Arapahoe County: Ground Zero for Democratic Ascendency

When I first moved to Arapahoe County, Colorado in 1996, nearly all the state senators and representatives were Republicans. Now, they're nearly all Democrats. In 1996, mine was the only Clinton yard sign in my neighborhood. In 2008, Obama has six, McCain three.

Susan Page of USA Today calls Arapahoe County "the top swing county" in a bellwether state.

In 1980, Ronald Reagan's victory in the presidential election focused attention on Macomb County outside Detroit, which reached iconic status as home to the white, working-class voters who had been Democratic stalwarts but became known as Reagan Democrats. Since then, their support has boosted Republican candidates not only in Michigan but also in states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania.
In 2008, Arapahoe County could be the new Macomb.

Colorado has been a generally Republican state for quite some time, especially on the national level. In the 1990's, Colorado swung further to the right because of an influx of folks from California. Generally, these were quite conservative voters who fled from California to Colorado because Colorado was a lot like California, except with fewer minorities. The "suburbia-ville" of Highlands Ranch and Douglas County ballooned in the 90's.

In the first part of this decade, people continued to move here from California. In the past eight years, Colorado has gained more "migrants" from California than nearly all the rest of the states combined. This latest migration, however, consisted of more liberal voters who were drawn here by the tech industry. Where the influx in the 90's consisted primarily of white families, in this decade, it is younger, more likely to be single, and more likely to include racial minorities.

Add to that the increasing electoral clout of Hispanic voters. Hispanic voters have always been a greater presence in the population than in the voting population. As more and more get settled and registered to vote, their electoral presence has increased and will continue to increase, which bodes well for the Democrats in the future.

The USA Today article also gave a plug to Carino Coffee, a fine establishment owned by Rich and Alina Laikola.

Comments (1)

Lucy Belnora

Sounds to me like you are a star! Good work, John!

Posted by Lucy Belnora | November 3, 2008 9:19 PM

Posted on November 3, 2008 21:19

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