After a “shellacking” last November, Democrats, including those in Colorado, need to give voters a reason to trust them, says the party’s leader in Colorado.
Shad Murib, chair of the Colorado Democrats, said election results from this November wherein Colorado Democrats fared well in local races is a good start to solving that problem.
“Democrats far outvoted our voter registration relative to turnout, and we far outvoted the Republican party and we were able to flip the Aurora City Council. We swept the Douglas County School Board, but we're also winning in places like Alamosa and Cortez and these places that people don't expect Democrats to compete,” Murib told Colorado Matters Senior Host Ryan Warner.
Those successes, though, stand in contrast to the party’s folding on the federal government shutdown stalemate. Eight Democratic Senators voted to reopen the federal government without a guarantee of extended tax credits for health insurance, a key sticking point that kept the government closed for more than a month.
Colorado’s two Democratic senators, Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, criticized that capitulation and Murib said the move amounted to an “abdication of duty.”
“At a moment that we're trying to prove to the American people and to Coloradans that Democrats (are) not only going to stand up for you, but that we can get big things done. And so these eight senators that decided to defy the rest of the party and cave in, I think deserve all the criticism that they're getting. I'm really glad that Senator Bennett and Senator Hickenlooper held the line,” Murib said.
Murib spoke with Colorado Matters about where Democrats stand now, how they are positioned for the upcoming midterm elections and why formerly nonpartisan races are the new frontier.
Below are three takeaways from that conversation.
At the school board level, Democrats are no longer backing off of partisanship
The hyperpartisanship of state and national politics may be most acutely seen at the school board level, where supposedly nonpartisan races have shed the plausible deniability of races free from politics.
Murib said Republicans gained ground in recent years by not shying away from that dynamic.
“When you take a look at the past few decades of political life in this country, Republicans have not conceded a partisan fight for school boards and city councils, which is why you see this attempt to villainize kids, to pit our communities against each other, whether it's on LGBTQ issues or even things that are common sense, making sure that we don't have guns in our schools and people able to carry weapons into classrooms. The Republican party has engaged in a very, very deep partisan fight for these races while we've sort of backed off,” Murib said.
However, Murib added that he wants his party to be looking for candidates in local races based on their commitment to the area, not to the party line.
“I care a lot more about somebody who cares more about their communities than their ideology. That's why when we're recruiting candidates, especially for these nonpartisan races, the most important thing to me is that you're a community leader first and then that you happen to be a Democrat,” he said.
With the right candidates, Dems like their chances for midterm races
Colorado’s 8th Congressional District was the closest race in the country a year ago and a year from now is lining up for a similar story.
“It's almost straight 50/50 when you look at how these maps are drawn,” Murib said, adding that Democrats intend to tie the Republican incumbent, Gabe Evans, to unpopular positions taken by the Trump Administration.
On the other side of the state, Republicans should have a built-in advantage in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, though Democrats have kept it close in the past two cycles. Republican Jeff Hurd of Grand Junction defeated Adam Frisch in 2024. Frisch is from Aspen. One of the first challengers to him this cycle is Democrat Alex Kelloff, who calls Snowmass home.
“When I see a Snowmass address, I think we all have a sense of ‘Is this person going to be able to represent everyone?’” Murib said when asked if a Pitkin County politician could appeal to Pueblo voters. “What I think is most important that Alex Kelloff is doing is just like what Adam Frisch did, which is putting tens of thousands of miles on the truck and making sure you get into communities, that you listen more than you talk. And that's really what folks need to see is less of your area code or zip code and more about if you're willing to actually listen and fight for them.”
Murib also noted Kelloff’s family ties to Grand Junction and the San Luis Valley.
Running toward the (redistricting) fight
California and Texas have both gone headfirst into mid-cycle redistricting in an effort to tilt the congressional map toward favoring one party or the other. Thus far, Colorado has not joined suit. Murib said the issue faces lengthy legal scrutiny.
“Congressman (Jason) Crow and I believe in the same thing, which is you always run towards the fight. And by all indications right now, Colorado has laws and rules that prevent us from making an impact on the 2026 map for those elections. Now, some people disagree with that, and if there is a breakthrough that shows that we can take action to be meaningful in 2026, I'll be the first person out there saying, let's get in this fight and let's do it,” Murib said.
Addressing redistricting ahead of 2026 would require a “legal breakthrough” that could allow the legislature to bypass a signature gathering effort and other steps required to change Colorado’s redistricting laws. Short of that, the issue would have to wait.
“Right now, the indication showed that it's hard, that the most common or the most practical way to address this issue would be in 2028,” Murib said. “I worry that's too late. I think it's still a good faith effort to be pushing for us to enter the fight, then, but I think that right now, the indication show we're not able to enter in 2026.”
