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.
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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.”
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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.”
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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.”
Colorado 2024 Voter Voices survey – primary responses by ZIP code. (Daniel J. Schneider/CPR News via COLAB)
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.”
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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.”
The “Heart of Harvest” mural on the Norag grain bin in downtown Limon, on May 20, 2024. (Photo by Hart Van Denburg/CPR News via COLAB)
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.”
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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.
Evanne Caviness holds her son, Arlo, 4 months old, while looking over Dulce, her quarter horse, on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, at her and husband’s ranch near Bayfield, Colo. (Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald via COLAB)
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.
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“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.”
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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.
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NEW YORK — The NHL hits a roster freeze at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, so with defenseman Egor Zamula clearing waivers and being assigned to the American Hockey League, it left a roster spot open.
Forward Denver Barkey has been called up.
Drafted by the Flyers in the third round of the 2023 NHL draft, Barkey turned pro this season and has been impressive while skating primarily on the wing for Lehigh Valley of the AHL. The 20-year-old has 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in 26 games for the Phantoms, primarily playing on the wing with center Lane Pederson and winger Alex Bump.
“I think right from the start, he’s played very well,” Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr recently told The Inquirer. “On the production side, he makes plays, he works, and the details are great. Such a smart player. He’s got to get stronger and build up his body to handle the grind and but so far, so good.
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“Down there, he’s been arguably our best forward a lot of nights, and coaches love them plays, plays a lot. He’s certainly going in the right direction.”
» READ MORE: Flyers Q&A: Brent Flahr dishes on prospects Porter Martone, Jett Luchanko, and more
Well, the direction now is east to New York City ahead of the Flyers’ matchup with the New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon (12:30 p.m., NBCSP). The kid from Ontario is in line to make his debut at the World’s Most Famous Arena.
“I call him like a little mini [Travis Konecny],” Flyers director of player development Riley Armstrong said of Barkey over the summer. “He’s all over the puck. He’s grimy when he doesn’t have the puck. He’s always working to get the puck back.
“He’s really good with his stick picking pockets, transitioning, and his eyes are up; I don’t think a little guy like that skating around, his head down, is going to last very long in the game.
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“But when you watch him go into corners, and he’s not afraid of that, he’s quick to get in, he’s quick to get out.”
Some have questioned Barkey’s size at 5-foot-10, 173 pounds, but no one questions his grit, moxie, will, and determination. Last season, he notched 25 goals and 82 points in 50 regular-season games before adding another nine goals and 20 points in 11 postseason games for London of the Ontario Hockey League.
On June 1, he captained the Knights to the Memorial Cup championship despite suffering a high-ankle sprain in the OHL Final. In the finale of the Memorial Cup, against the projected No. 1 for this June’s draft, Gavin McKenna, and Medicine Hat of the Western Hockey League, Barkey drove play and scored a pair of goals.
A month later, he was at the Flyers development camp but did not participate. He did, however, try.
“[Barkey] always comes to me every morning, ‘Hey, do you think you can get me out on the ice?’ No, no, you’re done,” Armstrong said with a chuckle in early July.
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The rest helped. He was again impressive at the Flyers’ rookie camp and in a game against their Rangers counterparts in early September in Allentown.
Barkey opened eyes with his speed, hockey IQ, puck possession and patience, and high-end passing ability. Looking completely healed from his high-ankle sprain, the forward used his quickness, leverage, and ability to win pucks to beat the defense at every turn and notched a goal.
It appears that his summer of eating Italian giant subs — Mike’s way, minus the onions — at Jersey Mike’s with his buddy, and former London teammate, Oliver Bonk, to add weight paid off. Phantoms coach John Snowden called him “a heck of a hockey player” in September.
“Continue to get bigger, stronger,” Barkey said of his summer plans at development camp. “It’s a big jump next year. I’m going to be playing against older men and strong guys. So, continuing to get stronger, faster, and I think the biggest thing is just using my brain and then finding a way to adjust. It’s a different game in pro.”
And Barkey has adjusted well to the pro ranks, skating on the wing of the Phantoms’ top line, which drives play and is relied on for offensive swings. His fellow winger, Bump, was actually the one many thought would be called up.
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The kid from Minnesota, who led Western Michigan to the NCAA championship in April, was pegged by everyone, including The Inquirer, to break camp with the Flyers; however, he was sent down after a poor main training camp. After a slow start in Lehigh Valley, he now has 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) in 26 games in Allentown.
On the first of Bo Nix’s four touchdown passes against Green Bay, he did what he does more frequently than any quarterback in football.
Nix escaped from the pocket and took off running. He moved up and to the left before hitting Michael Bandy for a 20-yard catch-and-scamper.
The next three touchdowns, though, are where the Broncos offense can dream about a deep postseason run or even more.
Nix, operating from the gun, delivered strikes of all shapes and sizes and did so with clean footwork in the pocket.
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He identified coverage, took a short, one-step drop and fired a perfectly placed low ball to Lil’Jordan Humphrey. Then a three-step drop to get the ball up and down with beautiful pace and timing to Courtland Sutton one-on-one up the right sideline.
Nix polished off the fourth touchdown when he five-step dropped, hitched up in the pocket twice and uncorked a rocket up the seam for Troy Franklin on a motion and route concept the Broncos have made hay on most of the year.
The Packers game represented a breakout as Nix completed 23 of 34 passes for 302 yards and the four touchdowns, but his game’s been heating up more broadly over the past month.
He had an efficient day in a much different style against Las Vegas, completing 31 of 38 passes and engineering three battering-ram touchdown drives. He threw for 616 yards in the two weeks before that in wins over Washington and Kansas City.
In those four games, Nix has completed 69.5% of his passes for 282.5 yards per game and thrown five touchdowns and an interception. Before that stretch, he completed 60.9% and averaged 212 yards per game.
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What’s changed? Start from the ground up.
“I think his footwork has got a lot better,” offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said Thursday. “And the way he handles himself in the pocket, trusting the protection. We’ve talked about it all year and the last four games he’s done a really good job of that.
“He’s moving when he needs to and he’s hanging in there when he needs to.”
Head coach Sean Payton earlier this season said the quarterbacks get some specific footwork drilling done during a normal game week but not a ton. They’ll work a particular concept or drop between periods, but for the most part, the work is plan-specific.
Nix, though, has been working on his own pocket presence in his own ways in recent weeks.
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“I think he’s probably one of the best … at learning from mistakes, and looking in the mirror and seeing what his weaknesses are,” tight end Evan Engram told The Post.
“He’s sitting in there, he’s trusting the protection, he’s letting it rip. And that’s something that he saw. And he worked on. And like – I can’t say how hard that is. I’ve never done it in my life. You’ve got freakin’ monsters rushing you, every play. And credit to the O-line, too.
The staff also appears to be doing a better job of helping get Nix into good rhythm. Part of that is by playing more frequently from under center. The touchdowns outlined above came out of shotgun, but one commonly held belief is that playing from under center helps keep footwork clean because a quarterback is forced to do it coming back from the center.
Since the Broncos returned from their bye week, the uptick has been notable.
Denver averaged 29.4% of offensive snaps under center the first 11 games. Over the past three, the number is 42.8%.
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Nix has attempted nearly half as many passes from under center the past three games (25) as he did in the first 11 (51). That’s partly because he’s playing more from under center, though Denver’s under center pass rate has also jumped up from 24.5% over the first 11 games to 29.3% the past three weeks.
Nix only completed 1 of 6 passes against Green Bay for 16 yards from under center but the week before, he was 10 of 10 for 71 yards against Las Vegas.
“Each game is different relative to when we look at gun runs, under center runs, try to self-scout ourselves enough to where there’s enough play-action maybe under center, drop back,” Payton said between Vegas and Green Bay, adding that he thought Nix made a quick transition to playing under center even though he hardly did it in college.
“I think that hasn’t been a big learning curve. I think it’s gone pretty smooth.”
Particularly since the bye week, the Broncos have leaned more and more into it. Payton and Lombardi say the usage is dependent on individual game plans.
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The longer this uptick continues, though, the more it looks like a philosophical shift.
Broncos reporter Luca Evans contributed to this story.
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For his latest trick, Nikola Jokic dribbled into oncoming traffic and escaped unscathed.
Sometimes after he reels in a defensive rebound, the Nuggets center prefers to launch an aerial attack with one of his long outlet passes. This time, he brought the ball with him up on his usual route up the middle of the floor. Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. trailed him by a step. Up ahead, Tyus Jones veered into his lane from the left, sensing an opportunity to pick the pocket of a lumbering big man.
But Jokic is nimble. Before Jones could cut across his front side, he anticipated the attempted swipe and transferred his dribbling hand with a behind-the-back move that shouldn’t have looked so graceful. Jones whiffed. Carter caught up, but Jokic decelerated to allow him to pass. Then the newly minted best passing center of all time went behind the back again — this time, a dime to Jamal Murray, who finished the play with a lefty floater.
Denver’s stars were just showing off at that point in the third quarter of a 126-115 win over the Magic that wasn’t always so smooth-sailing.
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DENVER , CO – DECEMBER 18: Nikola Jokic (15) of the Denver Nuggets passes behind his back as Tyus Jones (2) of the Orlando Magic watches during the third quarter at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado on Thursday, December 18, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
It was a monumental night. At 30 years old and 302 days, Jokic passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on Thursday for the most assists by a center in NBA history. Coming into the game, all he needed was six to match Abdul-Jabbar’s career total of 5,660. He finished the evening with 13, highlighting a 23-point, 11-rebound triple-double.
“For those of us that love the history of the game, that one should be wrote about and talked about, and that should be a national story,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said. “Because that’s passing a guy that you could argue — if you just want to go by generations and not, ‘Who’s the best player of all time?’ and all the talk-talk stuff — Kareem is in the conversation. Look at his MVPs. Look at the winning. And our guy tonight from Denver just passed him in a category.”
“This is a time that I can be able to look back and appreciate all the years I’ve had to play this game with him,” Murray said. “It’s special. Passing Kareem in anything is pretty cool. So I think it just speaks to his greatness and how unselfish he is.”
Jokic has also passed other Hall of Famers including Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson on the all-time list this season, now ranking 50th overall in career assists. Next up for him to catch is another legendary passer, Larry Bird. Jokic is 28 away from tying him.
“I always say the assist makes two people happy (instead of one). My coach ‘Deki,’ he always said that,” Jokic said Thursday, paying homage to the late Golden State Warriors and Mega Basket coach Dejan Milojevic.
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“Maybe it’s not a splashy pass or whatever,” the three-time MVP continued, “but I think when you make the right play, you’re going to feel good about yourself.”
Adelman was especially adamant about the historical significance of the occasion. He gave Jokic the game ball in Denver’s locker room after the win.
“It’s such a cool thing, because it’s Kareem, who was passed by LeBron (James) as the all-time leading scorer, which puts in perspective who Nikola passed,” Adelman said. “So it’s a celebration of both people. It’s somebody that completely changed the game. The sky hook. The longevity. … I feel like in the modern era, we talk about Tom Brady and all these people. But go look at Kareem. The guy changed his name while he played. The guy plays 20-plus years and, until the very end, was impactful on teams that went to the Finals. So for Nikola to pass him, I think, says a lot. And if we’re going to celebrate what LeBron did, (we should celebrate this also). And I know it’s a different kind of thing because it’s a center, it’s a position. I’ll just keep saying it. Just don’t get tired of this, because it’s unique.”
Jokic is also closing in on Oscar Robertson for second all-time in triple-doubles. Thursday was his 177th, bringing him within four of the iconic guard. He became the first center in league history to average a triple-double last season, and he’s on pace to do so again this year with 29.8 points, 12.4 rebounds and 10.8 assists per game.
Orlando called a timeout after Jokic and Murray combined for that saucy transition bucket in the third quarter. As they sauntered to the huddle, Nuggets assistant coaches Ognjen Stojakovic and JJ Barea could only laugh at the duo’s skill and panache.
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DENVER , CO – DECEMBER 18: Assistant coach Ognjen Stojakovic laughs as the Orlando Magic take a timeout during the fourth quarter of the Nuggets’ 126-115 win at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado on Thursday, December 18, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
“That’s how kind of we made our staple in that second unit growing up, was just the give-and-go,” Murray said of Jokic’s passing. “… A lot of give-and-go, and you could see his court vision and his fluidity.”
The Nuggets did most of their work Thursday during an astonishing second quarter. They flipped a 47-33 deficit with a 35-7 run that only took the last 6:26 of the first half. Murray scored 20 of his 32 points in the frame. Reserve point guard Jalen Pickett ignited the comeback and was a plus-26 in eight minutes of playing time that quarter.
Both teams were short-handed at Ball Arena. Orlando was fending without Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs. Denver was down three of its best defenders with Peyton Watson (right trunk contusion) ruled out shortly before tip, joining Christian Braun and Aaron Gordon on the shelf.
In Watson’s place, Bruce Brown started his first game as a Denver Nugget since April 9, 2023. David Adelman used 10 of his 11 available players, including Julian Strawther, who was cleared to play earlier this week after missing a month with a back injury.
Orlando mounted mini-comebacks throughout the second half, eventually narrowing a 21-point gap to 121-115 with 90 seconds to go.
Moments earlier during a Nuggets timeout, Ball Arena had displayed a graphic commemorating Jokic’s all-time assists achievement. The crowd greeted him with a round of applause as he returned to the court. Then he treated Denver to one more beauty of an assist, passing out of a double-team with a missile across the court to Cam Johnson in the backside corner. His open 3-pointer sealed the win.
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“It’s a celebration of our guy, of a Denver Nugget, and it’s a celebration of NBA history, all in the same place,” Adelman said. “And we all got to be there to see it.”
