The Home Front: Colorado’s Republican Party chairman calls the Democratic sweep ‘feedback’

Your morning roundup of stories from the front pages of newspapers across Colorado

“Colorado GOP Chairman Jeff Hays called Tuesday night’s election results ‘feedback,'” reports The Coloradoan in Fort Collins. “Voters in traditionally purple Colorado went decisively blue, electing Democratic Congressman Jared Polis for governor over rival Republican state treasurer Walker Stapleton. Evening results showed Democrats winning a majority of House races and flipping the state Senate. they also prevailed in the statewide races, with Phil Weiser taking the attorney general seat, Jena Griswold the secretary of state seat and Dave Young the treasurer seat. ‘We’re just going to have to work harder and work smarter,’ Hays said, adding that how the GOP interprets the feedback will determine the party’s future in the state.'”

“Snowboarder Will McLean snagged a free breakfast burrito in the minutes before Eldora opened for the year,” reports The Longmont Times-Call. “The Denverite posed for a picture, breakfast burrito in hand, before getting into the lift line. He thought the 41 inches of snow that have already fallen at the mountain west of Nederland and the resort’s early open, its earliest in more than two decades, signaled an exciting season to come.”

“Less than a day after it went up, it came down. But in the short period of time that a Nazi swastika-bearing flag flew just two doors down from Shelledy Elementary School, the city of Fruita erupted in disgust, outrage and dismay,” reports The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.

“Though Colorado’s newly elected governor, secretary of state, state treasurer and attorney general are all Democrats, the state’s voters didn’t approve tax hikes at the state level for transportation or education,” reports The Greeley Tribune. “Area experts say it’s not all that surprising, even though Democrats are traditionally more likely to pass tax measures than Republicans. Colorado’s purple mix of Democratic and Republican voting isn’t new, and although the state has begun trending more toward blue, said Floyd Ciruli, independent pollster and analyst in Colorado, the state as a whole has long been reluctant to support statewide tax hikes.”

“Routt County voters turned out in greater numbers for this year’s midterm election,” reports The Steamboat Pilot. “A greater proportion of active voters cast ballots in Tuesday’s election than in any midterm election since 1998. “If we’re going to go to all the work of putting on an election, we might as well have a huge turnout,” Routt County Clerk and Recorder Kim Bonner said. “That’s always our goal, is to get the vote out. That’s why we attempt to do a lot of advertising and have a lot of signs out and be open as often as we can to the public, so that we’re accessible.”

“Late Tuesday night, in advance of DJing Wednesday’s opening day at Breckenridge Ski Resort, Jon “DJ DC” Oetken searched online for the perfect song,” reports Summit Daily. “The song the Breckenridge resident settled on for the first-chair festivities was a remix of Sister Sledge’s classic “We Are Family.” “And I was like, ‘Perfect!'” DJ DC said. “‘I’m going to play this as soon as they open the lifts.’ Because we are a family, you know? We all play together. We all grow together.” It was quite the reunion at Breckenridge Ski Resort for DJ DC and the masses of skiers and snowboarders who came out for the kickoff celebration. After the resort announced earlier this week that it would be opening Peak 8 terrain two days earlier than planned, DJ DC and other opening day staples had to adjust their plans.”

“After four years of researching, planning and voting, the city of Loveland will go forward with the creation of a municipal broadband network,” reports The Loveland Reporter-Herald. “The Loveland City Council made an about-face Tuesday night, vacating its Oct. 23 vote that would have brought the prospect to the voters next spring and passing a new resolution that allows the city to go ahead with creating a network without a vote of the people.”

“Boulder voters on Tuesday signaled their support for efforts to improve the health of low-income and minority communities, with nearly 65 percent of them giving a ‘yes’ to ballot Issue 2D, authorizing the city to keep all of the millions of dollars brought in by a tax on sweet drinks,” reports The Boulder Daily Camera. “The result — which is still unofficial; verification won’t happen until Nov. 21 — is perhaps unsurprising in a community that has a history of supporting tax initiatives; Boulder voters on Tuesday passed a first-of-its-kind tax on oil and gas drillers and, countywide, supported funding measures for schools and roads that failed at the state level.”

“A new era is soon to begin at the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, and Allen Cooper will be leading the charge,” reports The Cañon City Daily Record. “The 65-year-old Republican candidate was elected as Fremont County’s new sheriff Tuesday, beating out independent candidates Boyd Canterbury, 66, and Skip Moreau, 68, in the General Election. Cooper garnered 61.25 percent of the votes, compared to 23.95 percent for Canterbury and 14.81 percent for Moreau.”

“The Manitou Springs City Council voted Wednesday night to replace the city’s 50-year tax incentive agreement with the Pikes Peak Cog Railway with a new version that many officials are calling a better deal for the city,” reports The Gazette in Colorado Springs. “The changes mark the culmination of several months of work by Manitou Springs officials and owners of the cog to improve upon the agreement, originally approved on June 26. The council will take a second, final vote on the changes Nov. 20. The railway’s owners, who began meeting with city officials in the spring, have said the tax breaks are needed to complete a nearly $100 million reconstruction. However, they have said they will wait until the council’s second vote to decide whether the project will go forward.”

“With thousands of housing units either approved or in the pipeline up and down the Vail Valley, housing took a backseat to economic development and diversity during a panel discussion Wednesday, Nov. 7, at Colorado Mountain College in Edwards,” reports Summit Daily. “The Vail Symposium, the Vail Valley Partnership and CMC hosted a panel of town and county managers to discuss what’s on the local radar.”

“Colorado’s House delegation is going to have a higher profile in the next Congress as Democrats prepare to take control of the lower chamber for the second half of President Donald Trump’s term. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Denver Democrat, wants a promotion to majority whip — the No. 3 post in the House,” reports The Denver Post. “Jason Crow’s victory over Republican incumbent Mike Coffman in the 6th Congressional District, along with the election of Joe Neguse in the 2nd, gives the Colorado delegation, like the House itself, a Democratic majority.”

The Colorado Independent is a statewide online news source operating in a time when spin is plentiful, but factual, fair and unflinching news in the public interest is all too rare. Our award-winning team of veteran investigative and explanatory reporters and news columnists aims to amplify the voices of Coloradans whose stories are unheard, shine light on the relationships between people, power and policy, and hold public officials to account. We strive to report the news with context, social conscience, and soul, and to give Coloradans the insight they need to promote conversation, understanding and progress in this square, swing state we call home.

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