As results rolled in on election night, a disheartened Steve O’Dorisio stared at the TV screen: He trailed in his Adams County commissioner’s race, and some fellow Democrats were in trouble, too.
“You had some people who said, ‘We lost it all,’ ” the former prosector said. “And you had others who said, ‘We’re all going to win, just wait for things to come in.’ “
After all, Adams County Democrats outnumber Adams County Republicans by more than 20,000 voters.
In his first political bid, O’Dorisio was losing to his Republican challenger by 1,755 votes as election night ended. The next three days, O’Dorisio admitted, “were kind of a blur” until he finally pulled ahead.
He went on to win his commission race by nearly 600 votes, but it was Adams County Republicans who did most of the cheering, scoring more wins than any time since 1936 despite the Democrats’ voter-registration advantage.
for sheriff, clerk, assessor and treasurer. Adams County next year will have a Republican in the state Senate for the first time since 1992. A Democratic state representative lost her seat.
“The sweep, it just blew me away,” said former Adams County Commissioner Marty Flaum, a Republican.
The election featured a kaleidoscope of factors favorable to Republicans, starting with a national climate that revved up the GOP. Mix in a changing county, a Republican ground game and publicity over local Democratic scandals — and the results stunned both parties.
“I think the big question is ‘Is this a momentary blip or does Adams County become a purple county?’ ” said Erik Hansen, a Republican elected to his second term as county commissioner. “If Adams becomes a purple county, that has huge implications for statewide politics. That means the Democrats can’t count on Adams County anymore.”
County in transition
Adams County, the second-fastest-growing county in the metro area and the 10th-fastest in the state, has a population of nearly 470,000.
“In a lot of ways,” Hansen said, “the county is a county in transition.”
During a recent tour, Hansen pointed to an oil well next to Silver Creek Elementary School in Thornton, adding that drilling is expected to be a big issue in the upcoming year.
Trailer parks still play neighbor to Water World in Federal Heights, but multimillion-dollar mansions sit on a hill above Riverdale Golf Course. In Brighton, a Walmart sits next to the produce processing plant for Sakata Farms and its legendary sweet corn.
“You can be driving in a part of the county that looks like Yuma County and in just a few blocks be in a part that looks like Highlands Ranch,” Hansen said. “It’s pretty diverse in terms of what you get.”
Adams County is 72 miles wide, bookended roughly by Sheridan Boulevard on the west and Morgan and Washington counties on the east. Aging suburbs, now home to a growing immigration population, sit across the border from Denver.
In a county once dominated by agriculture, the five largest industries are retail trade, health care and social assistance, construction, transportation and warehousing, and wholesale trade. According to the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation, four of the top 10 private employers in Adams County are hospitals: University of Colorado, Children’s Hospital Colorado, North Suburban and St. Anthony’s North.
The descriptor Hansen uses over and over: middle class. Census data show the average median household income in Adams County from 2008 to 2012 was $56,633. Statewide, it was $58,244.
The 2008 recession struck Adams County hard, with waves of foreclosures hitting residents who got loans they couldn’t afford.
“There’s still a lot of angst even though people feel better than they did a few years ago,” Hansen said. “But I think a lot of those traditional Reagan Democrats were dissatisfied, and that helped us.”
Grudge matches
Adams County Democrats have never fit into the Prius-driving, solar-panel wing of the party, but they have honed their reputation for rough-and-tumble, Hatfield-and-McCoy grudge matches.
Earlier this year, retiring state Sen. Lois Tochtrop, a Democrat, former Rep. Judy Solano, the Democrat running for her seat, saying Solano should have backed her two years ago on an inner-party, “inside baseball” leadership vote. Solano lost by nearly 900 votes to Thornton City Councilwoman Beth Martinez Humenik, of the state Senate next year for the first time since 2004.
Tochtrop said she doesn’t believe staying neutral in the race made a difference. Hansen disagrees, as do others, including former state Rep. Val Vigil, a Democrat who is mayor pro tem in Thornton. He has publicly questioned Tochtrop’s loyalty to Democratic Party policies during their two contests for the state Senate; Tochtrop won both times.
“I’m sure Lois could have gotten votes for Judy if she had done something,” Vigil said.
Asked whether he could recall the last Republican who had served in the state Senate, Vigil couldn’t resist.
“Besides Lois?” he asked.
Get-out-vote effort
Although Adams County Democrats have enjoyed a string of legislative successes, Sen. Mary Hodge, D-Brighton, pointed to her second race for the state House in 2002, when her margin of victory was 133 votes.
She wasn’t on the ballot this election, but she described watching the results and seeing Democratic friends in trouble as a “near-death experience.”
Hodge witnessed firsthand the effectiveness of the Republicans’ get-out-the-vote effort because she and her Democratic husband ended up on a call list for Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman in the 6th Congressional District. After former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton campaigned for Coffman’s opponent, Democrat Andrew Romanoff, Hodge said her household received an automated call from a Coffman supporter who said the visit had turned out “liberal voters by the thousands.”
“Hillary is doing her part,” the caller said, in part. “The only question now is ‘Will you do yours?’ Vote today. Get it in the mail. Mike Coffman would be so appreciative.”
Over the next two days, they got similar calls about Clinton’s visit urging them to turn in their ballots for Coffman.
Hodge believed her household was inadvertently placed on the list, but it was no accident. The Coffman campaign, knowing the conservative nature of Adams County, targeted Democrats and unaffiliated voters 55 and older with calls that normally might go only to Republicans, said campaign consultant Josh Penry.
In what was supposed to be the closest congressional race in the country, Coffman beat Romanoff by 9 percentage points districtwide — 11 percentage points in the Adams County portion of the 6th Congressional District.
Also, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Cory Gardner waged a strong campaign in Adams County. He didn’t win, but he took enough votes that it helped him defeat U.S. Sen. Mark Udall statewide and turn some Adams County races into nail-biters.
“I knew the Cory Gardner machine was working my district,” said Rep. Joe Salazar, D-Thornton. “And I take off my hat to them. They ran a beautiful campaign.”
Salazar won but only by 221 votes. Two years ago, in his first House race, he won by nearly 6,000 votes — against Humenik.
More commissioners
Adams County voters in 2012 voted to expand the number of county commissioners from three to five after the 2014 election, a move intended to dilute the power of the board. Support for the change came after The Denver Post reported on the activities of Assessor Gil Reyes and County Commissioner Alice Nichol, both Democrats.
Reyes slashed the taxable values of warehouses owned by a California-based firm that was his major campaign contribution. Nichol had work done at her home by Quality Paving, a firm accused of bilking taxpayers of at least $1.8 million. , but six county public works employees and Quality Paving officials were convicted.
The Adams County Board of Commissioners for the next two years will consist of three Democrats and two Republicans. They’ll set budgets for other county offices, most of which will be held by Republicans.
“I think the election,” Hansen said, “sent a pretty clear message that people want Republicans to have a greater role in governing.”
Lynn Bartels: 303-954-5327, lbartels@denverpost.com or twitter.com/lynn_bartels
Adams county voters
Democrat: 35%
Republican: 26%
Unaffiliated: 38%
Source: Colorado secretary of state
