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Tag: 2026 election

Colorado Road Funding Deal Could Pull Initiative 175 From November Ballot
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Road Funding Deal Could Pull Initiative 175 From November Ballot

By Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado A deal could keep Colorado voters from deciding on a major road funding measure this November. Backers of Initiative 175, known as the Restore Our Roads measure, have agreed to pull it from the ballot under a tentative agreement with state lawmakers, CBS Colorado's Your Political Reporter, Shaun Boyd, has learned. The deal would call for the state legislature to set aside more money for roads in the short and long term.  The ballot measure came about because the Restore Our Roads group and lawmakers failed to compromise. Colorado Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Weiser helped push the negotiations toward a deal, according to a source familiar with the talks. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT CBS COLORADO
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What the Supreme Court did, and did not do, on Trump’s mail-ballot order
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Rocky Mountain Voice, National, Top Stories

What the Supreme Court did, and did not do, on Trump’s mail-ballot order

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice The Supreme Court handed the Trump administration a win Monday on mail-in voting, and the headlines said so. But for a Colorado voter, nothing has changed yet. The state remains set to send November ballots under existing rules, because a second court order the justices did not touch still blocks the part of the president's plan most directly tied to how voters receive their ballots. That gap between the headline and the effect is the story. The Court cleared one obstacle in Trump's path. It did not rule that his election order is legal, and it did not change how Coloradans get their ballots this fall. What it means for Colorado now Colorado is not a bystander in the case. It is one of the plaintiffs that brought th...
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Inflationary Bracket Creep With Initiative 195 Could Push More Coloradans Into Higher Tax Brackets
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Inflationary Bracket Creep With Initiative 195 Could Push More Coloradans Into Higher Tax Brackets

By Nash Herman | Commentary, Complete Colorado Initiative 195, the proposed ‘progressive’ income tax ballot measure, promises long-term pain for Colorado taxpayers due to what economists call “bracket creep.”  But we do not need to speculate about the impact of bracket creep, as we can already see its effect in action since voters passed Proposition FF in 2022.  Proposition FF Through Proposition FF, voters decided to increase taxes on high-income Colorado earners to support a universal school lunch program.  The measure capped state deductions for tax filers with a federal adjusted gross income exceeding $300,000 and directed new revenue to the Healthy School Meals for All (HSMA) program.   READ THE FUL...
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Colorado Ballot Measure Would Protect Hunting and Fishing in State Constitution
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Ballot Measure Would Protect Hunting and Fishing in State Constitution

By Mike Krause | Complete Colorado DENVER–Colorado voters will decide in November whether to enshrine hunting and fishing as a constitutional right, after the secretary of state’s office on Wednesday confirmed Initiative #302 qualified for the general election ballot. Backers of the measure, formally titled “Constitutional Right to Hunt and Fish,” turned in over 184,000 petition signatures, with state election officials declaring more than 145,000 of those as valid, easily clearing the roughly 124,000 signature threshold required for constitutional amendments, as well as the 2% per-district requirement in all 35 of Colorado’s state senate districts. The measure, backed by the newly formed T. Roosevelt Conservation Alliance, amends the Colorado Constitution to establish...
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Victor Marx Calls for Water Storage Expansion and Modern Infrastructure
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Victor Marx Calls for Water Storage Expansion and Modern Infrastructure

By Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette Victor Marx, the Republican nominee for governor, took the spotlight Wednesday during the opening day of the Colorado Water Congress, laying out how he says the state should approach its water future. Marx told the standing-room-only audience in Steamboat Springs that he holds water rights himself, giving him a personal stake in Colorado’s water challenges. His proposed fix? More storage. “We can’t make it snow, we can’t make it rain, but we can decide whether we’re prepared for when the water comes,” he said. “So, I believe we should store water in good years. Wet years. Lord, please send it.” He said storage gives farmers and ranchers reliability, options for communities and reduces emergency decisions. “...
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Colorado Graduated Tax Initiative Draws Major Support From Democratic Lawmaker’s Nonprofit
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Graduated Tax Initiative Draws Major Support From Democratic Lawmaker’s Nonprofit

By Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado DENVER – State Rep. Lorena Garcia, a Westminster Democrat, has been working overtime to ensure a progressive state income tax initiative makes it in front of Colorado voters this November, including donating big bucks via a tax-funded nonprofit to the issue committee charged with getting the measure on the ballot. If passed, Initiative 195 would raise the current flat tax rate of 4.4 percent to 7.4 percent for those earning more than $500,000, and increasing as incomes rise to a top rate of 8.4 percent for those earning more than $1 million. A majority of Colorado taxpayers might see a slight income tax reduction, with many eventually getting caught up in the graduated brackets, as they are not indexed for inflation. ...
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Socialist Melat Kiros Victory Exposes Growing Divide Among Colorado Democrats
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Axios Denver, Approved, State

Socialist Melat Kiros Victory Exposes Growing Divide Among Colorado Democrats

By John Frank | Axios Denver Two days after her upset in the Democratic primary for Colorado's 1st Congressional District, Melat Kiros stood with party leaders behind a banner that read: "Together We Win." Yes, but: Now she appears quite lonely. The intrigue: Some Democratic candidates are keeping their distance from the 29-year-old democratic socialist on the campaign trail. And at least three Democratic moderate candidates are vocally expressing concern about her candidacy. Why it matters: The box-out on Kiros exposes divisions in the Democratic Party and undercuts the party's unity messaging heading into the November midterms. State of play: Kiros defeated 30-year incumbent U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette by more t...
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El Paso County’s public safety tax returns to the ballot with a change to oversight
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, Local

El Paso County’s public safety tax returns to the ballot with a change to oversight

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Heads up El Paso County: you've got a tax to vote on in November and I believe you can speak up about it in your local Grey Book! Per the Tribune article linked at bottom, El Paso County Commissioners approved a ballot measure to extend a sales tax whose proceeds go to help fund the sheriff's office. The tax originally started in 2012 and has been extended a few times since. In its current iteration, it is slated to end in 2029, but commissioners approved a ballot measure which would extend it to 2037.  If you live in El Paso County, take a minute to carefully review the ballot measure. There were a couple things in the article that would have raised an eyebrow for me if I were voting on it. Quoting: "...
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Judge Orders Griswold to Turn Over Records Tied to Taxpayer-Funded Consulting
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Judge Orders Griswold to Turn Over Records Tied to Taxpayer-Funded Consulting

By Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado A Denver District Court judge has given Secretary of State Jena Griswold until Thursday to comply with an open records request, or she could be held in contempt. The records involve consulting work, paid for with public funds. Griswold's office says it doesn't have the documents and it refuses to ask the consultant for them, claiming that would impose an undue "burden." Instead, the Secretary of State's office sent four employees and the Attorney General's Office sent three attorneys to court. The consultant was brought in two years after Griswold became Secretary of State. The office had become a revolving door. Griswold was on her second deputy secretary, third chief legal counsel and fourth chief of staff. An invoice in the court record ...
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Hillman: Democratic Socialism is about control
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Mark Hillman, Approved, Commentary, State, Uncategorized

Hillman: Democratic Socialism is about control

By Mark Hillman | Commentary, Capitol Review Democratic Socialists are cruising through Democratic Party primaries like a hot knife through butter. Entitled young adults, especially, respond to their angst-driven message, frustrated that expensive college degrees landed them entry-level jobs easily attained without a six-figure education. Here in Colorado, Melat Kiros’ decisive win over 30-year incumbent Diana DeGette led a socialist wave in Denver that also saw a first-term centrist legislator ousted by a DSA challenger. U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper did fend off a challenge by state Sen. Julie Gonzales, but the former two-term governor and mayor of Denver, lost to Gonzales in Denver by 13,000 votes. And in Congressional District 8, social-media obsessed state Rep....
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