DENVER—Colorado voters more worried about the troubled economy than health care and the war in Iraq vested their faith in Democrat Barack Obama to lead them through one of the toughest economic crises facing the nation in decades.
Obama’s presidential win Tuesday was part of a Democratic shift in Colorado’s landscape: For the first time since the mid-1970s, there will be Democrats holding both U.S. Senate seats. And, they won a 5-2 edge in congressional seats.
“Colorado, this is a new day. It’s a new day for this nation and this world,” former Gov. Roy Romer told hundreds of people at a Democratic celebration downtown, where giddy supporters started a conga line across a stage.
Republican Sen. Wayne Allard, who is retiring after two terms, stressed that Colorado historically has shifted from Democrat to Republican.
“This happens to be a tough year for Republicans nationally, so it’s a tough year for Republicans in Colorado,” he said.
“If Republicans don’t do well in this election and we end up by some chance with a Democrat governor, a Democrat legislature, a Democrat president, a Democrat Congress, I predict in two years, the Republicans will be on their way back,” he said.
With 66 percent of the projected vote counted, Obama led Republican John McCain 53-45 percent.
“I’m ecstatic and I’m overwhelmed. But I’m not sure if I should let the excitement wash over me or feel anxious about what’s to come. America’s spoken pretty overwhelmingly that they’re ready for something different. I’m hoping he can deliver that kind of change he’s promised,” said Rachel Murphy, a 25-year-old digital marketing consultant from Lakewood.
Obama’s support in Colorado came from unaffiliated voters, who comprise about one-third of registered voters, women, moderates, Hispanics and people seeking change, according to an Associated Press poll of voters over the past week.
Deena Guenzel, a single mother of three who works in hotel sales, is a lifetime Republican but said she voted for Obama because she is worried the nation’s economic turmoil could develop into a depression.
“The change we need is so drastic that I just want to see somebody else’s ideas. I don’t know if that’s the right thing or the wrong thing, so I’m taking a gamble,” she said.
Guenzel, of Highlands Ranch, believes middle class citizens, herself included, have been squeezed by rising gasoline and food prices, and health insurance. “I think we need a little reality check,” she said. “We’ve been arrogant and that extends not just to us citizens but to the government.”
McCain, who fought hard for Colorado’s nine electoral votes, was favored by residents who described themselves as born-again or evangelical Christians, the AP poll found.
Democrats had targeted Colorado this year as part of a strategy to conquer Western states following dramatic victories across the region over the past eight years. In August, Obama accepted his party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
Since 2002, the party has taken control of the state Legislature and the governor’s office in Colorado.
Colorado has voted for a Democratic presidential candidate only three times since 1948, when it went for Harry Truman. Lyndon B. Johnson won here in 1964, and Bill Clinton in 1992.
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Associated Press Writers Arnie Stapleton, P. Solomon Banda, Pat Graham, Dan Elliott, Catherine Tsai and Don Mitchell contributed to this report.
