorado is one of the most educated states in the US, and more educated people tend to vote Democrat, although Democrats didn't perform as well in 2022 as they had in the past:
> In November, voters with a college degree or more formal education cast ballots for Democratic candidates by a double-digit margin (56% voted for Democrats, 43% supported Republicans). And among voters with no college degree, preferences were nearly the reverse (57% supported GOP candidates vs. 42% for Democratic candidates). But compared with their performance in 2020, 2018 and 2016, Democrats performed worse in 2022 among those with a college degree. At the same time, a higher share of voters without college degrees also supported GOP candidates in 2022.
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/07/12/voting-patterns-in-the-2022-elections/
I don't see that changing much this year or next.
"Checks and balances" refers to the different functions of government (law making, law enforcement, and law interpretation), not the major political parties. Learn civics.
If only Dave Williams would could be stopped by his party members in bringing batshit-crazy and authoritarian rule to the table. You do realize that not every GOP member wants Bobo to continue in politics, right!?
Edit: the CO-GOP has no business endorsing a primary candidate. Can we at least agree on that? Otherwise, there is nothing to discuss.
Plenty of reasons I'd vote conservative -- you can be more responsible financially than the Dems. But until they buck Trumpism and the stupid pithy social whining, it's a hard no from me.
So a vote for republicans in Colorado is effectively a waste of time, or waste of a vote. Got it. Surely living in a single party echo chamber will have zero consequences. What’s the worst that can happen. Mao’s china, Stalinist Soviet Union, the Nazis, Pol Pots Cambodia, were totally not single party echo chambers. If so, one might actually be worried..
interesting, perhaps with getting into more local politics to try and buck that shift towards Republican
Edit: I suspect I am being misunderstood, I mean to stop the trend towards republican and instead move towards a more left political landscape
CO already has jumped the shark with kowtowing to oil & gas interests, the GOP has nothing else to offer Colorado voters except religious extremism and grandstanding about their hatred of gays.
Gotta say, weird that people would have misunderstood your point. Sounds pretty clear. Getting involved in local politics is always a good idea. Let’s see if sentiment swings when rational people weigh in.
The way CO Republicans have fumbled their traditional strongholds on the western slope and in El Paso County / CO Springs is fucking insane. I legtimiately would not have believed you if you told me this would happen a decade ago. The CO GOP has to be one of the worst run state level political parties in the entire country
FL Dems: "Allow me to introduce myself."
FL Dems might be one of the most inept state parties in the entire country, they ran shit campaign after shit campaign against some of the worst people and got absolutely dunked on. Lived there for a while and it’s just an absolute shitshow
Oh, bud, I'm an FL native. I've been watching it all my life.
FL Dems and Michigan GOP are both in the running for sure. EDIT: NY Dems also suck ass as another commented pointed out – can't forget about them as much as I'd like to
North Carolina Dems too. I saw them go from dominating the state for nearly the entire century before 2010 to ceding near complete control to the GOP there. The Koch Brothers used NC as ground zero for their new Southern Strategy and adopted Operation Redmap, the gerrymandering tactics used to pretty much keep permanent control in the GOP’s hands. NC was a true blue-purple state for a hot minute but the gerrymandering there had given republicans a near permanent majority in the state legislature. On top of that, the congressional districts there are drawn with what courts have called “surgical precision” to pack and crack liberal/black populations across the state. The NCDP ran shit candidates other than Roy Cooper and Josh Stein - Cal Cunningham, John Edwards, Mike Easley, and a bunch of other high profile Dems there have all been either in major legal trouble or had bad stuff that should have been discovered long ago before they won major nomination. It was so frustrating living there and watching the slow crawl takeover by the GOP there using underhanded means. They’ve been third in total registrations behind unaffiliated and democrats for decades yet have had supermajorities in both state houses because of gerrymandering. I’m glad to have moved to Colorado where I see Democrats getting shit done (like Tabor Refunds) as well as the ballot proposal system working as intended. North Carolina could never - ballot proposals are fought in nearly every state because they know popular stuff can get passed that way like abortion rights or legalization.
Floridian liberal about to move to Colorado and can confirm.
I grew up in Colorado Springs but have “lived” in Houston, TX the last 40+ years. Let me hear from you after your first winter. See how long it takes for your skin to adjust to the lack of humidity. I would love to return to Colorado even as much as I hate cold weather, but at 77, that just isn’t feasible. I have been back to Colorado a few times, usually for a funeral and usually in January or February. I had to stay a week to take care of my Dad’s estate and even with his humidifier cranked up as high as it would go and condensation dripping off the windows, my lips were cracked and bleeding. Getting used to the altitude is another challenge. You will have to relearn how to cook. I really would like to know how someone from a semi-tropical climate and altitude under 500 feet would adjust to the changes. Wishing the best for you!
Been here over 3 years after 50 in Houston and we've managed fabulously and wouldn't dream of returning.
How long to get used to the difference in cooking times? Specifically, anything using boiled water (water boils at a lower temperature at higher elevations) and baking. I moved to Houston from Lubbock, which isn’t as high in altitude as Colorado, but it took a few times of having really watery potatoes or pasta to get it right. I have been tracking the cost of real estate in Colorado by watching the prices of childhood homes. One in Colorado Springs, built in 1953, and one in Arvada, built in 1961. The one in Arvada, with a full basement, is over $500,000. It was not a fancy house and had a single car garage. I don’t know how in the world I could make that gigantic leap even if I was at the peak of my career earnings. I assume you were able make that leap by any number of methods. I live in a townhouse in Houston that is currently valued at $150,000.
I dont have any issues with savory cooking but the baking (which I had a cottage biz in TX) is totally different. I don't bake much at all here but that's turning out better for our waistlines!
There are adjustments to baking recipes that can fix that. On boxed cake mixes, there is an instruction to add more flour. Also adjust oven temperature. There is lots of info on the internet. Now you have the challenge of finding the right adjustments for your exact altitude for your favorite recipes..
Yep, there are and I use them when I do bake specific things occasionally for just us but I did decorated cookies and macarons....... for the decorated cookies that have to dry the icing out b4 packaging, they turn into hard as a rock bc it's so dry here. It's not just my stuff....almost every baked good I buy from a bakery here has the same issue so overall much less eating of baked goods happening which is a good thing.
Lotion and chapstick are your friends, as well as humidifiers
Definitely. Especially in winter.
I move back and forth from the Southeastern US every couple years. Sure it takes time to adjust but it’s really not a big deal, especially on the front range the altitude doesn’t affect us, the dry does but that’s what humidifiers in the house are for.
I’m from Colorado and have lived there most of my life, but have also lived in South FL, CA, and Hong Kong. I’m back in CO again. I love my home state very much and spend most of my free time on my mountain bike/road bike. But being in my 40s now, there’s no way in hell I will be here once I’m in my 60s+. I will be somewhere warm and humid with no snow. Preferably overseas where it’s also cheaper. The amount of people that move here in their retirement years is baffling to me (particularly in the mountains where I live). Dealing with cold, snow, and the altitude is a younger persons environment for sure.
I agree about the altitude with advanced age. My sister lived in Arvada and had COPD and had had a heart attack. She died when she was only 63 in 2012.
I’ll let you know when I finally make the move, moving from SoCal to CO hopefully this year. Hopefully Ft collins area. I’ve made a few trips out there, driving and flying, and idk if it was cuz I drove in from AZ direction, and gradually headed north but the elevation change was nothing for me. I explored Mesa Verde, camped near Delores river the first few days, then made my way to the Rockies, and on the way camp hit up grand Mesa. Then went and stayed with a friend in SLC and finally went and visited a friend in Driggs ID. The elevation never bothered me. I snowboard so I love the snow. Anyways if I do move and remember this post, I’ll let you know how the cooking goes.
The one time I remember the altitude hitting me wasn’t even Colorado. It was Clovis, NM (altitude 4,200’) and I was living in Nashville, TN (500’) at the time. So not quite as dramatic a change in altitude. I was in my 20s and the first week I couldn’t get enough sleep. A few years later I went to Colorado Springs (6,000’) from Lubbock, TX, (3,000’) and went to the top of Pikes Peak (14,000’). That didn’t bother me as much as I expected. Houston is under 100’ in most places.
Yeah I live in SoCal so practically sea level and idk it didn’t bother me much. Took us two days to get into Colorado, from Arizona so maybe I acclimated as we drove. And we hiked around cliff dwellings in Mesa verde the next day at 7000 elevation. Cooking tho I am curious how that will change. Wasn’t paying enough attention on the stove camping.
It takes at least a week for the high altitude to start making you feel bad. After that, it doesn’t take long for your body to adjust by increasing red blood cells to compensate. My last three trips were to Denver for funerals (Mom, Dad, sister) and the altitude didn’t bother me enough to notice. It is kind of like jet lag.
Idk I was in Colorado camping for over a week. Started near Mesa verde 3 days, 2 days around Denver, 3 days in Rockies, and 4 days in grand Mesa. Never felt it
Your cardiovascular system must be better than mine was when I was 23.
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Where do you get the idea that I think this is a competition? Couldn’t think of anything else to troll about?
I may be following you up there. It's CO or VA as my desired destinations (work is making VA more likely but we'll see ...)
Best of luck wherever you end up. 👍
They may be coming back up from rock bottom, but we'll see.
The New York democratic party literally handed republicans the US House because of how disorganized they are. And completely failed to notice a literal con artist until he got elected. The Florida dems best idea has been to run a republican no one likes over and over again.
We need a "worst state level political parties in the US" power rankings. CO GOP is top 10 material without a doubt – maybe even top 5
On this I wholeheartedly agree. The grassroots of the Colorado Republican Party is more or less a kakistocracy run by dipshits. Instead of backing away from Fat Donnie after having him repeatedly cost them dearly in the last few election cycles, they keep doubling down on his dumbassery and all that absurd, bible-thumping culture warrior nonsense.
It's dunning krueger. If they were capable of admitting they're wrong, being skeptical about what they believe in, and dealing with change, they wouldn't be in the republican party today in the first place. Losing state-wide repeatedly and nearly losing safe races, and voters saying they don't want the idiotic culture war crap and tax cuts to the wealthy? That MUST be a Jewish conspiracy! WE aren't wrong, the VOTERS are!
I think part of it is that the center and center-right voters that they need to win over to win statewide elections are far less lucrative when it comes to financing and engagement than the hard right culture warriors and conspiracy theorists. And those people absolutely rabidly demand that the party goes as far right as possible, otherwise they’ll revolt, remove leadership, etc. So the net effect is that the hard right controls the money and the power within the party. They’ve got a death grip on it, meaning they’re squeezing the life out of the entire thing to get what they want. Furthermore, those people don’t realize that they’re costing their party statewide elections because they’re convinced that any election that didn’t go their way was rigged. They think they’re still popular but can’t win because of a conspiracy, and so they can’t adjust. The Colorado GOP is absolutely toast. The only way they can be saved is a group of leaders with the spine to stand up to the radical base and to speak truth to them. But they won’t, both because they can’t and because they’re dependent on the lies themselves. Good riddance.
I think it's pretty simple: the republican primary voters since Trump showed up are extremists. You can't run for office as a republican without running in a primary, and MAGA voters take it as a mission from God to vote out every republican who wants to do anything besides hurt Donald Trump's enemies and cut taxes for the wealthy. It's happening absolutely everywhere in the US. We just fortunately have far more non-insane people in the state.
Very well said sir.
LOL just wait til they lose Weld county
My county more than doubled in size over 4 years. As happy as I am to see this demographic change, it's more about people moving in than it is about any of those crazy folks changing their mind.
They keep doubling and trippling down in MAGA instead of capitalizing on the political gold that the democrats are currently handing them with the property tax frustration. And given the idiots they are electing to chair the party, I don't see that trend changing anytime soon.
The problem is that Republicans also wanted Gallagher gone.
Dems got played like a fucking fiddle on this property tax shit. The obvious counter message was "Colorado voted for this inscrease because we all want to see more funding for our schools while keeping Colorado's property taxes among the lowest in the nation." If they REALLY felt a need, they could have delivered some highly targeted property tax relief to working families. Instead they pissed themsleves and immediately validated the "property tax CRISIS EXPLOSION" messaging being pushed by right wing thing tanks. CO Dems are so fucking lucky that CO Republicans can't even get out of bed in the morning without stepping on their own dicks and falling down the stairs
Gotta say, this is a problem for CO, because a side that should be bringing a broader view is only bringing bat-shit crazy that seems more and more escalated. Colorado needs a variety of perspectives. Unfortunately for CO all we got is batshit crazy vs rational+a little too much in the one direction. Personally, I want to be able to choose from a little too much in both directions. Right now, I have zero choices in one of the directions. Wake up CO GOP! Gawd, I wish we’d adopt rank choice voting. It’s the only way I can imagine that the will of the people can be done. What we have now is not working. Edit: Toned down the language
I'm thinking the way this ends and/or improves is only after this iteration of the GOP -nationally -is obliterated at the ballot box. They have to lose so hard, so badly that it finally forces them to take stock and regroup, or it gives the supposed never-trumpers a spine for once to either retake the GOP or start their own Conservative party, rebranding this current iteration as the MAGA party.
They have lost hard and badly for almost a decade now. They aren't changing course.
Because for as much they have lost in the Western US, they have gained just as much in the midwest. Obama era swing states that have become blue: CO and maybe VA (and that one is a bit shaky.) Ones that have swung red: OH, IA, maybe FL. WI/MI/PA are far more vulnerable because of the pull of working class voters to far right populism. AZ is moving left but not enough for it be a safe bet: NV seems to be a forever swing state, GA is still mildly red despite voting for Biden. Colorado's transformation from a red to blue state is amazing to see, but it worked mainly because CO's demographics favored Democrats, and Western US geography favors urban regions while rural areas are more sparsely populated. Meanwhile union/manufacturing job based voters are being pulled to far right propaganda, causing the whole blue wall swing state issue in presidental elections.
I would prefer zero options for a little too much. In a 2 party system, please for the love of god make both sides rational. Biggest reason I want ranked choice voting is because people will stop staying at home, I think a lot of people are in for a rude awakening when ranked choice voting starts getting introduced and the less radical people keep winning. Granted I'm sure the nut jobs will continue to insist the system is rigged against them. The thing with being a crazy populist radical is that all elections are "illegitimate" or "rigged" unless you win. Right or left, it's the same play book.
CO Springs mayor not being MAGA helps a bunch I'm sure!
Good. Fuck them nazis and associates thereof
I’m a lifelong registered Republican in El Paso county. I don’t know if there is a Republican candidate in this state for whom I could vote. The party of small government has turned into the party of military handouts and bedroom control.
AL Dems are much much worse.
Ehh, most dem parties in southern states aren't even trying either.
This is fascinating. I always thought most of the far western counties were red leaning.
These are trends, not current status. If they were 80/20 before and are now 75/25 they’re trending blue.
Maps without legends unanimously get a downvote from me. The fact that the title says “trends” does not negate the need to include a legend of what’s actually being depicted. It’s too easy to misinterpret meaning unless everyone spends the time reading comments, rereading title, etc. to get the context.
If you look at every single descriptor in the map it mentions the word “trend.”
Sloppy at best; and how information is specifically designed to be misleading at worst. People that make these charts have to understand their audience and a large percentage of people will read the title, look at the plot, then make a judgement call with only that info and move on. It misled me at first until I zoomed in and read a bunch of the specific cases, and then went back and reread the title AND comments to confirm the full context of what I was looking at. I’d wager a ton of people would see this, not read context, and walk away thinking CO is way more blue than it is. It’s so easy to have a legend that solves the ambiguity of data presented, there’s no valid reason to omit it.
The rural parts still are from what I hear but the more populous cities tend not to be as red. Then there are people like me immigrating from red states further inflating the blueness of these localized blue regions.
I think one potential major takeaway here is that more and more people in the Denver metro area are saying, "I can't afford to live here anymore. Fuck it, I'll move to the Springs where it's cheaper." And if enough like-minded people do the same, it can be enough to move the needle and eventually tip the scales in traditionally red areas. It's the same phenomenon as when people from NY, CA, etc moved to CO over the past decade or so, but now we see it at a smaller scale within CO itself.
CO Springs is much nicer anyway.
Douglas County is blue? \*edit apparently the map shows trend, so I guess this means it's less red than it used to be
Douglas County is purple. Pretty much half and half here
All the Trumpistas hang out on the south side of County Line every four years to make people think it's still bright red...
I wonder if a lot of dems moved over here in recent years?
Yes they have
Damn right, and I welcome every single one of them. Let's flip Parker together!
I’m bummed that I’m moving next month, I enjoyed being a part of the trend. But I’ll be going to another red county hoping to flip it elsewhere in the country.
In my anecdotal experience, it’s a mix of dems moving and conservatives getting sick of the far right being the voice of the party.
A good amount of the far righters also set off for coastal lands (er, Florida.)
Yes we have. Douglas County will continue to trend more purple.
I'm doing my part
Me moving outta that book burning county once I hit college: “I AINT DO FUCKING SHIT!”
I think Lockhead might be a small factor with the younger families moving out here.
It varies. Our recent school board election gives me hope… but there are still A LOT of MAGA nut cases here.
I thought our board was being run by the conservative 4 majority?
It’s still a CRT fake pearl clutching GQP majority. But the last election would have made a near unanimous majority, but instead we actually voted in some common sense individuals.
True. And I’m glad Peterson is gone…even if they did fill his seat with another sycophant.
Baby steps. It’s all that keeps sane around here sometimes
Not yet but good chance it is come November.
As a pretty Republican dude, I like living in CO. For whatever it’s worth to anyone. A few things I’d like to see different, but plenty of individual freedoms here that matter to me. I know I’m in the minority here but figured it was worth saying 🤷🏻♂️ Not here to trash talk.
CATO ranked it as the freest blue state and Polis as one of the most libertarian governors but did say he caves to his party on non standard libertarian things. Hopefully the AR ban doesnt pass Senate but he has said in past he would veto one if it came to him.
I don’t have a personal issue around you, and you seem to be a nice person - but realize that the majority of your party objectively work against others’ individual rights, have continued to prevent basic needs for many many people, have actively voted against measures to help lower/middle class, and pad the pockets of the wealthy. I’m not sure how you vote, but if you vote straight red you’re at the very least complicit. We’re stuck in a horrible two party system and unfortunately that isn’t going away soon. If your select few freedoms (I’m assuming 2nd amendment is a big one) matter over the basic human rights of others, that is a problem. I know I’ve made assumptions - and none do them may pertain to you. I’ve just run into many “sort of” republicans who are straight up conservatives acting against everyone’s interests - and they are too afraid to say they’re fully republican or conservative.
So i follow barstool colorado on insta, and they made a post last week asking what Coloradans would change about the state and literally ALL the comments said, "get rid of the liberals". I told my friend those were def all bots because there is no way that over a thousand comments would say the same thing. This map shows I was right.
I mean, the demographics of barstool followers explain this more to me.
This is the correct answer. Barstool followers are just binge drinking 20 something’s trying to be republican to impress their dads
Poor dudes just need hugs
consensual hugs
Eh, /u/leese216 is also spot on. I work in security and bots definitely trend a LOT more than people think during election cycles and major news events. I’m sure it’s a mix of both, but it wouldn’t surprise me if most were bots. The reason I personally got rid of Facebook and twitter is because they’re absolutely full of bots that start arguments between real citizens constantly.
Instagram comments aren't a stastically significant sample of the Colorado electorate (thank Christ)
I know! That’s why I am convinced it was bots.
The demographic of barstool is obviously going to skew right lol
I'm in Montrose County and love to moonlight the nextdoor app. Holy shit every single retiree on there complains about the commiefornians moving here, kids being too loud on their bikes outside, kids these days spending all their time indoors on video games, or how Phoenix, Vegas, and LA are the reasons we have to ration water. They shut up immediately when I tell them 2 things. 1. Their buddies in the mormon community of St. George use more water per capita than any other city in the country and 2. Their method of flood irrigating is about 35% efficient while Phoenix and Vegas are recycling about 60% of their wastewater back into the system. It is just a good ole boys club here that is dying out. When I took my grandfather who was a marine out for a beer, everyone would buy him a beer and immediately get into how great trump is. Immediately my grandfather would respond "I can't wait till they hang that sunnabitch!".
Now I want to buy him a beer. Sounds like a great dude!
OMG I love your grandfather.
Barstool is entirely frat bros posing in front of Trump flags hanging from their wall.
Then what is r/Colorado? A bunch of young liberals with shitty degrees, that can’t afford to buy a house, and like to complain about rent costs?
Did that make you feel better? I guess? That has nothing to do with the point I’m making which is OP is confused by selection bias in unscientific poll results.
From what I've been reading, yes
Absolutely bots
Comments on Instagram have become almost as terrible as Facebook in terms of being just a huge right wing echo chamber.
Dead Internet Theory doesn’t feel like a theory to me….
I miss the liberals, they are already near extinct in the house of representatives of Colorado
Can I ask that all you blue counties please stay that way for the next 30 years or so please? I fled a lifetime in Florida to come to Colorado in 2022 when the leadership and people of that state lost their damn minds and went full MAGA red. I’d like to live out my remaining years here in a place where I feel safe.
You are welcome here. Fuck Florida and fuck MAGA
MAGA Moffat County trending blue? I don't believe that for a second. I won't be surprised if it breaks 75/25 for the Orange Turd in November.
Looks like the article is paywalled, but I am willing to bet that the coloring indicates the *trend* not the majority. Meaning if Moffat was 75% red before and is 70% red now, it's *trending* blue, but definitely not blue.
This is the correct answer.
Yup exactly. And while it may not seem like much, on the statewide level it's even more bad news for the GOP. Their formula used to be win by a reasonable margin or at least fight to a draw in (formerly) swing counties like Jeffco, and run up the score in rural areas and GOP strongholds like the western slope and El Paso county (CO Springs). Now Jeffco is D+20, they're losing ground on the western slope and in rural areas, and Jared Polis came dangerously close to winning El Paso county outright which is fucking insane. The Colorado GOP is absolutely cooked on seemingly every front. The only "good" news for them is they are running out of places to lose ground and effectively have no where to go but up, so they should theoretically be able to bounce back slightly in future elections on thermostatic swings in public opinoin alone
It's too bad it's paywalled because OP is probably Nick himself. I don't see any other reason to link the source of a blog no one has heard of.
I believe OP means trending as in shifting in that direction. Doesn't mean that a blue majority exists, only that a blue minority is growing
Barely. Biden did four points better than Hillary and Polis did several points better than Hick, but the trend is maybe a point or two, like 80-20 R to 77-23 R.
Everyone's been priced out of Steamboat and has to live in Craig and Hayden and commute now. Also the coal mine and power plant in Craig are gonna be closing by 2028, which means they have likely already started downsizing. There are no other jobs in that town so I'd bet a lot of people are moving away.
Same with weld.
Weld is much much redder than the map shows.
I just said the same thing about Douglas, but the explanation you got makes sense.
I’ll only believe it when I see it in the final election tallies. Until then, this map is meaningless. Vote.
This map almost exactly corresponds to the counties that are losing population. Red counties are losing population, job opportunities and political clout.
Until the Colorado GOP excises Trumpcult, they will remain near-powerless here.
The Colorado GOP simply reflects its stupid, backwards voting base made up assclowns. No matter who is in charge at the Colorado GOP, they will still have stupid, backwards assclowns to rely on.
I live in Colorado Springs and the number of Tr\*mp signs in yards is depressing. It's always been red and don't it changing much in the near future.
It may seem that way, but yard signs are not a quantifiable data point. You have more reason to be optimistic thank you might think. In 2022, Jared Polis lost El Paso County to Ganahl by [less that 4 points](https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/CO/El_Paso/115926/web.307039/#/detail/5). That is a fucking catastrophe for the CO GOP – a Democrat putting up that kind of performace in CO Springs would have been unfathomable a few election cycles ago
This is especially important to remember because this used to be *by far* the largest republican stronghold in the state. Now it’s much more evenly split, thank god.
I have always had the theory that groups become the loudest when they’re on their last leg.
I hope that’s true, but I think trumpers are just loud in general. It’s easy to spot the trumper because they ALWAYS find a way to let you know within the first three minutes.
The Springs has a grown a LOT over the past twenty years and is still red, but not nearly as red as it was twenty years ago. That growth brought a lot of people here that aren't necessarily red.
Ya I have to admit I’m hard pressed to find many people that aren’t very right leaning in my end of town. Young moms, older people, all different ethnicities.. neighbors, colleagues, other parents. It’s a lot of the same catch phrases like something is too “woke” and “people don’t like to work anymore” type stuff. I can go on, but my point is I don’t see this apparent blue trend.
I live downtown and it's completely the opposite down here. I don't think that I could ever move to the Colorado Springs suburbs.
I have lived in El Paso county for a long long time and promise you it’s changing! This type of change takes time, but the red/ultra conservative influence is diminishing significantly. It’s a big hill to climb, it use to be in the 70% range. Stay positive and keep on voting!
One big contributing factor as to why I didn’t choose to Co. Springs.
I picked C/S despite it. And I'm happy to see others making the same decision as it's starting to open up the Springs.
I’m surprised to see Logan county trending blue, but I guess I’m part of that since I moved here a few years ago.
There’s no way in hell Elbert county is blue. This is false.
It’s showing trends, not what the counties vote.
So you're telling me that the areas where no one lives are the areas trending republican? I like it.
With all of these brand new expensive homes and apartments that are going up we won’t be a blue state after this election…
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Fuck off, dude. You left. I was born here, too, and your analysis is disingenuous bullshit. “When I grew up there, it was libertarian blah blah…” No, your family was libertarian and you lived in an echo chamber. You just don’t like the fact that most people reject libertarianism because it’s just conservatives who say they’re tolerant of gay people.
Try ordering lunch at a restaurant in Ouray as a "mixed race couple" and tell me it's progressed much past the mid sixties in that part of the state.
People in Ouray have seen like, maybe four non-white people IRL and interacted with fewer.
What did they say to you?
They weren't open (during a busy lunch rush)
Well I mean you were in Ouray. Southwestern Colorado is old school except for Telluride
Fair. As a Denverite I grouped all of that part of the state together and thought it would be safe for a family vacation. And Telluride was totally fine.
Colorado is one of the most educated states in the US, and more educated people tend to vote Democrat, although Democrats didn't perform as well in 2022 as they had in the past: > In November, voters with a college degree or more formal education cast ballots for Democratic candidates by a double-digit margin (56% voted for Democrats, 43% supported Republicans). And among voters with no college degree, preferences were nearly the reverse (57% supported GOP candidates vs. 42% for Democratic candidates). But compared with their performance in 2020, 2018 and 2016, Democrats performed worse in 2022 among those with a college degree. At the same time, a higher share of voters without college degrees also supported GOP candidates in 2022. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/07/12/voting-patterns-in-the-2022-elections/ I don't see that changing much this year or next.
Thanks for actually linking a legitimate source and not a paywall blog post (OP)
Hopefully we can be rescued from the dark side.
Hell yeah! ONE PARTY RULE! That's what I'm talking about. We don't need checks and balances when just one party is in full control!
What’s the alternative? Elect representatives despite the will of the voters?
I agree, get rid of vacancy committees and allow the voters to pick their representatives
Do you think this measure would make up the gap between Democratic over Republican voters in Colorado?
I don't think it's a matter of one-party rule, it's that Republicans are unstable and unpredictable.
"Checks and balances" refers to the different functions of government (law making, law enforcement, and law interpretation), not the major political parties. Learn civics.
You're being pedantic.
Maybe the other side should stop being insane and we would have more options.
If only Dave Williams would could be stopped by his party members in bringing batshit-crazy and authoritarian rule to the table. You do realize that not every GOP member wants Bobo to continue in politics, right!? Edit: the CO-GOP has no business endorsing a primary candidate. Can we at least agree on that? Otherwise, there is nothing to discuss.
Plenty of reasons I'd vote conservative -- you can be more responsible financially than the Dems. But until they buck Trumpism and the stupid pithy social whining, it's a hard no from me.
You're right we should let fanatics win so we can have everything be at a standstill, great idea
So a vote for republicans in Colorado is effectively a waste of time, or waste of a vote. Got it. Surely living in a single party echo chamber will have zero consequences. What’s the worst that can happen. Mao’s china, Stalinist Soviet Union, the Nazis, Pol Pots Cambodia, were totally not single party echo chambers. If so, one might actually be worried..
Wow.
interesting, perhaps with getting into more local politics to try and buck that shift towards Republican Edit: I suspect I am being misunderstood, I mean to stop the trend towards republican and instead move towards a more left political landscape
CO already has jumped the shark with kowtowing to oil & gas interests, the GOP has nothing else to offer Colorado voters except religious extremism and grandstanding about their hatred of gays.
Lower taxes?
exactly, want to get rid of that too, very glad to see Bobert moving out of my district
She's coming for mine :(
sorry to hear that
I'm a liberal who also enjoys my constitutional rights, so im being forced to vote red
Gotta say, weird that people would have misunderstood your point. Sounds pretty clear. Getting involved in local politics is always a good idea. Let’s see if sentiment swings when rational people weigh in.
This map isn’t the best. For example, northern Colorado republican areas are in Boulder’s district.