Buried underneath the wave of Republican victories that swept Colorado and the nation Tuesday night, La Plata County voters went blue in the biggest races, suggesting the area’s tilt toward Democrats in recent years hasn’t gone anywhere.

The results could be ominous for future Republican candidates locally, as they’re likely to face a more Democratic-leaning electorate in 2016.

The trend was most stark in the highest-profile statewide races. La Plata County favored Democrat Mark Udall, 51.7 percent, to Republican victor Cory Gardner, who got 44.6 percent of the vote locally. Gardner, who ran a widely praised, energetic campaign, did much better statewide, taking 49.3 percent of the vote to Udall’s 45.3 percent.

La Plata County voters helped boost Gov. John Hickenlooper to re-election. Hickenlooper won big in the county, receiving 52.7 percent of the vote to Republican Bob Beauprez’s 42.5 percent. Statewide, Hickenlooper edged Beauprez more narrowly, 48.4 percent to 47 percent.

About 7,000 fewer ballots were cast Tuesday than in the 2012 presidential election, a year Democrats turned out in droves. They could be expected to re-emerge for a Democratic presidential candidate in 2016, particularly if party-favorite Hillary Clinton becomes the nominee, as many expect.

The county “is not as conservative as it historically has been, and I believe that is apparent in how equally close our results are in some of these countywide races,” said county Clerk and Recorder Tiffany Parker.

She pointed to Republican Brad Blake edging Cynthia Roebuck, a Democrat, by only 144 votes in unofficial results for county commissioner.

La Plata County’s turn blue is not new. Local voters overwhelmingly backed Barack Obama in 2008 and again in 2012. But in what some called a wave election for Republicans, the pattern held as county voters continued to cast their ballots for candidates with a “D.”

The changes are as much cultural as they are political. We have more bicycles, marijuana dispensaries and alternative grocery stores. Young residents are wearing more dreadlocks, and fewer cowboy boots.

Sheriff Duke Schirard, an old-school La Plata County Republican, encapsulated the changes as well as anyone in a March email message to a fellow Republican.

“The demographics of downtown Durango has changed so drastically in the 42 years I have lived in La Plata County that I don’t even recognize it or want to go downtown,” he said.

Schirard blasted Durangoans who are “liberal, democratic, gun-hating, pot-loving, abortionist, Obama-supporting socialist.”

Schirard, winner of five consecutive terms in La Plata County electorates of the past, lost by more than 2,400 votes Tuesday to Sean Smith, a Democrat.

Tuesday’s results do provide some counter-examples for those looking to muddy the portrait of La Plata County as a Democratic stronghold.

Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, won the county handily over challenger Abel Tapia. But he carried the county by a significantly narrower margin than his district as a whole.

Likewise, Republican state Treasurer Walker Stapleton carried the county by a narrower margin than he did the state.

Another widely noticed trend is the rise of unaffiliated voters, who now number more than those of either major party. Among active voters, the county has 10,433 Democrats, 10,608 Republicans and 11,851 unaffiliated voters.

“It just means that there are a lot of votes to be spoken for if you’re a candidate,” said Jasper Welch, a former city councilor and onetime Republican candidate for state Senate.

County Republican Party chairwoman Susan Terrill-Flint said unaffiliated voters can be expected to play an outsized role in future elections.

“They’re going to have a lot to say about the way things go,” she said.

cslothower@durangoherald.com