Denver, CO
We are asking Coloradans what they want candidates to focus on this election. Thousands have answered.
Thousands of Coloradans responding to a survey by their local newsrooms say candidates competing for their votes this year need to be focused primarily on several broad issues: democracy and good government, the economy and cost of living, the environment, climate and natural resources, immigration and abortion.
Which concerns weigh most heavily on respondents’ minds changes with their politics. Conservatives in the survey prioritized immigration and the economy, followed by the state of the government. Moderates and liberals, in contrast, chose democracy and good government as their top issue by a wide margin.
“If we don’t have free and informed citizens with equal access to the ballot box, then we won’t have democracy and the country won’t be worth preserving,” Marcus Pohlmann, a Highlands Ranch resident and a professor emeritus of political science, wrote in a comment that was echoed by many others.
The survey is a part of an ongoing effort among more than 60 Colorado newsrooms, including The Denver Post, to ask, listen and respond to what voters in their communities say matters to them most. As part of the Voter Voices project, we are asking our communities, among other things, to rank their top three issues from 13 categories.
An issue’s ranking reveals its importance to voters, but not the nuances of their views. Those nuances are emerging in the answer to the survey’s core question: “What do you want candidates to talk about as they compete for your vote?”
So far, more than 4,500 Coloradans have answered that question in the survey, which was not scientific but provided a broad window into Coloradans’ thinking about the election.
The vast majority to date self-identify as white and liberal or moderate, and they live along the densely populated — and deeply blue — Front Range. But voters in red, rural communities and purple suburbs are also responding.
And lots of people have lots they want to say to politicians:
From Denver: “Housing, housing, housing. The cost of living is too high and it is primarily driven by the high cost of housing. We need to break down legal barriers and construct housing of all types, especially in dense urban areas and around transit.”
From Grand Junction: “I want everyone to be consistent in their framework and philosophies issue to issue. Wanting to control bodies and love and calling for unfettered freedom for guns and LLCs is inherently incongruent. I want somebody who values civil liberty.”
From Durango: “The homeless situation is out of control. Vets, young families, panhandlers on corners, and those without jobs, how do states handle this?? Immigrants brought in who are seeking asylum?? Monies going out to countries in need vs. our own country. … I think we need to focus on our economy and our homeland first.”
From Fort Collins: “The pursuit of unsustainable (population) growth is inexcusable and should be dropped. This includes the ridiculous YIMBY (aka real estate developer) policies.”
From Fremont County: “Illegal immigration, violations of our constitutional 2nd right amendment, stopping the Trump tax cuts which will result in higher taxes, economy/cost of living, increasing oil and gas production.”
From Fort Morgan: “I would like them to talk about how high and unreasonable the cost of living has become. Do we pay rent and insurance but go hungry?”
From Littleton: “Need to address returning Roe vs Wade. Such a big deal that made our country turn back time. No one should govern another person’s body. Period.”
From Alamosa County: “How they plan on limiting government involvement in my life. Define their priorities so that I may determine how they align with mine.”
From Aurora: “What would you do to reduce wealth inequity? Would you support/subsidize starter home-building initiatives? Would you support before and after school childcare for elementary students?”
Joe Brooks, a 53-year-old father of elementary-school-age children who lives in Thornton, summed up a common sentiment while acknowledging political reality: “I’d love to hear them talk more about what’s really, really at stake, which is personal liberty and freedom. Everybody really wants that, but people disagree on how that looks.”
Turned off by “petty partisan bickering”
One of the most striking takeaways from the survey so far is how many respondents answered the question of what they want candidates to talk about with how they want candidates to speak: Without rancor, without partisanship, posturing or platitudes — and with commitments to compromise, transparency and pragmatism.
“How they will get over petty partisan bickering and actually do the job they were elected to do,” Tim Samuelson, a 42-year-old self-described moderate who lives in Denver, wrote in his survey response. “Form policies together that aren’t fringe issues that the majority of the public doesn’t think about on a daily basis. Get to work, quit the gamesmanship.”
Put more bluntly by another survey respondent: “How they plan to fix this mess, not what a jackass the other guy is. We already know that.”
Hyper-partisanship is a perennial lament about politics. But the sharp — and sometimes plaintive — edge in the call for candidates to work together seems in part intensified by the sense among respondents that the stakes are just too high now to do otherwise.
That sentiment surfaces in the big-picture responses: democracy in peril, the planet in danger, our personal and civil liberties under attack. But anxiety also simmers in respondents’ day-to-day concerns, worries that can be summed up with: can’t buy a house, can’t afford rent, our roads are bad, our schools need help, farming is under threat, taxes are unfairly assessed and distributed, traffic is killing us, our health care system is broken, the gap between the haves and have-nots has become a chasm and I’m never, ever, making it to the other side.
In the face of all that, Samuelson, who is also the father of three young children whom he worries will grow up with fewer opportunities and more threats, finds the partisan sniping not simply intolerable, but irresponsible.
“I just get the feeling from so many politicians that it’s about being heard and seen and having that platform instead of the desire to govern,” he said in an interview.
Crossing partisan lines
More than 300 miles southwest, Bayfield resident Evanne Caviness shares Samuelson’s frustration and builds upon it.
In her response to the Durango Herald’s survey, Caviness emphasized a point made by other respondents: She and her husband, and the things that concern them, cannot be reduced to one side of the partisan line or the other.
“I’m progressive in social issues, but I’m also a rural rancher,” she wrote in her survey. “So we don’t fit neatly in a box like many candidates treat us.”
Caviness lives in the 3rd Congressional District, the massive, sprawling home to mansions and mobile home parks, to the mountains that nestle Aspen west through farmland and public lands, south into tribal nations, through villages built on Spanish land grants and working-class Pueblo neighborhoods into the southeastern plains.
She is 27. She is Latina, Indigenous and white. She married her high school sweetheart and they are now first-generation farmers and ranchers who sell grass-fed beef — so yeah, they’d like a word with Gov. Jared Polis about his “MeatOut” day.
But Caviness also works for the nonprofit National Young Farmers Coalition, and she is dedicated to eliminating systemic barriers that have kept young people and people of color out of agriculture.
Caviness doesn’t agree with some of the politics of her older, conservative neighbors, but says that she and her husband will drop everything to answer their call for help with the cows or anything else. “That’s just who we are as a community.”
And so she wants that, too — a candidate who has a concrete plan to build on common ground rather than exploit divides.
“So long as we are distracted by whatever is trending on social media at the moment, whatever outrageous thing we have to be mad about now, it’s, like: OK, but yeah, young farmers are still not going to be able to buy land,” Caviness says. “My kids are still going to have to go to Denver to go to the audiologist and I have to pay for that out of pocket. These are issues that are still happening while you are debating something ridiculous that doesn’t affect us on the day to day.”
Tina Griego is the managing editor of the Colorado News Collaborative, which is leading the Voter Voices project. Megan Verlee is the public affairs editor at Colorado Public Radio, the project’s lead partner.
Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.
Bo Nix just made a statement. It wasn’t of the 300-yard, multi-touchdown sort, but the Denver Broncos rookie quarterback definitely communicated that he belongs in the NFL.
The Broncos rolled into Raymond James Stadium on Sunday and stunned the league by thumping the heretofore undefeated Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 26-7. The score makes plain that it wasn’t even close, but what the final tally doesn’t tell you is how Nix jumped on the Bucs defense early and never let up.
Nix finished with 216 passing yards, completing 69.4% of his passes, and earned an 85.0 QB rating. Although he didn’t pass for a touchdown, he did rush for one, and finished with 47 yards on the ground, putting him near the 300 mark for the day in total offense. Nine different receivers caught a pass in Tampa.
The Broncos showed modest improvement on third down, and converted 2-of-3 fourth-down tries. And in the red zone, Nix and company hit pay-dirt on 2-of-4 drives. 50% in the red zone isn’t phenomenal, but it’s a vast improvement over the Broncos’ production in the first two games.
Nix ma still be looking for the first passing touchdown of his NFL career, but he’s now broken the ice in the win column. That winless monkey is off the rookie’s back.
At the podium post-game, Nix explained that he’s doing his best to enjoy the only moment in his life in which he won his first game — with many more to come.
“Well, I’ve got to [enjoy it]. You only get this moment one time and it’s not easy winning games in this league,” Nix said from the podium. “Our guys deserve this. Our guys have earned this. We have a great team that really battled in there.”
What happens next on the Broncos beat? Don’t miss out on any news and analysis! Take a second, sign up for our free newsletter, and get breaking Broncos news delivered to your inbox daily!
Nix has learned the hard way that winning in the NFL isn’t easy. Each and every victory is an achievement. The Broncos’ two losses this season were both by a single score. Close but no cigar.
This time, Nix made sure to put some distance between the Broncos and the Bucs.
“We were one possession away in both of the first two games so, just to do what we were able to do today against a really good football team, it gives us a little bit of confidence moving forward,” Nix said. “[It’s] still a long season, but you have to enjoy these wins when they’re here, and it’s a great first win.”
This time around, Nix and company were able to get off to a fast start. Nix began with a 22-yard back-shoulder strike to Courtland Sutton, which was followed by a 31-yard completion to Josh Reynolds two plays later, setting the Broncos up in scoring position.
Nix would punctuate that opening drive with a rushing score. It shows why Sean Payton and NFL coaches at large emphasize starting fast.
“When you start the game with an explosive pass play, you get ‘Court’ involved early, you win a one-on-one, you flip the field in one play—it opens it up for a coordinator,” Nix said. “I thought Coach Payton did a good job of going right back to it. We hit Josh [Reynolds] on the other side and then we get points and we get a touchdown on that first drive. That’s really important to start explosive, but you can’t just hit one. You have to come back and continue to finish out drives. It was good to see that on the first one.”
Not every drive ended with a touchdown, obviously, but the Broncos got points on six drives. Two touchdowns and four field goals. It was reminiscent of how the offense looked with Nix at the helm during the preseason.
Following Nix’s first win, the Broncos locker room was jubilant. Sunday evening was the time for celebration because soon enough, the Broncos have to dive back into game mode with another East Coast road test.
“Oh, it was great. Before the game, we wanted to hear the music and have a party. We played motivated today,” Nix said. “We went out there and executed at a high level. I think that’s what it’s supposed to feel like. You get back in the locker room and everybody is really excited.”
A lot of effort goes into each and every game. So much hard work, discipline, and preparation. For it to pay off with a victory is the ultimate triumph, even if it is short-lived.
“You put so much into the week,” Nix said. “You put so much effort, time [and] energy [in]. Those are what those moments are about. That’s what you want to get to. You want to get to those post-game celebrations.”
Broncos Country is hoping that Nix and company are able to celebrate much more often as the 2024 season marches on.
Follow Mile High Huddle on X and Facebook and subscribe on YouTube for daily Broncos live-stream podcasts!
It doesn’t take a seasoned NFL veteran to tell the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came in flat and paid for it in their 26-7 loss at the hands of the previously winless Denver Broncos.
All but handing Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix his first career win in the NFL, the Buccaneers offense — which averaged over 25 points per game to start the season — scored just seven points against a team that was allowing an average of nearly 20 per game coming in.
Defensively, Tampa Bay gave up 216 yards through the air to Nix and another 47 on the ground along with a touchdown run and a long gain of 22 yards. Bottom line, the Bucs got beat up by a team that simply wanted it more.
READ MORE: 3 Up, 3 Down From Bucs’ Crushing Loss to Broncos
“I think the biggest difference was the Broncos were pissed off for a week and we were happy for a week,” Buccaneers cornerback Zyon McCollum told BucsGameday after the game. “And we have to figure out a way to create a mentality that every week we’re going to play the same, that every week we’re going to grind the same, that every week we’re going to stay pissed off until the job is finished, which is (the) Super Bowl.”
McCollum came up with six tackles in the game but was also targeted early by Nix and the Denver offense.
On the first drive alone McCollum was targeted on completions that gained Denver six, 31, and two yards respectively. The drive ended with a three yard scramble by Nix for a touchdown.
“My mind just wasn’t there at all,” McCollum said of the 31-yard completion. “My technique was just absolutely terrible. That’s pretty much all it. My feet got caught up and yeah, he got behind me.”
It’s somewhat refreshing to hear an NFL player admit what onlookers essentially knew all along, that the team came out flat and it would appear fell in love a little too much with their headlines.
This isn’t the first time a Todd Bowles coached Tampa Bay squad fell guilty to ego, and the last time it happened it took a few weeks for it to get rectified.
If it doesn’t get fixed in the next week, the Buccaneers may find themselves dropping back-to-back home games with the 2-1 Philadelphia Eagles coming to town next Sunday afternoon.
Stick with BucsGameday for more coverage of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throughout the 2024 season.
Follow BucsGameday on Twitter and Facebook
• Mike Evans Closing In On Bucs All-Time Record
• Tom Brady Names Bucs as Top 5 NFL Team
• Bucs Doing ‘Great Job’ Rebuilding Super Bowl Contender
• Baker Mayfield Adamant Bucs Will Play in February
The Denver Broncos parted ways with 2020 first-round wideout Jerry Jeudy this past offseason, to the collective relief of many. The expectation was that in his second year, Marvin Mims Jr. would settle into Jeudy’s vacated role because his confidence would be sky-high after making the Pro Bowl as a rookie return specialist.
Broncos head coach Sean Payton then doubled down by taking wideout Troy Franklin to add even more speed to the mix. While it’s troubling that neither Mims nor Franklin has made an impact yet, Broncos offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi isn’t pressing the panic button. Lombardi still wants to see that speed on the field.
“I hope it’s a lot. You have to certainly pay attention to when they’re on the field and make sure that we have some balance between run and pass,” Lombardi said of Mims and Franklin. “Both of those guys are good enough route runners, they don’t always have to run deep. You want to keep track of your tendencies, but I think they’re both. That speed is important, and it loosens up the defense so having them on the field is important.”
What happens next on the Broncos beat? Don’t miss out on any news and analysis! Take a second, sign up for our free newsletter, and get breaking Broncos news delivered to your inbox daily!
The Broncos’ inability to stretch the field has been an open secret for opponents, and it’s happening for several reasons. The opposition stays close to the line of scrimmage with impunity and worrying frequency.
Payton will have to get his thinking cap on, but with Broncos right tackle Mike McGlinchey now out injured and the O-line struggling badly anyway, the jury is out on how much time it can afford rookie quarterback Bo Nix.
Payton is trying to solve these pressing riddles by juggling some of his personnel groupings and hoping for addition by subtraction.
“I think reducing the variables can help,” Payton said this week. “It’s something that I think you have to look at as a coach. You have to start, ‘All right, what could we do better?’ I think that’s one of the things that we’ve talked about quite a bit. How do we reduce the variables, and then who’s doing it? Those two things I would point to.”
Juggling his roster is one thing, but Payton’s decision to release trusted veteran Tim Patrick also looks like it hurt the wide receiver room and limited what the Broncos’ pass-catchers can do. Courtland Sutton has seemingly been drowning in detail and making rookie-like mistakes as a result. Payton addressed the complexity of his assignments this week.
“Early on – he plays ‘X’, but he can play other spots,” Payton said of Sutton. “A lot of it gets back to the third downs. Tonight we’ll be game planning third down, and we have to be better in that area to add more snaps throughout the course of the game.”
Somewhat ironically, the failure to get Mims going is giving Broncos fans some uncomfortable flashbacks to last year when it was a weekly occurrence to hear Payton insist he would get Jeudy more looks, though it never materialized. The rumors still persist that Mims is still stuck in Payton’s dog house for whatever reason.
Sitting winless and facing an aggressive Tampa Bay defense on Sunday, it might be time that Payton buries the hatchet — if there is one. After all, single-digit snaps on offense for Mims is not cutting the mustard.
Follow Mile High Huddle on X and Facebook and subscribe on YouTube for daily Broncos live-stream podcasts!
This Southern California beach city says it will 'vigorously' protect coast from surf gang
FOUR DOWNS: Defense impresses on the road in Arizona
![[WATCHLIVE]TV!] Los Angeles Rams vs San Francisco 49ers NFL Live Stream in 22 September 2024, live scores, player stats, standings, fantasy games TV channels and more.](https://www.bleachernation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/httpscdn.dataskrive.comapiassetdXUICwh.jpg "[WATCHLIVE]TV!] Los Angeles Rams vs San Francisco 49ers NFL Live Stream in 22 September 2024, live scores, player stats, standings, fantasy games TV channels and more.")
[WATCHLIVE]TV!] Los Angeles Rams vs San Francisco 49ers NFL Live Stream in 22 September 2024, live scores, player stats, standings, fantasy games TV channels and more.
Vikings are dangerous, chaos in Dallas: Week 3 instant reactions | Inside Coverage
Miami Dolphins legend Mercury Morris dies at 77
Colorado Rockies game no. 116 thread: Zac Gallen vs José Ureña
See it: Tesla crashes into Columbus convention center at 70 mph
Fox News Politics: Georgia the whole day through
Death of missing Oregon girl found in stream ruled homicide
At least 2 dead as tornadoes hit Alabama, damage homes across Southeast
Andrew Cuomo slams 'defund the police' movement in fiery church speech: 'Dumbest words ever uttered'
Czech main opposition party dominates regional elections
White House condemns Alabama shooting that police say killed 4, wounded 17 in alleged paid ‘hit’
Chicago gangs clash with Venezuelan Tren de Aragua members: ‘Blacks against migrants’
Scholz’s SPD narrowly ahead of far right in east German state: Projections
-
Fitness1 week agoOSU’s Tactical Fitness and Nutrition Lab provides vital wellness resources for nation’s first responders – Oklahoma State University
-
News1 week agoPutin May Amp Up Sabotage In Response to UK Missiles in Russia, Officials Say
-
Politics1 week agoMexican government buses migrants to US border as illegal immigration becomes top election issue
-
Politics1 week agoPro-Palestinian protesters taunt Harris rallygoers as veep supporter hits back: What ‘About Hamas?’
-
World1 week agoNetherlands to ask opt-out from EU asylum rules 'as soon as possible'
-
News1 week agoVideo: Secret Tapes Reveal Nixon’s Views on Marijuana
-
Movie Reviews1 week ago‘Sector 36’ movie review: Vikrant Massey, Deepak Dobriyal throw down in rancid thriller
-
World1 week agoBrussels, my love? Can 'Super Mario' get the EU economy on track?