He made a fortune in the frothy days of the commercial internet, founding, among other flourishing businesses, an online flower delivery service.Ĭolorado Gov. His dress - gray suit and a purple polo shirt with matching Nike sneakers - is a mash-up of tech bro and standard-issue government executive.Īt 47, Polis has been a multimillionaire for more than two decades. Polis sits in his spacious office in the state Capitol, his 13-year-old terrier mix, Gia, curled in a chair by his side. "Now," the GOP strategist lamented, "we have a losing football team and, statewide, a losing Republican brand." When Lori Weigel moved to Denver in 1997, she recalled, "the Broncos always won and the Republican Party always won." In short, Democrats are now much more in tune with Colorado, one of the best-educated and socially liberal states in the country, as the Republican base has gotten older, less educated, more evangelical and more Trumpy. What has changed are those who've found their home in the Democratic Party: They are younger, more affluent, better educated, and more liberal on issues such as abortion and gay rights. Colorado has long been a magnet for twenty- and thirty-somethings, drawn by the state's mouthwatering scenery, outdoorsy lifestyle and, more recently, its thriving tech and service industries. The influx of young arrivals - many, like Winkler, from California - is not a new phenomenon. "It was about the general outlook of the parties and what they stand for." "It was less a personal opinion about the candidates," said Winkler, who wound up buying a three-story townhouse overlooking a park near downtown Denver. Jared Polis last November, largely because of his contempt for the GOP - too narrow-minded, in Winkler's view - and a particular dislike for Donald Trump. He voted for Biden in 2020 and Democratic Gov. The political views he imported are typical of Winkler's youthful cohort, which tends toward left of center. Winkler moved three years ago from California, in part because the 29-year-old real estate agent wanted to own a home and knew his money would go further in Colorado. In the last 20 years, the state has gained more than 1.3 million residents, most settling - like Winkler - in Denver or the suburbs strung endlessly along the Rocky Mountains' Front Range. Patrick Winkler helped change the political complexion of Colorado. In 2020, Joe Biden romped to a 13-point win over President Trump, the largest Democratic victory here in more than half a century. In 2004, Democrats essentially gave up and wrote the place off they've carried Colorado in every presidential contest since. "From a western swing state, it has become a Democratic stronghold," said pollster Floyd Ciruli, who's sampled public opinion in Colorado for more than 40 years. The series, called "The New West," begins in Colorado, as no state in the region has changed its partisan coloration as emphatically over the last two decades. It took money, strategy, demographic changes and, not least, a sharp rightward turn by Republicans. The changes didn’t just happen, like the snow embroidering the Rockies in winter, or the runoff that swells Colorado’s icy rivers in the spring. ![]() ![]() Over the next several months I'll visit several of those western states to explore the forces that remade the political map. With a big chunk of the West - California, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington - seemingly locked up, Democrats are free to focus more heavily on the perennial battlegrounds of the Midwest and venture into once-solidly Republican states such as Georgia. That, in turn, has reshaped presidential politics nationwide. Once a Republican bulwark, the region has become Democratic bedrock. The transformation is part of a larger political shift across the West: along the Pacific Coast, through the deserts of Nevada and Arizona, into the Rocky Mountain states of Colorado and New Mexico. In the last two decades, the Republican ranks in Colorado have shrunk drastically, to just a quarter of registered voters, as the once reliably red state has turned a distinct shade of blue. "I couldn't stomach it," Priola said of his old party, "and associate with that style and brand of politics."
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