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The short answer is basically "cities are liberal" and Colorado has a large city unlike the rest of the surrounding states. The next question is why Denver is

The short answer is basically "cities are liberal" and Colorado has a large city unlike the rest of the surrounding states. The next question is why Denver is in Colorado and not anywhere else? The answer is that, from the beginning, Colorado had some geographic advantages and the leaders of the state pushed for intentional growth. As the state grew based on geographic advantages, the state was able to push for government contracts to get things like the National Energy Research Lab. The gov't contracts drew an educated population which drove the creation of a pretty big university system, and it all became self-reinforcing. The surrounding states just don't have a big city like Denver. Utah is an exception with SLC but Utah has its own idiosyncrasies.

dfxm12 3y ago
There's more to Colorado than "cities are liberal". The CO general assembly has big Dem majorities in the house and senate, along with a Dem Governor. This means they can legislate stuff which has voter impact but might not look sexy on the campaign trail. They can pass laws without having to worry about conservative/reactionary Republicans (or even blue dog Dems) saying no for no other reason than "just because". They wouldn't have such a big statewide majority if it was just because of Denver. That case is more like PA, which has 2 big cities, and while it has a Dem governor, it has a republican majority in the state senate and no majority in the house. This microcosm of Capitol Hill leads to very little legislation being passed, even for stuff the voters want & stuff that would really benefit the state.
- mason55 3y ago
  > There's more to Colorado than "cities are liberal". The CO general assembly has big Dem majorities in the house and senate, along with a Dem Governor. Sure, but the Dem majorities are exactly because the cities are liberal. https://www.zipdatamaps.com/politics/state-level/districts/map-of-colorado-state-senate-districts https://www.zipdatamaps.com/politics/state-level/districts/m... https://www.zipdatamaps.com/politics/state-level/districts/map-of-colorado-state-house-of-representative-districts https://www.zipdatamaps.com/politics/state-level/districts/m... Outside of the cities, the state is almost as red as Wyoming. Pennsylvania looks very similar to Colorado actually: https://www.zipdatamaps.com/politics/state-level/districts/map-of-pennsylvania-state-house-of-representative-districts https://www.zipdatamaps.com/politics/state-level/districts/m... You raise an interesting point though. My guess for PA is that their population is spread out enough that you can create more credible districts in the rural areas because almost all the land is livable whereas Colorado sort of self-gerrymanders because despite its size there are decent chunks of the state that are unlivable (plus all the national parks, etc). It's like that old xkcd comic about heat maps - a map of democratic voters is basically just population density heat map. The interesting question isn't "why is Colorado blue?" - we know the answer, it's because of the cities. The real interesting question is "why did Colorado develop so many cities when no one else in the intermountain west did?"
  - lesuorac 3y ago
    > The real interesting question is "why did Colorado develop so many cities when no one else in the intermountain west did?" Depends on who you ask. The answer I liked was that CO had a good blend of farmable land and minable mountains which gave it a slight edge over the other Rocky states so early on it was just slightly bigger. And then when it came time for the USG to start establishing a bunch of west-located offices it was a winner take-all situation.
  - iudqnolq 3y ago
    Pedantic side note: Intermountain west isn't really the right term. None of Colorado's cities are in the intermountain west. (I'm sure you know this, but for the others Colorado's cities are right before the Rocky Mountains. Intermountain refers to between the Rockies and the Sierras)
jcrawfordor 3y ago
New Mexico is neighboring and also generally a blue state for quite some time. It is similarly lopsided in terms of population concentration in the central city, but I think the phenomenon is older than this in both states. Colorado and New Mexico both have a history of leaning pretty libertarian in a classical sense which I think lead to a lot of the progressive policy you see today. It might be attributable to the fact that both are Rocky Mountain states that aren't all that easy to settle and so have a history of a fiercely independent population. In modern times that shifted towards a sort of cultural capital status that has attracted a lot of younger people. It is perhaps also a factor that both states are relatively multicultural compared to other US states in the region (this applies to AZ and TX as well to some extent, so clearly there are multiple things going on). A common go-to example of New Mexico's libertarian tradition was the legalization of same-sex marriage in this very Catholic state by a supreme court ruling, after some county clerks started issuing same-sex marriage licenses on their own initiative because they didn't think the law prohibited it. This kind of thing is sometimes viewed as apathy but is more charitably seen as part of a general attitude towards permissiveness.
- jgwil2 3y ago
  > It is perhaps also a factor that both states are relatively multicultural compared to other US states in the region (this applies to AZ and TX as well to some extent, so clearly there are multiple things going on). Arizona is basically New Mexico, except it became a retirement destination (like a western version of Florida), which shifted its demographics older and whiter (and therefore more conservative). Texas is probably a little more unique since it is both massive and at the crossroads of several geographical and cultural regions.

dfxm12 3y ago

There's more to Colorado than "cities are liberal". The CO general assembly has big Dem majorities in the house and senate, along with a Dem Governor. This means they can legislate stuff which has voter impact but might not look sexy on the campaign trail. They can pass laws without having to worry about conservative/reactionary Republicans (or even blue dog Dems) saying no for no other reason than "just because". They wouldn't have such a big statewide majority if it was just because of Denver. That case is more like PA, which has 2 big cities, and while it has a Dem governor, it has a republican majority in the state senate and no majority in the house. This microcosm of Capitol Hill leads to very little legislation being passed, even for stuff the voters want & stuff that would really benefit the state.

mason55 3y ago
> There's more to Colorado than "cities are liberal". The CO general assembly has big Dem majorities in the house and senate, along with a Dem Governor. Sure, but the Dem majorities are exactly because the cities are liberal. https://www.zipdatamaps.com/politics/state-level/districts/map-of-colorado-state-senate-districts https://www.zipdatamaps.com/politics/state-level/districts/m... https://www.zipdatamaps.com/politics/state-level/districts/map-of-colorado-state-house-of-representative-districts https://www.zipdatamaps.com/politics/state-level/districts/m... Outside of the cities, the state is almost as red as Wyoming. Pennsylvania looks very similar to Colorado actually: https://www.zipdatamaps.com/politics/state-level/districts/map-of-pennsylvania-state-house-of-representative-districts https://www.zipdatamaps.com/politics/state-level/districts/m... You raise an interesting point though. My guess for PA is that their population is spread out enough that you can create more credible districts in the rural areas because almost all the land is livable whereas Colorado sort of self-gerrymanders because despite its size there are decent chunks of the state that are unlivable (plus all the national parks, etc). It's like that old xkcd comic about heat maps - a map of democratic voters is basically just population density heat map. The interesting question isn't "why is Colorado blue?" - we know the answer, it's because of the cities. The real interesting question is "why did Colorado develop so many cities when no one else in the intermountain west did?"
- lesuorac 3y ago
  > The real interesting question is "why did Colorado develop so many cities when no one else in the intermountain west did?" Depends on who you ask. The answer I liked was that CO had a good blend of farmable land and minable mountains which gave it a slight edge over the other Rocky states so early on it was just slightly bigger. And then when it came time for the USG to start establishing a bunch of west-located offices it was a winner take-all situation.
- iudqnolq 3y ago
  Pedantic side note: Intermountain west isn't really the right term. None of Colorado's cities are in the intermountain west. (I'm sure you know this, but for the others Colorado's cities are right before the Rocky Mountains. Intermountain refers to between the Rockies and the Sierras)

jcrawfordor 3y ago

New Mexico is neighboring and also generally a blue state for quite some time. It is similarly lopsided in terms of population concentration in the central city, but I think the phenomenon is older than this in both states. Colorado and New Mexico both have a history of leaning pretty libertarian in a classical sense which I think lead to a lot of the progressive policy you see today. It might be attributable to the fact that both are Rocky Mountain states that aren't all that easy to settle and so have a history of a fiercely independent population. In modern times that shifted towards a sort of cultural capital status that has attracted a lot of younger people. It is perhaps also a factor that both states are relatively multicultural compared to other US states in the region (this applies to AZ and TX as well to some extent, so clearly there are multiple things going on). A common go-to example of New Mexico's libertarian tradition was the legalization of same-sex marriage in this very Catholic state by a supreme court ruling, after some county clerks started issuing same-sex marriage licenses on their own initiative because they didn't think the law prohibited it. This kind of thing is sometimes viewed as apathy but is more charitably seen as part of a general attitude towards permissiveness.

jgwil2 3y ago
> It is perhaps also a factor that both states are relatively multicultural compared to other US states in the region (this applies to AZ and TX as well to some extent, so clearly there are multiple things going on). Arizona is basically New Mexico, except it became a retirement destination (like a western version of Florida), which shifted its demographics older and whiter (and therefore more conservative). Texas is probably a little more unique since it is both massive and at the crossroads of several geographical and cultural regions.