For a keynote speech Thursday to attendees of a right-wing conference featuring major conservative and religious right organizations, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston was tapped to explain how the conservative ideas explored at the conference “can be implemented in the Denver community,” and “how can these concepts work in a city as ideologically diverse as Denver?” according to a description of Johnston’s talk posted online prior to the speech.
Colorado’s legislators returned to the Capitol yesterday, answering the Governor’s call for a special session to address skyrocketing property taxes following voters rejection of Prop HH. Progressives criticized the initiative in part for offering insufficient aid to the third of Coloradans who rent rather than own. In the first hearing of the session, House legislators debated a bill to create a $30M rental relief fund administered by the Division of Housing in partnership with housing nonprofits.
With Republicans relegated to super-minority status in the Colorado House (and nearly so in the Senate), they will have little leverage during the special session of the state Legislature set to begin tomorrow. But in radio interviews this week, caucus leadership nevertheless presented a united front via a pair of bills. Minority Leader Mike Lynch (R-Wellington), Assistant Minority Leader Rose Pugliese (R-Colorado Springs), and Senator Barb Kirkmeyer (R-Weld County), who sits on the powerful Joint Budget Committee, are all promoting the same proposal while saying they believe a compromise can be reached with Democrats. However, other GOP legislators and the state party share neither their optimism nor their policy goals.
The Colorado Republican Party today not only announced its censure of state Sen. Larry Liston (R-Colo Springs), but shared a video calling on him to resign immediately.
If you’ve been tracking today’s election, you may not think there’s a measure to increase education spending on the ballot.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA), considered the most conservative leader of the U.S. House of Representatives of the past century, owes his newfound status at least in part to his colleague from Colorado, Lauren Boebert.
Golden developer Tim Walsh, who poured over $1 million into his failed race for a state senate seat in Jefferson County last year, is investing in politics again, albeit on a smaller scale.
Culture war topics are dominating school board races across the state in these final days before next week’s elections. Sex education, LGBTQ rights, book bans are all in the news. Creationism in the classroom, however, despite being a classic schoolhouse flashpoint, hasn’t made much of a splash, at least until now.
Supporters and opponents of gender-affirming health care for transgender youth held consecutive rallies at the state Capitol over last weekend. Both included state legislators, advocacy groups and some counter-protestors, but that was where the similarities ended. After “Gays Against Groomers” (GAG), a national group founded just last year by a pro-Trump conservative media specialist, announced it was holding a rally at the Capitol on Saturday morning, pro-LGBTQ group One Colorado invited supporters, legislators and allies for a celebration of Colorado’s gender-affirming care laws on Friday afternoon.
Speaking on a livestreamed audio chat last week, Congresswoman Lauren Boebert lamented the current lack of Republican Party fundraising in Colorado and nationally. She told the hosts of an X.com Spaces chat which also featured U.S. Reps Matt Gaetz and George Santos that she is solely responsible for the Republican Party raising money in Colorado, specifically calling out her colleague (and former state GOP chair) Ken Buck.
