MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

STATE OF THE STATE PARTY - IS STRONG

After hearing President Biden’s State of the Union address, I thought it would helpful to give a State of the Colorado Democratic Party.  Many people may not know all we have done and why it has contributed to electing the highest number of Democrats in the history of the state.  As we go into reorganization of state party officers, it is a natural reflection point to consider what has worked well – and where we can improve. 

The job of the state party is to win elections – and with your help, we have done that in historic fashion.

I never planned to run for Chair.  Yet, after Trump was elected in 2016, and the Trump-Republicans controlled the US House, the US Senate and the future of the US Supreme Court, it was obvious to me (with the encouragement of a few friends) that the party needed to heal, to unite, to reform, and to re-find its mission. 

We need the party to be strong so we can elect better candidates, with better values, defend basic freedoms, advance opportunity, address hate and bigotry, and respond to the climate crisis, gun violence, and elevating workers’ rights, pay and safety in Colorado and in America.

I ran because I sensed we were at a critical turning point.  Along the way we absorbed a lot of warranted anxiety on the left and increasingly toxic and violent poison on the right.  But people came together in an inspiring way because so many of you understood what was on the line – and we could not have achieved anything we did without your support.

Along the way, we discovered that what we were up against was far more than traditional GOP candidates with their usual talking points that simply help the rich get richer, avoid paying taxes, disdain for the poor and everyone else who is not a wealthy white, male, Christian Republican.  

We were and are up against foreign interference in our elections, funded psychological warfare online, disinformation campaigns, harassment campaigns, cyber-attacks, hacking, zoom-bombing, doxxing, phishing, right wing infiltration in political campaigns, national, state and local parties, running candidates as “spoiler” candidates to tip elections their way and even having Republican operatives change their affiliation to try to run as Democratic candidates.  We have faced an up-tick in death threats, vandalism, and verbal violence directed to candidates, elected officials, officers, staff, canvassers, front desk volunteers and phone bankers.  And yet, we persisted, and prevailed, even in this environment.  We were up against a press apparatus who are trained to cover stories that “both sides do it” – even when both sides don’t do it.  Good journalists started to see through this.  

The party has grown:  

The party has grown full-time staff:  The party has grown to 5 employees and have created the first-ever yea-round bilingual Organizing Director (Field Director + Volunteer Coordinator).  In even-year funding levels we have even brought on full time Communications & Digital.

The party has grown registered Democratic voters:  We have grown 158,675 more registered Democrats, overtaking Republican registration numbers in Colorado for the first time.  (Unaffiliated voters have grown the fasted but Republican registration has declined.)

The party has reached out to Unaffiliated voters:  The majority of unaffiliated voters in Colorado are now voting Democratic in more races up and down the ballot.

The party has grown precinct organizers:  Through deliberate partnership with county and increased awareness of the purpose and power of precinct level organizing, we have recruited more precinct organizers, trained more precinct organizers, and made rules changes to make it easier to appoint vacant precinct positions.

The party has met or exceeded prior state party fundraising:

• Grassroots donors:  The average donation to the State Party has ranged from $29 to $50.  This means a whole lot of people come together to meet our raising goals.

• New donors:  The party has brought in new donors, giving across the full range.  Some of these new donors have made projects like the CD 3 project possible, or fund year-round organizing / field director.

• Recurring donors:  The party now has a record number of monthly recurring donors, which has allowed us to plan and budget for the future.

The party has grown grassroots involvement, volunteers and activists:

• The Talent Bank:  One of the first decisions we made was to create a permanent year-round Talent Bank of volunteers that identified additional skills beyond canvassing and phone banking and to make this talent available to county parties, candidates and to engage these volunteers in meaningful projects year-round.

• Grassroots Roundtable:  The party began networking with anyone who was also engaged in movement people to on issues we believe in.  Prior to COVID, this group of people were tied to many other efforts to fight for change and defend our rights.  People who were once skeptical of the party, joined the party.

• Frontline Community Presence:  The state party was there for the Women’s Marches, March for Our Lives, March for Science, Protesting immigrant detention policies and ICE, joining the MLK Parade, Juneteenth, Cesar Chavez Parade, Cinco de Mayo, Diez y Seis de Septiembre, Pride Parades and GlobalFest.  We were at vigils marking police brutality and the deaths caused by gun violence.

The party has increased our trainings and political development:

• Caucus / Assembly and Reorganization Training
• UPDATED county party manual
• Communications & Messaging Training
• Voter Registration Training
• Art and Science of Persuasion Training
• Field & Fundraising Training
• Get out the Vote Training
• Citizen Lobbying Training

Changing the Culture:  All organizations have to adapt over time or risk extinction.  We decided that the mindset needed to focus on building a movement and not “being a club”.  Culture changes do not happen overnight but our goal was to reduce factions and build a broad coalition to impact change.  The culture needed to shift away from “Roberts Rules of Order” meetings and into activities that Win Elections.

Candidate Recruitment:  We have set a goal to recruit and run candidates in 100% of our offices every year, every cycle.  In order to grow our bench and the quality of campaigns we have provided:

• FREE candidate trainings by CDP
• Partnering with National Democratic Training Committee
• FREE candidate kits for every level of office
• Sample Campaign Plans
• Sample Budget & Fundraising Plans
• Weekly Office Hours for Candidates

The party has focused on messaging and communications:

• We Believe – 1 Pager
• Rural Messaging – 1 Pager
• CD3 Focus Groups
• Purchase Colorado Based Messaging Project
• Distilling Focus Groups, Polls, and Feedback from Canvassing & Doors

The party has focused on outreach:

• Annual statewide listening and organizing tour
• Annual outreach plan:  Latino, African American, Youth, +
• Increase in number of initiatives approved by the party
• Started monthly all-initiatives meeting for initiatives to compare ideas
• We have attended parades, festivals, fairs, marches
• We have digitally focused on under-represented communities in promoting caucuses, participation in the platform, and in our annual Win Plan.

The party has taken on key projects:

• Weekly communication through the Democratic Dispatch
• Re-branding a new slogan:  By the People, For the People
• Combatting misinformation & disinformation
• Successfully defending against numerous GOP recall efforts
• 100% candidate recruitment goal
• Updating gender language in party rules and delegate selection plan
• #MeToo revisiting our employee handbook, party rules, code of conduct and trainings
• Anti-racism panels, training and awareness
• Grassroots roundtable
• Colorado Conversations Issue Townhalls
• Down Ballot Programs
• Bilingual Voter registration
• Writing and Implementing Win Plans Every Year
• People to People year-round deep canvassing
• Wrap & Gap Plans around Coordinated Campaigns (what is missing / who is missing)
• Sample Win Plans each county
• Sample Win Plans each initiative
• Precinct Organizing Guide
• Precinct Organizer Office Hours
• Semi-weekly county party newsletter
• All county officer monthly planning meetings
• The CD3 Project
• Update rules for simplicity and transparency
• Update neutrality policy and code of conduct
• Caucus Assembly Reform Coalition
• Cyber-Security updates
• Open platform input to Democrats at large
• Running ballot cure program every election
• Adapting to online meetings, townhalls and campaigns during the COVID pandemnic

The party has focused on growing diversity and inclusion: 

Our party now looks more like our state.

• Historic Size of Black Legislative Caucus
• Historic Size of Latino Legislative Caucus
• Historic Size of LGBTQ+ Caucus
• Elected 1 st Transgender Legislator
• Elected 1st Legislator with Mobility Disability Requiring a Wheelchair
• Elected 1 st Arab Legislator
• Elected 1 st Muslim Legislator
• Elected 1 st Openly Gay Governor
• Elected 1 st African American to Congress from Colorado
• Elected 1 st Latina to Congress from Colorado
• Elected 1 st African Immigrant to Legislature
• 1 st Time in Colorado History Legislature Will be Majority Women
• Increased Jewish representation in office
• Used Gender-Balancing Rules to Appoint More People of Color to State Central
• Expanded CDP Officer Positions to Bring In More Diversity
• Creation of AAPI Initiative
• Creation of South Asian Initiative
• Creation of Native American Initiative

This is in addition to the usual work of the State Party to:

• Support 3,211 precinct caucuses
• Support 64 county assemblies, conventions, and reorganizations
• Support or Run 8 congressional district assemblies, conventions, and reorganizations
• Support or Run 65 house district assemblies, conventions, and reorganizations
• Support or Run 35 senate district assemblies, conventions, and reorganizations
• Support or Run 23 judicial district assemblies, conventions, and reorganizations
• Run state assembly, convention and reorganization
• Process & participation for presidential role for Democratic National Convention

All of this has made it possible to deliver historic WINS in Colorado:

Results: First Time / Largest Since
2018: Won Governor (Hold)
2018: Won Attorney General (Flip) 2002 (16yrs)
2018: Won Secretary of State (Flip) 1954 (64yrs)
2018: Won State Treasurer (Flip) 2006 (12yrs)
2018: Won CU Regent At Large (Flip)
2018: Won 100% of Statewide Races 1936 (82yrs)
2018: Won Congressional District 6 (Flip) 1983 (36yrs) Creation
2018: Won CO Senate Majority (Flip)
2018: Won CO House Majority (Held & Grew) 1936 (82yrs)
2018: Highest Voter Turnout in Mid-Term 1876 (142yrs) CO History
2018: #2 Highest Voter Turnout in Nation (Record) 1876 (142yrs) CO History
2018: Benchmark: Year When Registered Dems Outnumbered Registered GOP
2019: Defeated 100% GOP Recalls
2020: Won US Presidential Seat (Flip – Defeat Trump) 1964 Largest Dem Margin
2020: Won US Senate Seat (Flip – Defeat Cory Gardner) 2014 (6yrs)
2020: Won CU Regent District 6 (Flip) 1983 (37yrs)
2020: Won CU Regent District 2 (Hold)
2020: Won CU Regent District 7 (Hold)
2020: Won State Board of Education District 7 (Hold)
2020: Won CO Senate Majority (Hold)
2020: Won CO House Majority (Hold) Largest Majority in COHistory
2020: Won Majority CU Board of Regents 1979 (41yrs)
2020: #2 Highest Turnout in the Nation
2022: Won Governor (Hold)
2022: Won Attorney General (Hold)
2022: Won Secretary of State (Hold) 
2022: Won State Treasurer (Hold)
2022: Won State Board of Education At Large (Flip) 2000 (22yrs)
2022: Won 100% of Statewide Races 1 st Consecutive Sweep
2022: Won Congressional District 7 (Hold)
2022: Won Congressional District 8 (*NEW) Latino Influence District
2022: Won Congressional District 6 (Hold)
2022: Won State Board of Ed 8 (*NEW)
2022: Won Senate Majority (Hold & Grew 23) Largest Majority in CO
History
2022: Won CO House Majority (Hold & Grew 46) Largest Majority in CO
History
2022: Defeated GOP Priola Recall

And NONE of this would have been possible without YOU, our county parties, district officers, captains, precinct organizers, volunteers, activists, donors, CDP officers, and the incredible staff at the Colorado Democratic Party.

The party is an easy target.  We do make mistakes.  We are human and the bulk of our work is carried out by volunteers.  Be kind to them in person -- and online. People confuse us with the DNC, the DSCC, the DCCC.  People who truly care want to see us continually improve and people with disdain want to destroy us.  But when people ask you what your state party does, we want you to know what your state party does.  We will be electing new statewide officers on Saturday April 1, 2023.  It has been an inspiring honor of a lifetime to be able to serve as your Chair for the past 6 years and I look forward to welcoming new leadership to the state party.  All members of the State Central Committee will get to vote. Get to know the candidates running at our candidate forum on Saturday February 25, 2023 at 10:00pm.  Register by Zoom here.

And if you would like to see this work continue contribute at whatever level you can by donating or volunteering.

In Solidarity,

Morgan Carroll

Chair Colorado Democratic Party

Our State Senators are hard at work. They have listened to Coloradans' concerns and are taking action. Below is a list of bills sponsored by our Democratic Representatives you can see the status of the bills here.

Get to know your State Representative, sign up for their town halls, their newsletters and connect with them about issues that matter to you. 

More info about your State Representatives can be found on our website.

HB23-1064 would create new pathways for out-of-state teachers to gain professional licensure in Colorado. The bill establishes the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact, which would create an agreement between Colorado and ten other states where licensed teachers in member states can obtain and easily transfer a teacher’s license from another member state.

HB23-1134 would allow homeowners to replace their under warranty gas appliances with electric appliances. HB23-1134 aims to give Coloradans more eco-friendly and energy efficient options when it comes to replacing their everyday appliances. 

HB23-1099 builds off the Rental Application Fairness Act that was passed by Colorado Democrats in 2019 by allowing prospective renters to reuse a rental application for up to 30 days without paying additional fees. It also minimizes the number of times a credit score is pulled, protecting a potential renter’s credit score from being continuously damaged from credit score inquiries. Under this bill, a landlord must return an application to a potential tenant to reuse if the application is denied and provide a notice of the applicant’s right to dispute the accuracy of the report. Rental and credit history reports and criminal record documents must come from consumer reporting agencies to be eligible for reuse.

HB23-1101 would improve the Ozone Season Transit Grant Program, which provides funding to the Regional Transportation District (RTD) and transit associations throughout Colorado to offer free rides during ozone season. 

Last year, Colorado Democrats championed SB22-180 which allocated $28 million toward free transit during ozone season to improve Colorado’s air quality. HB23-1101 utilizes funding from this initial investment to enhance the Ozone Season Transit Grant Program for the next three years. This year’s bill also would allow transit agencies to use grant funding during different months of the ozone season, rollover unspent grant funding to make an impact in future years and use the funding for outreach and education. 

HB23-1071 would allow allowing psychologists to prescribe limited mental health medications after receiving additional education and training. It establishes rigorous standards and education requirements that a psychologist must undertake before being able to prescribe medication to treat mental health illnesses. Only licensed Ph.D. psychologists who receive an additional master’s degree in psychopharmacology, pass a national board exam, complete a preceptorship for up to two years, 750 hours of practicum work, and spend two additional years prescribing under the supervision of trained licensed prescribing clinicians or specialty provider if wanting to work with the pediatric or geriatric population. 

HB23-1003 would permit public schools to participate in a voluntary mental health screening program for sixth through twelfth graders. The school would be required to notify parents of the date and time that the mental health screening is scheduled, the purpose, and information about the licensed mental health screener.

HB23-1011 would require agricultural equipment manufacturers to comply with existing consumer right to repair laws. Specifically, agricultural equipment manufacturers would need to provide necessary parts, software, firmware, tools or documentation to independent repair providers and owners at a fair and reasonable price. 

Under this bill, agricultural equipment manufacturers or dealers selling on behalf of the manufacturer cannot upcharge for any repair items. This bill aims to save farmers and ranchers money on necessary equipment repairs while speeding up the repair process. 

HB23-1002 would cap the cost of life-saving epinephrine ejector devices.It creates the Epi-Pen Affordability Program, where uninsured Coloradans with a prescription can apply online through the Colorado Division of Insurance to obtain low-cost epinephrine auto-injectors. Under this bill, manufacturers would be required to post access to the program on their websites. The bill also requires insurance carriers that provide coverage for epinephrine auto-injectors to cap the out-of-pocket cost to $60 for a 2-pack. 

HB23-1005 would help protect Colorado's environment and conserve water resources by expanding project eligibility and streamlining the financing process so more commercial properties in Colorado can take advantage of Colorado Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE’s) program for eco-friendly property upgrades and investments. 

HB23-1077 would require health care professionals, students, medical residents and trainees to obtain informed consent from sedated or unconscious patients before performing intimate examinations, unless in emergency situations. In addition to consent, health care professionals would only be able to perform intimate examinations if it is pertinent to the planned procedure. 

HB23-1081 expands on the Employee Ownership Tax Credit by: Making partially employee-owned businesses eligible to help cover the costs associated with expanding employee ownership; Permitting new methods that businesses are using to transfer equity to employees; and Strengthening incentives for eligible businesses that are transitioning to employee ownership with existing resources.

HB23-1001 would address the teacher shortage by expanding the pool of student educators who qualify for state loan forgiveness and stipend programs. 

HB23-1044, sponsored by Representative Ken deGraaf, would have prohibited the state of Colorado or any political subdivision from enforcing or attempting to enforce any federal laws or regulations on the possession, ownership, use, or transfer of a firearm, firearm accessory or ammunition.  It would have prevented law enforcement from seeking federal assistance for firearms tracing and other support for solving crimes– efforts that are especially critical for solving violent crimes. 

The bill would have prevented local law enforcement from cooperating with FBI or Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms investigations or enforcement of federal prohibitions on bump stocks or ghost guns. The bill would have also prohibited local police departments from working with federal prosecutors to bring weapons possession charges for violations of federal law, such as possession of a weapon by a prior offender for a drug-related offense. 

In Missouri, where a similar law passed in 2021, sheriffs, prosecutors, and police chiefs have decried the law’s impact on their ability to partner with federal agencies to hold people who break the law accountable. By opening up local law enforcement departments to lawsuits, HB23-1044 could have had a chilling effect on police and sheriffs’ willingness to work with federal agencies to solve firearm-related crimes. 

CDP is hosting a candidate forum for all the contested positions on Saturday February 25, 2023 at 10am. The Candidates are listed in alphabetical order. Anyone willing to run for the any position can send their notice of intent to run to [email protected].

We update our website daily with information about reorg. Please take a look at all the CDP officers candidates. 

 IN THE PRESS

DEMS DO GOOD

CPR NEWS: Colorado and 10 other states consider ‘right to repair’ for farming equipment

CPR NEWS: Adam Frisch vs. Lauren Boebert rematch: The Democrat who almost won is running for Congress again

Colorado Sun: Adam Frisch will run again to unseat Lauren Boebert in 2024

GOP IS A HOT MESS

NYT: Justice Dept. Won’t Bring Charges Against Gaetz in Sex-Trafficking Inquiry

Washington Post: Election deniers face a nationwide wave of pushback

Politico: Pence moves to claim culture war lane before DeSantis gets there

Politico: Haley enters the fray, knowing Trump’s history mocking women

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Denver, CO 80203
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