Re: “State surplus: Child poverty focus of credits,” June 1 news story

Several points from this article caught my attention:
1. “Traditionally, state revenue that’s over the cap would be returned to Coloradans largely through a six-tier system that gave higher-income households a bigger share under the idea they paid more in taxes. Nutter called the approach “wasteful” because it directs money to people who already have the most resources.”

“Nutter” references Caroline Nutter, the legislative coordinator for the Colorado Fiscal Institute, who was involved in crafting the legislation. I find it insightful that Nutter characterizes TABOR’s traditional refunds to all taxpayers as “wasteful.” But, in fact, the surplus is intended to be returned in this manner.

2. “Lang Sias, a former state representative and now a research fellow at the think tank, said the legislature ‘has effectively substituted its judgment on how those tax dollars should be spent over that of taxpayers who would otherwise see the refunds.’ ”

We’re moving away from a TABOR refund and toward a TABOR redistribution.” Sias, from the Common Sense Institute, hits the nail on the head with his remarks.

3. “In all, the new policies tap billions of dollars from projected TABOR surpluses in coming years that would have to be returned to taxpayers one way or another.”

My fellow Coloradans, the welfare state is alive and well in Colorado … and continues to grow.

Carl T. Loehr, Montrose

Endorse Johnson for CU regent at-large

I wholeheartedly endorse Charles “CJ” Johnson for the University of Colorado regent at-large position. CJ’s track record is unparalleled: quarterback for CU’s 1990 National Football Championship, serving as a distinguished elected student leader, and excelling as CU’s associate athletic director. His diverse experience as a vice president at Ball Corporation, a Fortune 500 company, also uniquely qualifies him for this role.

CJ epitomizes the values of unity and inclusivity that are the bedrock of the University of Colorado. His leadership background equips him to elevate morale, foster diversity, and drive meaningful change across the university system. With CU’s reputation for innovation and excellence, particularly in cutting-edge research, CJ’s forward-thinking vision is precisely what CU needs to harness its full potential for growth and excellence.

Electing CJ would be groundbreaking, marking one of the first times a Black person holds a statewide office in Colorado. This historic milestone signifies more than just progress; it embodies a commitment to diversity and a fresh, dynamic perspective for CU. CJ is not merely a candidate of change but one of foresight and determination, poised to steer CU towards a brighter and more inclusive future.

In contrast, his opponent represents the status quo – more of the same. CU’s future demands bold, visionary leadership–qualities that CJ has demonstrated consistently. I urge voters to choose Charles “CJ” Johnson for CU regent at-large. His leadership will ensure CU remains accessible and continues to thrive for all Coloradans. Now, more than ever, we need his exceptional leadership.

Wanda James, Denver

Editor’s note: James is the CU Regent for Congressional District 1.

Sign up for Sound Off to get a weekly roundup of our columns, editorials and more.

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

The ceremony put an underline on a legislative session that featured state policymakers looking again and again to the state surplus to flatten inequalities. Lawmakers passed dozens of new tax credits this year that tapped into massive revenues the state couldn’t keep and otherwise would have to return through refund checks.

The new family affordability tax credit that received Polis’ signature is by far the largest individual tax credit in terms of cost. It is also, advocates say, among the most impactful.

They expect it to lift more than 50,000 children out of poverty.

The new law, passed as , will use roughly $700 million per year that comes in over the state revenue growth limit set by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR. It will send the poorest Colorado families $3,200 per child younger than 6. The amount of the credit will scale down as children grow older and family incomes increase, eventually zeroing out at $85,000 per year for joint filers and once children turn 17.

“Kids don’t choose who their parents are or what their income level is — or how they grow up,” Polis said during the bill signing ceremony at a Denver preschool. “Making sure kids everywhere have food on the table (and) have the support that they need to grow up is a big deal.”

The child tax credit stacks atop others passed or expanded by the legislature this year, including an increase to the state’s match of the Earned Income Tax Credit. In all, the new policies tap billions of dollars from projected TABOR surpluses in coming years that would have to be returned to taxpayers one way or another.

Democratic lawmakers, often over dissents from Republicans, opted mostly for directed credits rather than the general refunds that long have been typical in the state’s boom years.

How the new tax credits work

The Colorado Fiscal Institute, a progressive think tank involved in crafting the legislation, predicts families will receive as much as $4,400 a year per child 5 and younger through an expanded child care tax credit and the new family affordability tax credit.

Throw in the Earned Income Tax Credit increase, which matches up to 50% of the federal EITC that sends money to low-income households, and Colorado families could see significant financial help. The state EITC match doubled this year, amounting to nearly $1,900 extra for very-low-income working families with three or more children.

The credits depend on consistent TABOR surpluses and will be scaled down in less robust economic times. Caroline Nutter, the legislative coordinator for the think tank, estimates the credit changes will reduce the number of children in poverty — about 133,000 kids — by 40% in years when the credits are fully funded.

“What we’re really trying to do there is make sure families, even those making more than the median household income in Colorado, are receiving help,” Nutter said. “Raising kids in this state is not cheap. Even if you’re making $100,000 a year, it’s still a big cost to bear.”

The credits, while stacking together, work differently:

• The EITC expansion is based on worth between $600 (for individuals without children) and $7,430 (for families with three or more children). Qualification limits range from $17,640 per year in adjusted gross income for a single person up to $63,398 for joint filers. Colorado will match up to 50% of the federal credit if state growth is on a solid footing.
• The child care tax credit covers a percentage of child care costs, depending on household income. At most, covers about $1,050 for one dependent child and up to $2,100 for two or more. The Colorado credit matches up to 70% of that for households with incomes of $60,000 or less.
• scales down based on family income as well as the ages and number of children. Single filers making $15,000 or less per year in adjusted gross income — and joint filers making $25,000 or less — will receive up to $3,200 for each child younger than 6 and, for children ages 6 to 16, up to $2,400. The credit amounts decrease as incomes rise, with a cap of $75,000 for individual filers and $85,000 for joint filers.

Coloradans may benefit from other credits, too — notably a  for child care workers, home health care workers, personal care aides and certified nursing assistants making less than $75,000 per year that Polis also signed into law Friday. Earlier this week, he signed off on a new tax credit that covers two years of in-state college tuition for students whose families make $90,000 a year or less.

On hand at Friday’s ceremony was U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, who has championed a short-lived federal child tax credit that he’s hoping to revive in Congress next year by leveraging the looming expiration of tax cuts. He praised the state’s new credit.

“The family affordability tax credit testifies to the idea that we don’t have to accept those levels of childhood poverty as a permanent state of our economy, or our democracy, or our society,” he said. “I think the national leadership you’ve shown here is something that we will carry back to Washington, D.C. — to be able to say that because of your leadership, governor, Colorado now has the best anti-poverty legislation of any state in America.”

Do new credits undermine TABOR?

Together, Colorado’s new tax credits represent a reimagining of how state officials handle TABOR surpluses — while trying to stay within the constraints of the constitutional amendment passed by voters more than 30 years ago.

Traditionally, state revenue that¶¶Ňőap over the cap would be returned to Coloradans largely through a six-tier system that gave higher-income households a bigger share under the idea they paid more in taxes. Nutter called that approach “wasteful” because it directs money to people who already have the most resources.

The Common Sense Institute, a nonpartisan, free enterprise-oriented think tank, noted that the money returned through tax credits still stays with Colorado taxpayers, versus going into government programs. But a CSI report on tax credits argues that the new approach “broadly undermines TABOR’s intent” by divorcing refunds from taxes paid.

In coming years, upwards of $1 billion per year that would typically be refunded through the six-tier system will instead go to targeted tax credits, .

Lang Sias, a former state representative and now a research fellow at the think tank, said the legislature “has effectively substituted its judgment on how those tax dollars should be spent over that of taxpayers who would otherwise see the refunds.”

“We’re moving away from a TABOR refund and toward a TABOR redistribution,” he said in an interview.

He didn’t weigh in on the merits of the new policies but questioned lawmakers’ decision to tie the new tax credits to the state’s surplus and, in some cases, to give them sunsets. Assuming they’re as beneficial as proponents say, both cases mean they may not be permanent policies.

The new tax credits also aren’t the only way state officials responded to a foreseeable future of $1 billion-plus surpluses. Polis fought for a $450 million income tax cut, which predominantly will benefit wealthier Coloradans, and a decrease in the state sales tax rate during economic booms.

Taxpayers can also continue to expect flat TABOR refunds when they file their taxes — albeit closer to the $115 range than the $700-plus amounts of recent years.

Nutter argued that while the shift will affect income brackets differently compared to the prior system, people across the spectrum still will see more money in their pockets — from the credits or, for wealthier people, through the tax cuts.

Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.

GOP strategist Sage Naumann said that “only the insane, incapacitated or incompetent” would consider the job. Several other party officials used the word “thankless” to refer to the position, which serves as a combination cheerleader, unifier, peacemaker and fundraiser for the party and its candidates. Even Steve Reams, the Weld County sheriff who said he’s strongly considering a run for the job, made the position sound more like a sacrifice than a prize.

“There’s not much about it that appeals to me,” he said Tuesday, a day after the party’s current chair, Kristi Burton Brown, announced she wouldn’t seek re-election after serving one term, setting up a contested race at a pivotal time in the party’s history. “I’m just frustrated by what’s happened.”

Burton Brown’s decision came six weeks after Republicans suffered defeats up and down the ticket here, a sucker punch of an election that was supposed to announce the party’s return to prominence. Party officials are calling for a years-long rebuild, work that will extend beyond 2024 and the latest presidential candidacy of Donald Trump. Though the party chair isn’t solely responsible for that undertaking, whoever replaces Burton Brown will need to serve as a unifying and stabilizing presence for a party adrift, several Republican officials said.

The chair and the party both are at the mercy of the top of the ticket — meaning Trump — and that person’s popularity, Naumann and others said. But the chair can still influence Colorado Republicans’ infrastructure, messaging and unity moving forward. Laura Carno, a Republican strategist, said the next chair needs to elevate candidates on a local and statewide level, prioritizing party unity over political purity. That’s something Burton Brown did well, officials said.

“Somebody who is very interested in being a workhorse and not a showhorse is very important,” said Lang Sias, the Republican candidate for treasurer this year and lieutenant governor hopeful in 2018. “(Burton Brown’s) public positions on some issues personally were different than public positions of some of the candidates — (U.S. Senate candidate) Joe (O’Dea), for example, when he ran. But I think she viewed it as her job to do everything she could to support the candidates that the Republican Party had nominated and to try to get them elected.”

“The other thing I would say is the person needs to do no harm,” Carno said. “Some of the names out there (as potential candidates for party chair) have a reputation for being bomb-throwers. I think someone who’s a bomb-thrower will do harm. … You just can’t do harm to the brand.”

Those names include Tina Peters, the Mesa County clerk who’s pushed baseless election conspiracy theories and is awaiting trial for allegedly breaching election security; she is said to be considering a run, multiple officials said (Peters did not return a request for comment this week). Dave Williams, a departing representative and member of the party’s right-wing faction, has also eyed the chair position. He told the Post this week that “nothing has been ruled out” but that his main goal was to replace Burton Brown.

Despite rumors to the contrary, Erik Aadland, who mounted an unsuccessful congressional campaign this year, will not run, a spokeswoman said. Casper Stockham, who ran against Burton Brown for the position in 2021, . Burton Brown told the Post that Greg Lopez, who lost in the party’s gubernatorial primary against Heidi Ganahl in June, is also running. Lopez did not return requests for comment sent this week.

A Peters chairmanship, several Republicans said, would be disastrous for a party trying to stabilize itself and appeal to unaffiliated voters turned off by Trump and election conspiracies. One likened the prospect of her or Williams’ assuming the role to “inmates running the asylum.” Several, including former party chair Dick Wadhams, pointed to a late November protest featuring Peters where right-wing speakers lobbed personal insults at state Republican leaders.

“We need a state chair who doesn’t talk about stolen election conspiracies, doesn’t talk about anybody that disagrees with them as a whore or a traitor or an a–wipe,” Wadhams said, referring to the insults hurled at leaders at the November protest, which was held near the party’s Greenwood Village headquarters. “We need a credible state chair. Then that person needs to work on what we could win in 2024.”

Peters, Williams and members of the right-wing “Save Colorado Project,” which organized the November protest, have criticized party leaders for being too moderate. After the election, Williams accused those officials of being “charlatans” for spending so much money only to lose in November. On its website, the Save Colorado Project said Burton Brown and others had betrayed fundamental values and favored “center-left candidates.”

The chair will be selected in March by the party’s central committee, which could include as many as 450 Republicans from across the state, Wadhams said. He and another veteran Republican both said the committee would likely favor a more right-wing figure like Peters or Williams.

Reams, who was first elected as Weld County sheriff in 2014, is an example of a more moderate and “credible” candidate, Wadhams said. Danny Moore, Ganahl’s running mate, was also said to be considering a run but has since decided against it, several officials said. Ganahl has also been mentioned as a potential candidate, though her interest has reportedly cooled, as well (neither Ganahl nor Moore returned messages seeking comment this week).

Reams said he was likely to run and that he would make a final decision in the coming days. He said the party was “extremely fractured” and that Republicans had become proficient at pointing out problems but not the needed solutions. As for Peters and other right-wing candidates, he said it was up to them to “define themselves.”

“My messaging will be different than theirs,” Reams said. “I’ll leave it at that.”

There will be a recount of ballots in the 3rd Congressional District starting this week. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert beat former Aspen City Councilman Adam Frisch by a mere 550 votes. Even though he conceded, the law requires a recount when the vote margin between candidates is less than .5 percent of the total votes cast for the winner. While the recount isn’t expected to change the results, it will keep the race in the news cycle until December 13, when it must be completed. That¶¶Ňőap good; Boebert and the remaining MAGA supporters in this state need to feel a little indigestion.

Judging by her Twitter presence, Boebert hasn’t taken to heart the election’s lessons. She may still be under the illusion that her unexpected photo-finish victory was due to a lack of enthusiasm for statewide top ticket candidates, as she suggested after Election Day. by The Colorado Sun should disabuse her; she underperformed all statewide GOP candidates in her district except one, gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl.

Republican candidates for U.S. Senate, Secretary of State, Treasurer, and Attorney General all received more votes in Colorado’s third district than did the congresswoman. While Boebert beat her opponent by a fraction of a percent in CD3, Lang Sias led his opponent by seven percentage points, John Kellner beat his by five, Pam Anderson hers by three, and Joe O’Dea his by two.

The 3rd Congressional District is one of a minority of districts in Colorado where Republican voters outnumber Democrats. Thirty-one percent of active registered voters are Republicans, 24% are Democrats, and the remainder (44%) of voters is unaffiliated. In 2020, Boebert beat her opponent Diane Mitsch Bush 51% to 45%. The district has since been redrawn to include more Republicans. In 2022, a strong Republican should have garnered 55% or more of the vote.

Instead, a significant percentage of right-leaning voters split their ticket by voting for GOP statewide candidates and a Democrat for Congress or by voting for the GOP and leaving an empty bubble for that race.

Boebert was the only Trump-endorsed candidate in Colorado. An analysis by Philip Wallach, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, found Trump-backed Republicans underperformed expectations in competitive races while Republican candidates who were not endorsed by the former president over-performed expectations.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, for example, beat Stacey Abrams 53% to 46%. Trump-picked Herschel Walker is tied in the polls going into the December 5 runoff. So long as no more skeletons tumble out of his closet and he refrains from talking, he has a chance, but the GOP would be in a far stronger position had they picked a different candidate.

Republican candidates who were not officially endorsed by Trump but touted election conspiracy theories also did poorly in comparison to mainstream Republicans. An analysis by the Washington Post of 47 competitive races for Congress and statewide offices found election deniers fared poorly; only ten of the 47 won, with two races, not yet called.

Election deniers did poorly here, too. Republican candidates in statewide offices or in congressional districts accepted the 2020 election results. Only Erik Aadland, candidate for the 7th Congressional District and Danny Moore, Ganahl’s running mate, were on record for saying the election was rigged. While they backpedaled the allegations, their former stance cost them votes.

Fortunately, Trump’s announcement for another presidential bid seems to have garnered a mix of “meh,” “nah,” and “hell no” from prominent Republicans in the state. They understand that his brand of politics is toxic here. If Republicans want to exert a modicum of political influence in this deep blue state, they must reject Trump’s style, his election conspiracy theories, and the man himself. Take heed congresswoman.

Krista L. Kafer is a weekly Denver Post columnist. Follow her on Twitter: @kristakafer.

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

“I think of the Spartans and Leonidas, as the Persian army comes down to take over and destroy Greece and Sparta,” Holtorf said, referring to the legend of a vastly outnumbered — and doomed — group of Spartans who fought to hold off their opponents.

It was the first public regrouping of elected Colorado Republicans after an election that one described as a shellacking. The Republican candidates for the state’s top offices had just been swept, some by double-digits, by Democratic incumbents. Hopes on Tuesday that the GOP would narrow the Democrats’ majority in the state House of Representatives and maybe even flip the state Senate materialized Wednesday as losses.

The party, several officials said, must now undertake a full rebuild of its brand and approach in Colorado. While elected Republicans like Holtorf will face the immediate effect of this electoral failure, the losses were so historic that many of the party’s members are confronting an existential question: What¶¶Ňőap next for Colorado’s Republican Party? If it can’t win now — in a midterm in which the dominant topics are bread-and-butter Republican issues like crime and the economy — when can they?

“Just about every Republican strategist, consultant, elected official and leader is asking right now: What’s the path forward?” Sage Naumann, a Republican consultant who’s recently worked in the state Senate and for U.S. Senate candidate Joe O’Dea.

He characterized the election as one of “the most historic losses our party has ever endured,” one with few, if any, silver linings.

What went wrong

Depending on the Republican, the cause of or the solution to the party’s woes run through former President Donald Trump.

Naumann noted that unaffiliated voters make up a plurality of the Colorado electorate and that they’ve been trending decisively away from his party. And several members he described as more policy-oriented — not “bomb throwers” — lost or were losing races.

“Their losses are not contributed to their records, I can guarantee that,” Naumann said. “Their losses are because unaffiliateds said the party and anyone associated with it are not viable candidates.”

He attributed that to the “lingering effect” of Trump over the party and a focus on divisive issues, like banning abortion, that Colorado voters consistently reject.

“(There’s a) consistent focus on conspiracy theories and witch hunts, like that the 2020 election was fraudulent, and a lack of realization in the state of Colorado that on social issues, the people in the middle don’t agree with our party platform,” Naumann said.

Lang Sias, who lost his bid to unseat state treasurer Dave Young on Tuesday night, said the Republican brand has become “toxic” in Colorado. Part of that¶¶Ňőap because of Trump, he said. Sias has been on the wrong side of two Democratic waves, having lost as Walker Stapleton’s running mate in 2018, and he acutely knows the consequences of being associated with the former president. The party needed to focus on solutions, he said, a stance echoed by Democratic insiders who blasted some Republicans’ embrace of conspiracies and election denialism.

But Sias, like Naumann, maintained that the party’s core values aren’t the problem.

“The Republican brand — whatever the Republican brand is — it¶¶Ňőap not something that Colorado voters like that much,” Sias said. “Because I don’t think we were wrong … to focus on those kitchen table issues of the economy and crime and education.”

Meanwhile, Naumann said, bombastic Colorado Republicans, “who are in elected office because it¶¶Ňőap fun to throw bombs and to quote-unquote own the libs” suck all the oxygen out of the room that could otherwise be used to help Colorado. And much of that is simply out of local and state Republican’s control, he said. It’s a monumental task to carve out a local identity when faced with those who have national microphones, and more interest in social media engagement and TV hits than the future of Colorado’s party.

Departing state Rep. Dave Williams, who’s been castigated by House leadership for being one of those bomb-throwers, called Tuesday night a “bloodbath.” He agreed that there was a problem with the Republican brand in Colorado, but he laid blame squarely on the party’s leaders.

“Those people, they were responsible for the image and the branding of the party this election cycle and probably before that as well,” he said. “In other words, they got everything they wanted — the establishment generally in this state got everything they wanted. They got the candidates they wanted, they got the messaging they wanted. … And they got these results. And I think we certainly have to place blame at their feet.”

A sign of that internal division flared among House Republicans on Thursday, just before Holtorf’s speech. State Rep. Stephanie Luck, of Penrose, was making the case that the caucus should elect her as their leader — and in her speech, apologized to members for “threats” some of them received the day before related to her candidacy.

Still, she told her fellow representatives, those messages came from “communication streams and networks that I have access to in order to rally the troops, to speak into bills that you are advancing, to speak into bills that we are opposing as a caucus.” Her apology-turned-enticement didn’t work, and Rep. Mike Lynch was elected minority leader instead.

Increased infighting won’t help the party’s brand, Republican officials said. But others questioned whether the state’s electorate had shifted fundamentally, thanks to liberal-minded out-of-staters moving in. That was the assessment of Kristi Burton Brown, the chairwoman of the Colorado Republican Party, on Tuesday night. Her candidates had run on the correct issues, she said, and would focus on them going forward.

“It¶¶Ňőap just not what voters chose tonight,” she said.

‘A rebuilding time’

State Sen. Paul Lundeen, of Monument, emphasized Thursday that a handful of races still hadn’t been called, so the official shape of his caucus wasn’t yet known. But it will have a big responsibility in rebuilding the Republican brand.

“It falls on us, this caucus, to strike forward and establish a new perspective on the Republican brand,” Lundeen said shortly after being named Senate minority leader. “An expansion if you will, on the Republican brand. What it means to make life more affordable, what it means to make our community safer, what it means to give parents more authority.”

Lynch, Lundeen’s equivalent in the House, struck a similar tone. He was beat Luck for House minority leader Thursday morning, in the wake of Rep. Hugh McKean’s death and Rep. Colin Larson’s surprising re-election loss. Lynch pledged to the remaining House Republicans to not “ever veer from our Republican principles. That is not what we do in the face of the defeat we had this week.”

He told the Post in an interview that he and other Republicans didn’t understand why the messaging on crime and economics hadn’t worked. Coloradans must not have reached a “pain point” yet, he said, adding that Democrats had been effective in their messaging on abortion. He thought voters “misinterpreted” the status of abortion access in Colorado and that Republicans “assumed voters knew stuff they didn’t.”

While he and others defended the party’s messaging and said it didn’t need to change, Lynch acknowledged that something has to.

“We look at this as a rebuilding time,” he said. “No doubt, the voters spoke very loudly that they want to see something different out of us, so we’re going to do some soul-searching and figure out what that looks like. I’d be an idiot to ignore that we just got shellacked.”

Several other party officials used the term “rebuild” to describe what Colorado Republicans must do next. Williams, the departing state representative, likened the party to a flailing sports team that would need years of work before it could hope for a title shot. His fellow House Republican, Delta Rep. Matt Soper, said the party needed to embrace more libertarianism and capitalize on what he perceived as voters’ fiscal conservatism.

“From what I can tell by the way that voters behaved is we are a socially liberal state but a fiscally conservative state,” he said, “and as Republicans, that¶¶Ňőap something we outta embrace just a little bit more.”

Sandra Hagen Solin, a longtime lobbyist with Capitol Solutions who represents business and law enforcement interests, said there needs to be a national rebranding. She, like most every political observer, had predicted more parity in the legislature.

The core of the Republican platform — a strong economy, an education system “that works for everyone” and public safety — is still strong and still resonates with most Coloradans, she said. But not as strongly as voters’ rejection of Trump-style politics.

“There needs to be a rebranding,” she said. “It’s not just a Colorado rebranding, but it’s a national conversation. But a rebranding can only be successful if there’s a receptivity to how Republicans are perceived.”

Naumann encouraged Republicans to focus on school choice and fiscal responsibility while working to find solutions. In the meantime, Republicans can still have a voice at the Capitol.

“There’s a lot of opportunity for Republicans to still play a role, even in the minority,” Naumann said. “There’s going to be a lot of legislators who want to say their bills are bipartisan.”

And while both the senate race and governor’s race were big losses, he noted that O’Dea ran about 5 percentage points ahead of the Republican nominee for governor, Heidi Ganahl. O’Dea distanced himself from the Trump movement, didn’t want to ban all abortion and supported codifying same-sex marriage. It wasn’t enough to overcome the perception of the party overall, but it shows “a beginning of a pathway to legitimacy again.”

Naumann declined to call Colorado purple — unaffiliated voters are neither red nor blue, after all — preferring to describe it as a state where people value its institutions and their independence, however they may define it.

“Neither side expected this type of a landslide toward Democrats,” he said. “It’s up to our party to seriously look within to see that this never happens again. Unfortunately, with the losses we’ve seen, this is going to be a multi-election project to rebuild, if we’re willing.”

“I am humbled by the support and trust Coloradans have put in me to continue the work of the Treasury for the next four years,” Young said Tuesday night. “I ran for State Treasurer because I believe Colorado is at its best when our economy works for all, and I am excited to continue to work towards that goal.”

The loss is a blow to Republicans’ hopes of picking up a statewide contest and a sign of Democrats’ firm grip on the state’s electorate. Young’s seat was the one most targeted by the GOP heading into Tuesday, and they fared little better in their efforts to unseat Democrats holding the offices of the governor, secretary of state and attorney general. Young’s win in a midterm dominated by Republican issues further emphasizes just how blue the state has turned in recent years.

In a speech Tuesday night at a Republican watch party in Greenwood Village, Sias said he’d called Young and conceded. Young had opened an early and strong lead over his former legislative colleague Tuesday night, and by 9:40, his lead had extended to more than 167,000 votes.

Sias told the Post that voters weren’t splitting their ticket between candidates as much as they had. He said the state has become more “tribal” than before.

“It’s disappointing,” he said of his loss, “but we can also see what happened. I don’t think people are looking at individual races individually.”

Republicans had targeted the race because of dominant concerns about inflation and affordability, traits they had contended voters would associate with the GOP. Young’s fundraising fell far below other statewide Democratic candidates, and treasurer’s races — like down-ballot candidates generally here — often run behind top billers like Polis.

Young had touted his experience in fiscal policy at the state level and his execution of legislatively approved programs, like those designed to boost small businesses and give Coloradans retirement accounts. His office also oversees the state’s investment strategies and holdings.

Sias, a former Navy pilot and legislator who was Walker Stapleton’s running mate during his failed 2018 gubernatorial bid, had pledged to be a spokesman for conservative fiscal policy for the state, even if that extended to a largely rhetorical role. He raised repeated concerns about the state’s pension program, PERA (the state treasurer sits on PERA’s board). His loss continues a recent string of losses. Not only was he Stapleton’s running mate in 2018, but he lost a state senate primary in 2014. He had lost a general election for the same senate district two years prior.”

Colorado Treasurer Dave Young has made progress in the last four years to get Coloradans back their money, jewelry and other lost items that are in possession of the state’s unclaimed property division.

And that is important because the state discovered through a performance audit released in 2019 that the division, also known as the Great Colorado Payback, was hopelessly under water, unable to act upon claims within 90 days, failing to send notices to 1.6 million people since 2005 and reliant on a records system riddled with errors.

Young, who inherited the mess when he took office in 2019, says the backlog is now a flowing stream of claims, but it has required additional staff and a transition to a new IT system.

The Payback is just one small part of the treasurer’s job, but the program’s growth and success in closing cases is evidence that Young is managing the department deftly.

We recommend voters give Young, a Democrat, another four years in office.

The Republican candidate for treasurer, former state lawmaker Lang Sias, offers some important critiques of Young’s work, especially around the Secure Savings Plan.

Young, working with a legislatively appointed board, has been setting up Colorado’s Secure Savings Plan, a new state-managed retirement savings system that will allow workers whose employers don’t offer 401(k)s to invest in an IRA retirement fund via payroll deductions.

The program was badly needed and is a key to ensuring all Coloradans, regardless of income level, are saving for their retirement. We support the system and are glad Young is working hard to get the pilot for the program launched starting this month. Employees, more broadly, will have access to the savings options (which are automatic unless employees opt out) starting in 2023.

However, we agree with Sias that the fees proposed currently to be charged to investors (employees contributing to the state’s IRA program) are too high. We do not think 100 basis points, which is 1% or 0.01 times the amount invested (it would reduce to 75 basis points after six years), is the best deal Colorado could secure for the roughly 900,000 employees who would qualify for the program.

For comparison, Oregon’s retirement system is charging 25 basis points, which is 0.25% or 0.0025 times the value of the account per year, plus a $1.50 flat account fee per quarter. Colorado’s system says, on average, the fee will be 0.32% of investments plus a $5.50 flat account fee per quarter.

Assuming investment funds perform equally, the higher fee (including compounding interest) can mean thousands and thousands of dollars less in earned interest in just a few years. We urge Young to press the for-profit company hired in a competitive bidding process to manage the accounts to add at least one competitively priced, low-cost index fund to the investment choices and to work hard to get the flat account fee reduced as quickly as possible. Flat account fees are troublesome, particularly for people who are only able to invest $50 to $100 a month.

However, in general, we have been pleased with Young’s work, and we don’t think this critique is a reason for Colorado voters to support Sias over the incumbent.

For while Sias is right that the fees are on the high end, we aren’t certain that, in the current market, anyone could have procured a better offer. It¶¶Ňőap unclear why large firms like Vanguard, Morgan Stanley or JPMorgan Chase didn’t respond to the RFP with more competitive rates, but Young says it is a difficult procurement because accounts will be small to begin with, and it¶¶Ňőap unclear how many employees will opt out. Taking on the services is a risk, he said.

We think Young will work hard to make sure the program is implemented well for both Colorado employees and the state.

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

State financial management aside, what do you see as the primary service the Treasurer directly provides to Coloradans?
The number one priority for the State Treasurer is the financial security of Coloradans, and this goes beyond just state financial management. While I am not a policy maker, I do weigh in on issues pertinent to the financial well being of all Coloradans. For instance, I am working hard to implement the Colorado SecureSavings program (https://coloradosecuresavings.com/), which will help one million private sector employees save for retirement, and the CLIMBER Small Business Loan Program, which provides $250 million in loans for small businesses. These programs run through the Treasury and I am tasked with ensuring their success.

If elected, how should voters judge your performance?
Voters do not need to wait to judge my performance as I have been doing this work for the past four years. Since taking office as State Treasurer in 2019, I have protected taxpayer dollars and ensured that those funds are invested safely, transparently, and in a way that benefits working Coloradans — not wealthy hedge fund managers or Wall Street. My actions have ensured Colorado maintains a strong credit rating and that we have the resources to fund critical programs like school construction through the BEST program, and road and bridge construction and repairs.

What three policy issues set you apart from your opponent?
My top priorities as Treasurer are to protect taxpayer dollars and to help Colorado’s economy thrive. This means I support programs such as the Colorado SecureSavings program, CLIMBER Small Business Loan Program, and the BEST program which helps fund our schools. I ensure the programs that fall under Treasury management are run effectively and efficiently so Coloradans have the resources they need to run their small business, save for retirement, and give their kids a high-quality education.

The difference between my opponent and me is that I believe in solving problems, not just talking about them.

How will you work to shore up Colorado’s retirement program’s unfunded obligations?
The State must make sure it consistently makes the required $225 million direct payment to PERA each year. Beyond that, I believe it¶¶Ňőap time to re-evaluate the funding parameters in the 2018 PERA reform bill (SB18-200) to ensure that the burden of resolving the funding liabilities is fairly shared by taxpayers, PERA members, PERA beneficiaries, and PERA employers. This analysis of the effects of SB 200 since 2018 could require legislation in the near term to make adjustments. As State Treasurer and a member of the PERA Board of Trustees, I will continue to take a very active role in this work.

State financial management aside, what do you see as the primary service the Treasurer directly provides to Coloradans?
The Treasurer should serve as a “friend of the taxpayers” by advocating for transparency, accountability and efficiency, and working across the aisle to reduce costs. Colorado’s cost of living is too high under single-party rule. I will help restore balance to statewide economic leadership, by:

1. Being a strong and independent board member of our public employee retirement system (PERA); protecting and preserving PERA for members while treating taxpayers fairly.

2. Advocating for cost-benefit analysis of economic regulations and accountability for the actual results of spending.

3. Protecting our right to vote on tax increases and tax refunds.

If elected, how should voters judge your performance?
1. Did I work across the aisle to lower costs for families and small businesses?

2. Did I efficiently lead the Treasury Department and oversee its programs in a manner that saved taxpayer dollars?

3. As a PERA board member, did I fight to improve PERA’s financial position, while balancing the interests of taxpayers and PERA members?

4. Did I support our right to vote on tax increases and refunds, as provided in our Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR)?

5. Did I increase cost-benefit analysis of major economic legislation and accountability for the actual results of spending programs?

What three policy issues set you apart from your opponent?
1. I’ve always supported our right to vote on tax increases and refunds, per our Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR). My opponent has consistently opposed TABOR. In 2019, he advocated for Proposition CC, which would have ended TABOR refunds forever. Voters resoundingly defeated that measure. Now, my opponent wants credit for handing out $750 refunds–refunds he tried to abolish.

2. I have a record of leading on PERA reform (see description below); my opponent does not.

3. I will lead the Treasury Department efficiently. My opponent has increased the size of the department by nearly 50% in three years.

How will you work to shore up Colorado’s retirement program’s unfunded obligations?
I was a leader in passing 2018 bipartisan reforms that averted disaster for PERA members, taxpayers and the state — reforms my opponent voted against. Since 2019, I have served on the bipartisan PERA oversight subcommittee. The reforms put PERA on a better trajectory, but it will take responsible leadership to achieve 100% funding. As a PERA Board member, I will:

1. Fight to ensure the legislature honors its funding obligations.

2. Closely monitor PERA’s performance and its actuarial and return assumptions.

3. If necessary, advocate for timely reforms that are fair to PERA members and taxpayers, and prevent another crisis.

Anthony J. Delgado has not returned the questionnaire.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Spot, to get Colorado politics news sent straight to your inbox.

Colorado Republicans feel that way about the state treasurer’s race this year, too. But they’re banking on a combination of softer factors to push Lang Sias, a former state representative and Walker Stapleton’s running mate in 2018, over incumbent Dave Young. One is a tendency by Colorado voters to drift conservative as they move down the ticket. The other, several Democratic and Republican insiders told The Denver Post, is a natural — if somewhat simplistic — association of the office with fiscal policy. In a year when Republicans are hammering at rising inflation costs, that perception, coupled with broader voting tendencies, could make the treasurer’s office particularly winnable for the GOP.

Democrats are less convinced, and Colorado isn’t as purple as it used to be. Young has been trying to address the information gap, said Morgan Carroll, the chairwoman of the state Democratic Party: He’s worked to stress the importance of the race — and of the treasurer’s role in people’s everyday lives — to voters across the state.

“A lot of people don’t know about it,” she said.

The treasurer doesn’t set Colorado’s budget. The office doesn’t raise or lower taxes, and its holder has no control over interest rates or other specific monetary policies. The treasurer oversees the state’s investments and bank accounts. He or she sits on the board of PERA, the state’s public pension plan, and the treasurer is often tasked with implementing policies approved by the legislature.

But when people think treasury, they think fiscal policy, said Michael Fields, senior adviser to the conservative group Advance Colorado Action.

“I think part of it is the treasurer has to do with money and fiscal matters, and Colorado tends to lean fiscally conservative,” he said. “So that person has a platform to talk about taxes, spending, investments, stuff like that.”

So, that theory goes, with inflation so prominent, Colorado voters would want a conservative as the avatar of fiscal policy here, even if that’s just as a communicator.

That’s part of Sias’s pitch, too, he said in an interview with The Post: He wants to use his office as a “bully pulpit” to trumpet the economic impact of proposed policies. He also said he wanted to restore balance to state government, and he pledged to address the billions in PERA’s unfunded liability, which he said was key to attracting employers to Colorado.

He agreed that his race represented a potential win because of its association with fiscal policy and down-ballot bipartisanship. But Sias acknowledged there was only so much the office could do unilaterally to address economic issues — like inflation — directly. PERA, he said, is something the office can directly impact.

Asked if Sias represented the GOP’s best chance at winning a statewide contest this year, Carroll was unimpressed and said that had more to do with the strength of Republican candidates than on Sias’s particular appeal.

“That isn’t saying much,” she said

The race will be close, she continued, but she said that Young has been working hard, raising money and trying to bridge the key information gap — what exactly does the treasurer do? — with voters. Down-ticket races have been tough for Democrats in Colorado this century: Across the five statewide elections from 1998 through 2014, the Democrats won the governor’s mansion three times but lost nearly every down-ballot race each time. And 2018 represented a large shift there: Democrats won the governor’s race again, alongside the attorney general, secretary of state and treasurer.

In an interview with the Post, Young — who in his past life as a legislator had helped set the state budget as a member of the Joint Budget Committee — said he had a “record of success” over the past four years. He mentioned the CLIMBER program — a small-business loan effort — and the SecureSavings program — a state-sponsored retirement plan — as particular successes.

Carroll warned that Sias could intentionally derail those programs, which were both created by the legislature. Sias said he would run them as “enthusiastically” as possible but that the treasurer needed to be clear-eyed and honest about their potential; he twice voted against approving the SecureSavings program while serving in the House.

Sias noted that he had supported a sweeping — and heavily debated — 2018 bill that sought to fix PERA, which faced a $32 billion debt and, as a result, threatened the state’s credit rating. Young voted against that bill; he said in an interview he didn’t have enough information to know what impact the 2018 bill would have prior to being asked to vote on it.

The bill, which became law, requires the state to put $225 million per year into PERA, and it cut cost-of-living adjustments and increased per-paycheck contributions. Young said he thinks the law has had some positive impacts but still needs to be re-examined.

Young said that inflation is the reason the state, with his support, sent Coloradans their Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights refund checks early this year. That move has drawn criticism from Sias and other Republicans, who’ve accused Young, Gov. Jared Polis and other Democrats of criticizing TABOR until it benefited them politically.

Young dismissed that allegation, though he said he supported replacing TABOR “with a rational policy that actually gets us to great outcomes as a state.” As other Democrats have said before, he criticized TABOR’s impact on education funding and said a different program would help the state address systemic problems.

He said he’s always acknowledged the checks were a product of TABOR (he did so in April and August press conferences) and that they were intended only to give Coloradans much-needed financial relief.

“I think I’ve made every effort to be honest with the public about what was being done,” he said. “And if people want to call that cynical, I guess that¶¶Ňőap everybody’s opinion, they’re entitled to it. But at end of the day, what we’re trying to do is respond to dramatic price increases and inflation, not wait until six or eight months later.”

As for whether he represented the Republican’s best chance of capturing a statewide seat, Young said he was confident that wouldn’t happen. Even if you buy the theory that his office is naturally associated with conservative politics, he said, he’d won as a Democrat in conservative districts before.

“I’m very used to tough races,” he said. “I know how to win.”

Gov. Jared Polis entered September with more than $3.3 million in his campaign coffers; Attorney General Phil Weiser had just more than $1 million; Secretary of State Jena Griswold reported $711,000 in cash on hand. The outlier is Treasurer Dave Young — seeking re-election in typically the lowest profile of the constitutional offices — who reported $72,000 in cash on hand.

The entire Republican field, meanwhile, reported having $402,322.51 among the four of them.

Individually, those races breakdown like this: Governor candidate Heidi Ganahl had about $188,000 in cash on hand; Attorney General candidate John Kellner had about $91,000; Secretary of State candidate Pam Anderson had about $33,000; and Treasurer candidate Lang Sias had about $90,000.

The reports, due by 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, cover July 28 through Aug. 31. The reports only cover state candidates. Federal campaign finance reports, which cover congressional and U.S. Senate races, aren’t due until mid-October.

But money isn’t everything, Colorado GOP Executive Director Joe Jackson argued. The races are closer than their funding, even as Democrats “try and buy these seats,” he said in an email.

“Money won’t save the Colorado Democrat candidates from their record of raising taxes on families, creating a drug epidemic, failing our students, or serving as a rubber stamp for the Biden agenda,” Jackson said.

Spokespeople for the Democratic Party and the Ganahl campaign didn’t immediately return requests for comment.

Polis, a centimillionaire, shattered self-funding records in his 2018 campaign and is again fueling his campaign from his own pockets. He spent more than $23 million on his first bid for governor. As of the end of August this year, he’s spent another $7 million to keep the seat.

“Gov. Polis is working hard to earn voters’ support, including getting his positive message out to all Coloradans about how he will protect our freedoms, fight to cut costs and always do what¶¶Ňőap right for Colorado,” campaign spokesperson Amber Miller said. “The governor has a self-imposed $100 donation limit and he doesn’t take money from PACs or special interests for his campaign. The Governor is not beholden to special interests and is just focused on getting the job done for Coloradans.”

Polis’ financial advantages aside — campaign cash-on-hand doesn’t say much about a deep-pocketed self-funder who can replenish their election coffers on a whim — the three other Colorado candidates are far more flush than they were at this point in the 2018 cycle. Then, Weiser, Griswold and Young collectively had just shy of $500,000 in the bank.

Republican candidates this year had less in the bank going forward than their 2018 counterparts. At this point in the 2018 cycle, Republican nominee for governor Walker Stapleton alone reported more than $555,000 in the bank, while the rest of the GOP field for statewide reported another $484,000.

Money spent to influence voters doesn’t only flow to and from campaign coffers, of course. Millions have already been spent by independent expenditure groups.

Deep Colorado Wells, which is supporting Ganahl and opposing Polis, reported $5 million in the bank after spending nearly $1 million on banners, radio ads and billboards. It’s almost entirely funded by Weld Country rancher and oil and gas proponent, whose voicemail tells people who support the state’s Democratic leadership not to bother leaving a message.

Wells said he got involved in the race because Polis “gave me no choice.”

“Look at the condition our state is in,” Wells said in an email. “Crime, drugs, inflation, homelessness. The extreme government overreach into our schools, small businesses and agriculture. And the encroachment on parental rights. Enough is enough.”

While that appears to be the biggest independent expenditure committee so far, it’s not the only one. All Together Colorado, which is supporting Democrats, reported $2.7 million in the bank after spending more than $800,000. And that’s just two in a sea of independent expenditure committees.