5280 Magazine – May 2018

90 |^5280 |^ MAY 20^18

Previous spread: Headshots courtesy of candidates; Courtesy of the U.S. House Office of Photography (Jared Polis); Courtesy of Wikipedia (Walker Stapleton); Courtesy of Alaina Young (Cynthia Coffman)

0–4,999

5,000–9,999

10,000–19,999

20,000–99,999

100,000+

REGISTERED, ACTIVE VOTERS

Let’s start with the firsts.

For the irst time in eight years, Colorado will elect a

new governor in November, to replace the term-limited

John Hickenlooper. For the irst time in 12 years, a

Republican might ill that spot. For the irst time in 20

years, the Democrats will have a contested primary for

the race. But that’s not all: It’s possible that the state will

elect its irst female governor or its irst openly gay gov-

ernor. his will also likely be the state’s most expensive

gubernatorial race in history (at times, more than 20

candidates have vied for the

open seat). And for the irst

time, active* unailiated

voters—more than one-

third of all people who are

registered—can cast ballots

in the primary elections, to

be held on June 26.

Yes, the path to becom-

ing the state’s 43rd governor is going to be historic. We

dug into the data, polled the pollsters, and interviewed

politicos to identify critical counties in the race, explain

Colorado’s untested primary system, predict how much

money will be spent, and spotlight key issues that will

dominate debates. he consensus? Hold on—it’s going

to be a wild ride.

Sources: Voter registration

numbers from the Colorado

Secretary of State, as of

February 1; population

numbers from the Colorado

State Demography Office, as

of July 2016 (the most recent

data available)

Your guide to Colorado’s constantly shifting

political topography.

If you live here, you

should know what

the next few months

are going to look

like: The candidates

and their surrogates

are coming to your

county in the hopes

of winning a share of

the state’s largest

pool of unaffiliated

active voters.

Lowest

percentage of

active voters

registered as

Democrats.

Highest percentage of

active voters registered

as unaffiliated.

LAY OF THE LAND

ON THE RISE

We analyzed more than 50 years of election results to

see what it takes to win. Experts predict the victor will

receive more than 1.1 million votes in November.

*Voters registered with the Colorado Secretary of State’s office with an active address
(register or check on your voting status at govotecolorado.com)

Source: Colorado Secretary of State

300,000

0

600,000

900,000

1,200,000

1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014

Democrat

Republican

Top Third-Party Candidate

Dick Lamm’s final

re-election bid

nabs 63 percent

of votes cast.

Bill Owens easily

wins re-election.

Bill Ritter opts not to run for a second term,

and Tom Tancredo splits Republican votes

by running as a third-party candidate.

ON WINNING

“It’s important

that we have

a candidate

that appeals

to at least 50

percent—

plus one.”

—Jeff Hays, current

Colorado Republican

Party chair

GENERAL ELECTION VOTES CAST IN GUBERNATORIAL RACES