DENVER – Colorado is holding its first presidential primary in 20 years on Super Tuesday, and it will show how much the Democratic Party can attract independents, still the largest voting bloc in a state that’s moved further left in recent elections.
For the first time, unaffiliated voters can participate in either the Democratic or Republican primary, which is replacing a non-binding caucus system in an effort to quickly dole out the state’s presidential delegates.
For Democrats, it’s possible a statewide winner of the popular vote can be declared Tuesday night, when 14 states hold presidential contests. But the party won’t start allocating the 67 delegates up for grabs until Wednesday.
Colorado held presidential primaries from 1992 to 2000, then dropped them to save money. In 2016, voters approved reinstating primaries after complaining about the caucus system of thousands of precinct meetings to start choosing presidential candidates.
Many Democratic voters in 2016 couldn’t get into their caucuses, which were filled to capacity. Republicans were angry that their precinct caucuses didn’t include a presidential straw poll – an unofficial vote.
Bernie Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic caucuses, and the Vermont senator has maintained an enthusiastic base in Colorado ever since. He’s campaigned for Jared Polis, Colorado’s first-term governor, and freshman U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse of Boulder.
The primary comes after Democrats, whose ranks have been trending younger and to the left, won the Statehouse, the governorship and all statewide offices in 2018. Health care and the environment topped voters’ concerns that year and will resonate in this year’s elections.
“The Trump campaign’s insistence that it can win here is lip service, frankly,” Democratic consultant Jason Bane said. “I don’t know that Colorado is winnable for Trump at all. The major issue remains health care.”
Last-minute withdrawals by Democratic contenders wreaked havoc for some voters.
Ann Spurgeon, a Denver-area retiree, was so torn about whom to vote for that she swung by a last-minute Amy Klobuchar rally Monday, hoping that seeing the Minnesota senator in person could change her mind. She arrived only minutes after Klobuchar announced she was suspending her campaign. Spurgeon said she didn’t like the choices that remained.
“I think the 70-year-olds are just a little too old,” she said.
Pete Buttigieg also dropped out, and both he and Klobuchar threw their support behind Joe Biden.
Some observers say Colorado’s shift left in recent elections could ease a bit if Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, emerges as the Democratic presidential nominee.
The number of Republican voters in Colorado is still nearly equal to Democrats. The state has its liberal and conservative strongholds. It boasts a multibillion-dollar fossil fuels industry as well as a vibrant environmental movement.
The election in “2018 was a referendum on Trump, practically a vote against every Republican on the ballot,” said Dick Wadhams, a veteran Republican strategist and former party chairman. “But this year is different. Trump is on the ballot. If Sanders also is on the ballot, that puts Colorado in play.”
While Colorado dumped caucuses for its presidential primary, the system is still used for down-ballot races, including Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner’s re-election bid.
Tyler Sandberg, a former GOP consultant and vice president of the education reform group Ready Colorado, said voters shouldn’t neglect the down-ballot caucuses. Not only are congressional and local offices at stake but so, too, are the people who will serve as presidential delegates to the national conventions.
“Those delegates become free agents” if the Democrats have a brokered convention, he noted.
Candidates for Senate, Congress and state offices either can seek votes at precinct caucuses on Saturday and at subsequent party assemblies, or petition their way onto primary ballots that will be held in June.
Associated Press writer Nicholas Riccardi contributed to this report.
