Dear readers,
No, La Plata County is neither the most liberal nor the most progressive county in Colorado.
La Plata County voters, with its very strong turnout of 81%, favored the Kamala Harris/Tim Walz ticket with 58% of the vote to 39% for Trump/Vance. At least five counties reported a larger percentage in favor of the Democrats. Statewide, Harris/Walz won the state with 54% of the vote, 11 points greater than Trump/Vance.
Boulder, of course, was at 78%, while Denver was a point higher. San Miguel (that’s Telluride) voted 74%, Broomfield (the state’s newest county, between Denver and Boulder) and Gunnison counties were at 63%, and Arapahoe 60%.
Newcomers are likely playing a role in those numbers, coloring north and south of Denver and in the mountains bluer.
How did the county’s view on candidates and issues compare to the state on a few significant questions?
La Plata County gave 3rd Congressional District House of Representatives’ candidate Adam Frisch an 11-point advantage over Jeff Hurd, 58 to 47, but Hurd won the southern Colorado-Western Slope district with a 3% margin.
Voter registration in the district has favored Republicans by 7% or 8%, so Frisch with his energetic campaigning must have won over half of them.
For the state Senate, La Plata County gave local Vivian Smotherman 53% of the vote, while across the senate district, incumbent Republican Cleave Simpson, who has a record of bipartisan legislation, found favor with 56% of the vote.
La Plata County favored veterans, providing veterans with unemployability status with a property tax reduction with 75% of the vote, above the state’s 73%.
County voters elected to remove the prohibition against same-sex marriage from the state’s constitution, with 69% voting for it versus the state’s 64%. A symbolic move, as a 2015 Supreme Court decision had made Colorado’s language moot and constitutional changes have to be made by voters.
County voters felt even more strongly than did voters statewide about the importance of adding the right to abortion in the state’s constitution, 68% to 62%.
As to putting school choice in the constitution, 50% of the county said no, versus 52% statewide. Colorado was a leader in establishing charter schools. School choice is well-established and does not need that level of protection.
The proposition to ban the hunting of lions, lynx and bobcats failed with 56% of the county voting against it, while statewide 55% said no. Trophy hunting is already illegal in Colorado, and hunting lynx is, too. We are not comfortable, however, with the use of dogs and GPS trackers; that is not fair chase.
Providing $350 million for law enforcement salaries and training? La Plata County and the state aligned at 53% in favor. This is a major expense for the state Legislature already pinching pennies and continuing to cut its current budget. With no new taxes associated with this initiative, it is unclear how the Legislature will approach appropriating funds, likely over several years. It will also come at the expense of other general fund expenses possibly including education, health care, prisons and more.
La Plata County was slightly more open to a combined primary and ranked choice voting, voting “no” with 53% to 55%. San Juan County – Silverton – may have been one of the few counties to endorse it, 253 to 247 votes. Single primaries and ranked choice will return, we predict, as it delivers better government.
At home, Durangoans showed they believe in education, strongly supporting School District 9-R’s request for a 15-year mill levy to fund a $150 million bond to be spent on an elementary school at Three Springs, infrastructure upgrades, teacher housing and moving its bus barn. The vote was 61% to 39%. Other school districts should be so fortunate.
Support for reallocating 70% of the county’s lodgers rax toward child care and workforce housing passed handily at 69% to 31%; everybody has a child care need and housing story. We hope the city will consider a similar reallocation.
For better or worse, what the election showed us is we have our differences and our similarities. What we share is that we are fortunate to live in La Plata County and the state of Colorado.
