Denver, CO

We are asking Coloradans what they want candidates to focus on this election. Thousands have answered.

Published

2 years ago

June 8, 2024

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.”

Click to enlarge

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) — 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.”

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.”

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) — 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.

“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.”

►Many self-identified conservatives, who chose immigration as top concern, are calling for closure of the southern border and the deportation of both recent asylum-seekers and people who’ve lived here long term without documentation.

► Those who identified as liberal named “abortion” as a top-three concern, closely followed by the economy and then social justice and equity.

► Young people, those 18-29, put the economy and cost of living in the No. 1 spot, followed by democracy, then the environment. Social justice and equity comes up No. 4. However, this group, like conservatives, is underrepresented in the responses so far.

► Survey respondents express much higher trust in the fairness of local elections than in national ones, but conservatives indicate far more distrust in both. Six in 10 self-identified conservatives say they have no confidence in the fairness of the national election and nearly a quarter express the same lack of faith in their local elections.

► Looking at survey responses overall, without accounting for political lean, urban, suburban and rural residents who responded to the survey share the same top concerns in the same order: Democracy, economy, environment, immigration and abortion. But rural respondents follow that up with “personal liberty” as their next-highest concern while urban and suburban residents named “social justice and equity.”

► National and international politics course through the responses and many survey respondents have litmus-test questions for candidates: Do you believe Trump won the 2020 election? Do you support the overturn of Roe v. Wade? Do you support continued funding for Ukraine? For Israel? Do you have a plan to address climate change? Do you support the complete separation of church and state?

► While national politics dominate these bright-line questions, there is no shortage of questions about local concerns. People responding to their local newsrooms’ surveys are asking about traffic on Tower Road, Front Range air quality, rebuilding the Douglas County health department, homelessness on the Western Slope, health care on the Eastern Plains, land-use policies (everywhere), low-income housing for seniors in Mesa County, and workforce housing in Routt County.

► A note on the survey itself: This is not a scientific poll. Data on race and ethnicity was flawed and will be included in later stories.

–Colorado News Collaborative

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.

Source link

Click to comment

Denver, CO

Grand Junction, Palisade reach Great Eight in Denver

Published

10 hours ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Grand Junction, Palisade reach Great Eight in Denver

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX) — The Class 5A Sweet 16 has arrived, and both Grand Junction and Palisade are still standing with trips to the Great Eight in Denver on the line.

At The Jungle, the No. 2 seed Grand Junction Tigers set the tone early against No. 18 Golden. Defense carried the Tigers from the opening tip as they held the Demons to nine first quarter points while scoring 16 of their own.

Grand Junction added eight points in the second quarter while Golden managed six, sending the Tigers into halftime with a nine point lead.

Golden responded in the third quarter, outscoring Grand Junction 16 to 11 to cut the deficit to five entering the fourth. The Tigers answered in the final period, attacking the rim and converting key shots to win the quarter 19 to 10. Grand Junction secured a 54 to 41 victory to protect its home court and advance to the Great Eight in Denver.

Top seeded Palisade also defended its home floor with a trip to Denver at stake. The Bulldogs opened with nine straight points to energize a packed gym, but Frederick settled in and closed the first quarter on a run to tie the game at nine.

Frederick continued to respond in the second quarter and took an eight point lead into halftime.

Palisade shifted momentum after the break. The Bulldogs tightened defensively, holding Frederick to 21 points in the second half while scoring 39 of their own. Palisade completed the comeback to advance to the Great Eight.

Colorado Mesa University Women Deliver Historic RMAC Tournament Win

In collegiate action, the top seeded Colorado Mesa University women’s basketball team defeated Colorado School of Mines 96 to 51 in the RMAC Tournament, marking the largest margin of victory in the tournament this century.

Olivia Reed-Thyne led the Mavericks with 34 points on 11 of 15 shooting, her third 30 point performance this season. Mason Rowland added 22 points and Hallie Clark contributed 10 as Colorado Mesa matched a program record with its 31st win. The Mavericks will host the semifinals Friday with a berth in the championship game at stake.

Colorado Mesa University Men Survive Overtime Thriller

The Colorado Mesa University men’s basketball team faced New Mexico Highlands University for the third time this season. The Mavericks scored 36 first half points and led by four at the break.

New Mexico Highlands shot 50 percent in the second half, received 21 bench points and outscored Colorado Mesa 43 to 39 to force a late push. With the season in the balance, Ty Allred hit a game tying 3 pointer to make it 75 and send the game to overtime. Allred scored seven points in the extra period as Colorado Mesa earned a 91 to 90 victory to advance to the next round.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WesternSlopeNow.com.

Source link

Denver, CO

Former Avs defenseman launches beer brand in Denver

Published

23 hours ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

While most people know beers as “cold ones,” Tyson Barrie opts for a different name.

“We’ve always just called beers chilly ones,” the former Colorado Avalanche defenseman said.

Now, Barrie hopes his moniker goes mainstream with his beer brand Chilly Ones, which made its U.S. debut weeks ago in Colorado. He plans to move to the Centennial State from his home country of Canada come fall to build it out.

So far, the beer is in about 200 businesses across the state, mostly liquor stores like Bonnie Brae and Argonaut, but also eateries such as Oskar Blues.

The light lager is available in cans at 3% alcohol by volume. The less-than-light ABV is popular in Australia and some parts of Europe, he said, but nothing serves that segment in the U.S.

Barrie also said the brand has a nonalcoholic version “in the tanks and ready to go” at Sleeping Giant Brewing Co., the Denver facility where Chilly Ones is made. He said it’s one of the only booze-free options that could “trick” him, and he expects the version to be available by April.

“If you look at all the data that we’re seeing, these two categories – the nonalc and the low – seem to be two of the only ones in the alcohol space that are growing,” Barrie said.

Chilly Ones has been available in Canada since late 2025, and he said a 4.5% to 5% edition is also in the works, though that one won’t hit the shelves for months.

“From what we can see in Canada, people question the 3%. They say it’s not enough,” he said through a grin. “Then in the U.S., people aren’t questioning it at all. They really liked a little bit less and the moderation factor to it.”

That’s why he thinks the low-carb, zero sugar, under 100 calorie drink is a perfect fit for Denver. With the city’s storied history in craft beer combined with a more conscious, active lifestyle, it’s the perfect stateside launching point for his brand, Barrie believes.

Drafted by the Avs and playing in the city from 2011 through 2019, his preexisting connections also were a selling point.

“Every occasion is a little bit different, whether you’re parenting or you’re at a concert or you’ve got to get up early or you’re having two after work and you want to drive,” he said, explaining why there will be multiple versions of the drink available.

“It’s pick your own adventure. We’re not going to judge you,” he continued. “If you want to celebrate and get absolutely hammered, we’ll give you that option too. It’s just you can do it a little bit healthier.”

The idea came to Barrie when he had “a dozen” or so chilly ones during a night with friends years ago. In his phone’s notes app, he wrote that he would one day start a beverage brand with his NHL buddies and call it his colloquial name for beer.

He was still playing in the league at the point, but in 2024, two years after, somebody from the beverage world “very serendipitously” reached out to see if Barrie would be interested in starting a wine or whiskey company.

“And I was like, ‘Yeah, I’d do a beer,’” he recalled.

He was still in the NHL playing with the Nashville Predators but nearing the end of his career. The now-34-year-old gathered several of his fellow skaters, including Avs star Nathan MacKinnon, and other career connections like Lumineers frontman Wesley Schultz, and Chilly Ones was born.

Having that post-playing career journey already laid out has been challenging but worth it, he said.

“I have a lot of friends who have retired, and you struggle with a bit of purpose and you wake up and you’re just kind of looking around, not sure what to do with yourself,” he said. “So I feel grateful. I didn’t even have any time to reset. I was just kind of thrown in the fire.”

Barrie and Chilly Ones raised an undisclosed amount from friends and family to start the brand and are in the midst of a more institutional round.

He and Chilly Ones have no plans to venture outside the state in the short-term. He said he, Chief Operating Officer Kimberley Kainth and CEO Matthew Clayton want to test the market for all three options and get feedback before expanding elsewhere.

Longmont-based Oskar Blues founder Dale Katechis is an adviser, along with White Claw and Mike’s Hard Lemonade alum Todd Anderson.

“We have a team that we really, really trust who has scaled and built products in Colorado and moved out,” Barrie said. “We want to get our feet under us in Colorado and then we’ll start to really look at who’s next.”

Read more from our partner, BusinessDen.

Get more business news by signing up for our Economy Now newsletter.

Source link

Denver, CO

Denver bans federal law enforcement officers from covering their faces, DHS says it won’t comply

Published

1 day ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

Denver bans federal law enforcement officers from covering their faces, DHS says it won’t comply

Denver city leaders unanimously passed a ban on all officers, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, from wearing face coverings while detaining or arresting people. That law also requires officers to wear visible identification.

It’s the second sweeping ordinance against federal officers in Denver in just a few days. Last Thursday, Mayor Mike Johnston signed an executive order banning federal immigration agents from operating on city property without a judicial warrant.

An federal immigration agent on Feb. 5, 2026 in Minneapolis.

Stephen Maturen / Getty Images

It also directs Denver police, deputies and fire personnel to investigate reports of violence and criminal behavior.

The Department of Homeland Security responded calling the executive order “legally illiterate,” adding, “no local official has the authority to bar ICE from carrying out federal law on public property … and while Mayor Johnston continues to release pedophiles, rapists, gang members, and murderers onto their streets, our brave law enforcement will continue to risk their lives to arrest these heinous criminals.”

DHS didn’t mince words when responding to Denver’s new face coverings ban either, saying in part, “To be crystal clear: we will not abide by a city council’s unconstitutional ban. Our officers wear masks to protect themselves from being doxxed and targeted by known and suspected terrorist sympathizers. Not only is ICE law enforcement facing a more than 1,300 percent increase in assaults against them, but we’ve also seen thugs launch websites to reveal officers’ identity.”

On the other hand, the Denver City Council didn’t mince words when it approved the ban.

“It’s very disturbing to me, as an American, to see masked agents on the street,” said Councilman Kevin Flynn who represents District 2. “I don’t know what the best way is to enforce our immigration laws, but I think I know the worst way when I see it.”

“I said all along, this was a slam dunk,” added Councilman Darrell Watson of District 9.

Last month, a federal judge struck down a California law prohibiting federal agents from wearing masks. But, the city council says it made sure its ordinance is enforceable.

You have to treat all law enforcement the same,” said City Council President Amanda Sandoval. “So, our sheriffs can’t have masks. Our State Patrol can’t have masks. And federally you can’t have masks. And we delineate that within the ordinance which, that’s where California got the issue.”

Sandoval said she was monitoring the legal process and comparing the two ordinances to ensure they would be good to go.

Although the city council believes the ordinance is constitutional, the Denver Police Department says it’s still working to determine what implementation could look like, and provided this statement to CBS Colorado:

“Our Safety departments are working with the City Attorney and bill sponsors to determine what implementation could look like. Of utmost importance is discretion and prioritizing de-escalation when encountering these situations. Our goal is to apply this ordinance in a way that builds trust and transparency without putting officers, deputies, or the public at risk.”

Coupled with the city’s new executive order, Sandoval believes Denver now has the necessary guidelines in place.

“A map for residents to understand predictability, and that’s what I always want, is what can the residents be able to rely on.”

There are exemptions in place for the ban, for example: during an active undercover operation, when gear is required for physical safety, and for personnel performing SWAT duties.

Source link