Editorial: Here’s how savy Colorado voters navigated the monstrous 2024 ballot

Colorado’s election results tell us that more of our neighbors are feeling bad about Tuesday night’s presidential outcome than are feeling good, but what about the down-ballot races?

Colorado voters navigated a complex ballot full of policy questions and did a remarkable job of parsing through the pros and cons of each measure.

As Donald Trump regains the White House with a Republican majority in the House and Senate, we are thrilled voters in Colorado have added constitutional protections to abortion. A remarkable 61% of voters wanted reproductive freedoms in the state Constitution and repealed an outdated law preventing Medicaid from covering abortions.

Our voices on abortion, as well as a majority of voters who supported abortion rights in Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Maryland, Montana, Nevada, and New York, send a strong message that abortion should not be banned by federal lawmakers.

Colorado voters spoke out clearly that they wanted to be tougher on crime, allocating $350 million from the state’s general fund for police officer’s salaries, retention bonuses, training and a fund for if they are injured or killed. Voters also said they don’t want murder suspects to be eligible for bail and want criminals to serve at least 85% of their sentences.

This tracks with what happened nationwide, where every county in California approved a ballot measure repealing a law considered to be soft on crime. It also partially explains Trump’s big win.

But Colorado voters rejected other conservative measures, including a ballot measure that would have guaranteed Coloradans school choice. While we love our charter schools, we recognize that vouchers for the wealthy students already attending private schools will only undermine our public school funding.

The most surprising outcome of all was that voters rejected a ban on mountain lion and bobcat hunting and trapping. Coloradans have historically voted at the ballot box in favor of animal rights, and it was a refreshing turn of course for a measure that went too far to be soundly rejected.

Denver voters took a similar course this election striking down attempts to shut down a lamb slaughterhouse and to ban fur sales within city limits. Both measures were brought by a group that believes killing any animal for food or clothing should be classified as animal cruelty.

For years, we’ve lamented the existence of an urban/rural divide but that gap seems to be closing – 55% of voters opposed the Proposition 127 hunting ban. Respecting all forms of outdoor recreation in a state loved for its wild places is healthy. Voters, however, also voted to tax gun sales, making sure firearms help pay for the victims’ advocacy services in this state.

Our state is politically diverse. As of Thursday 1.47 million people had voted for Kamala Harris and 1.16 million had voted for Trump.

Coloradans replaced three retiring or fleeing incumbent Republicans at the ballot this year. Jeff Crank, a long-time Republican commentator from El Paso County and Jeff Hurd, a Republican newcomer to politics who grew up in Grand Junction, will join our stalwart Democratic Party incumbents who all won safe elections: Diana DeGette, Joe Neguse, Jason Crow, and Brittany Pettersen. We are excited to see how Crank and Hurd navigate D.C. politics and wish them well.

Lauren Boebert will also return to Congress only this time representing Congressional District 4. We will miss Ken Buck.

Meanwhile, the race in Colorado’s newest congressional district is too close to call. Incumbent Yadira Caraveo was only winning by 2,300 votes with thousands of ballots remaining to be counted.

No matter what happens chaos unfolds in Washington as Trump retakes the White House, we are confident that Coloradans will stick together and work for a brighter future for everyone who calls this great state home.

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