As Colorado heads into the 4th of July holiday, it's been a consequential week with democracy at the center of the story.

Voters narrow the field in creaky primary races.

On the Democratic side, more progressive candidates prevailed over the established moderates.

While on the Republican side, the race for governor turned out to be much more competitive than many people expected.

Meanwhile, what was forecast after a very dry winter is now unfolding.

Wildfires are burning across our hot and dry state.

We're so grateful to the firefighters working around the clock to contain them.

And as this week comes to a close, America prepares to mark 250 years as a nation as milestone is prompting a lot of celebration and also a lot of reflection.

There's a lot to get to this week, so let's get started with this week's Colorado Inside Out.

Hi everyone.

I'm Kyle Dyer.

Let me get right to introducing you to this week's insider panel.

We start with Patty Calhoun, founder and editor emeritus of Westword, Chris Rock, consultant with Work Media and contributor at iHeart Denver Alton Dillard, consultant with Dillard Group.

Rock for gray, political analyst at Denver seven and the former election spokesperson for Denver.

And Alvina Vasquez, a community leader and political strategist and a member of the PBS 12 Community Advisory Board.

36% of registered Colorado voters participated in the primary election.

That is the highest turnout since 2018 outside the pandemic era presidential election.

On the Democratic side, progressive candidates posted strong wins in big key races and setting up a broader conversation about where the party in Colorado is headed.

Now on the Republican side.

The race for governor turned out to be way more competitive than many people expected.

We've got a lot to get to.

Patty, what stands out to you the most about what Colorado voters said on Tuesday?

It wasn't just the progressive platform, it was old faces.

So let's think about that.

That you had Hickenlooper came.

I mean, Charlie Gonzalez came within 10% of Hickenlooper.

I mean, that's pretty amazing for a very popular incumbent senator.

So but I think it was also people wanted change in age and long term service as well as positions.

Certainly when you look at Diana DeGette, which was it wasn't a shocker that she lost, but by how much she lost.

Even if she had gotten all of Wanda James's votes, May Lott would still have beaten her.

I mean, it was not remotely close, and that was about how long she'd been.

Well, I would say more.

How long she's been in office?

15 terms, because she's the most progressive member of the Colorado congressional group right now.

So her loss was incredible.

And I happened to be covering the Bennet campaign and the fact that he was out of it.

So quickly in that gubernatorial gubernatorial race.

You know, he's not that much older than us, Phil Wiser, but he's been in office longer, and I think that was part of it, too.

People wanted change both in position and just faces.

Chris.

Yeah.

Well the race of interest on the Republican side certainly is the governor's race.

And as we are taping right now, there's a about 2200 vote difference between Victor Marks and Barb Kirk Meyer.

Kirk Meyer was leading most of Tuesday night going into Wednesday.

And then there was a turn about 2200 votes are in favor of Victor Marks right now.

I have to say that, of the remaining votes, it would take Barb, Kirk Meyer, about 60% of those to close the gap.

Of course, then we go into ballot curing.

It'll be a very interesting race to see if Victor Marks is truly the candidate Jeff heard over in the can.

Congressional district three had a big victory.

He won 2 to 1 over Ron Hanks.

Perhaps Ron Hanks wants to take the hint.

This is twice he's been defeated by Jeff Hurd.

Maybe he will go away now.

I think, also an interesting race on the Democrat side is this Griswold Allen race.

Now, a Jenna Griswold actually came through despite the fact she was untruthful about arguing before the Supreme Court, despite the fact she has made many mistakes while she's served as secretary of state.

We've got Michael Allen on the other side, a great prosecutor, someone who is really well equipped to handle the job.

Let's see if he can make it through.

Okay, Alton.

Yeah.

Really showed that people were tired of two things the establishment and the go along, get along tenor that you're seeing in Congress right now.

And so to echo Patty's point, you know, about the strong finish and strong showing of Senator Julie Gonzalez.

We were talking about how she finished within what I call the margin of viability.

Now if you take like a Heidi Ganahl type thumping 20 plus points, then you're pretty much cooked politically black and really see future political office for her.

And then also one that I was keeping an eye on in my state House district was the Halpern Camacho race.

And luckily, I have a wood burning stove because I'll have plenty of kindling when come winter time because of the amount of paper I got drowned with in that race.

So it's going to be interesting to see, you know, how the momentum that you're seeing now, how it carries over into November.

And I also am going to echo Chris, because that ag race could get interesting because there are quality of life sort of tabletop dinner table issues, and people are going to see what direction we're taking as far as keeping our state on track when it comes to issues of crime and those kind of quality of life issues.

Arena.

I think voters, what I like to see is the excitement among young voters in this primary, and I hope they move their energy to also focusing on ballot initiatives, because that's where we're governing our state.

So while these primary, campaigns are exciting to watch and exciting to get engaged in, the things that impact people immediately are the ballot initiatives.

And so we need young voters to pay attention more to those down ballot issues that are going to be coming across over the summer, that we're going to learning more about how our tax policy is impacting Colorado property and how we're funding our schools and our firemen.

And so make sure that our young voters are still paying attention to the big picture, which is these ballot initiatives.

I think it's interesting to see progressives win.

And also Hickenlooper kind of balance that out as a moderate voice, although I'll congratulate Hickenlooper in that he did move on several issues to the left that he hadn't commented before.

I saw him a little bit stronger on immigration, where he really hadn't said much about it in the past.

I saw him talking more about Medicare for all.

And so seeing him move a little bit left to the issues that concern younger voters, it's better for Colorado in the long run.

That's why primaries are good, because you get to hear from the people that are involved and that care about these issues and want movement on them.

When it comes to the younger people, they all turned out like the day of or like right before Election day, right?

They waited to the end.

Yes.

Yeah.

As do you.

Right.

You waited to the end.

All right.

Moving forward to November, will the focus for these candidates be on Colorado policy and governing, or will the campaigns continue to be shaped by national politics, including President Trump?

And already there is debate about what this week's results mean for both parties.

Chris, some Republicans are already saying that they're happy the Democrats progressives are going because that helps them and their candidates in November.

I think it does bring about a very stark contrast, of course, in Congressional District eight, Manny Rooney, root no prevailed.

And he's going up against Gabe Evans.

And Gabe Evans is almost humored by the fact because, you know, he has stood for military strong values, health care, a lot of issues that he's really, been a great representative for his district.

And you've got Manny Root now coming in who has some, extreme views on animal rights, things of that nature.

And Congressional District one, of course.

That's the big race everyone's watching with.

May Quiroz.

I have never really paid much attention to the Republican candidate running in CD1, because Diane to get was so dominant there.

But now I've looked up who the Republican candidate is.

Her name is Christy Peterson.

Didn't know who she was beforehand, but her her name will be on my lips for for quite a bit of time.

We'll see if that does provide any opportunity for her.

The sad thing is that with the down ballot, progressive and socialist candidates prevailing were wiping out what's known as the opportunity caucus in the state legislature, where they have partnered with Republicans to pass really good legislation for the state as a whole.

That is going to be a little bit of a concern as the next session takes place.

Okay.

And we know we're talking about these younger candidates.

So keeping an eye on two things.

One, it was a bit of a campaign issue which really didn't end up making any difference, but how Maillot Quiros her refusal to brand the Boulder firebombing attack as anti-Semitic, that caused a bit of a stir.

And then the other young candidate, Manny Root nail how he got squishy on his position on single, single payer health care.

And so seeing if any of that gets capitalized on.

But one of the things that I'm also finding interesting and I talked about this on, Colorado matters, was when did issues like housing safety and health care become extreme?

And that's the thing that's so interesting when people start throwing around, you know, socialist, democratic, socialist, etc.. And I was telling the Democratic analyst who was on the show that you all are having a an intramural discussion.

Now, this used to be a discussion.

They would take place between Democrats and Republicans.

And now you have the Democratic Party arguing within about the importance of these issues.

And I find that fascinating.

Oh, you know.

Well, I think the Trump administration has put a lot of pressure on Colorado.

It's obviously not one of his favorite states.

And so a lot of the loss of funding for important things that we're going to talk about later, is going to put these Democrats of all colors and beliefs in a tough place.

Again, this legislature, they're going to have to unite behind whatever happens in November.

They're going to have to govern in a responsible way and try to meet the needs and fill the gaps that the federal government has left in front of our state.

So it's a it's going to be a huge challenge, and that's going to be a summer of getting along, finding the policies that work, brainstorming solutions.

Because I think what we've learned in this primary is people are tired of what is happening in this country, and it's very hard to have hope right now.

Well, good luck with unity because the Republicans still haven't figured it out yet.

Yeah, exactly.

They'll never figure it out.

How do you what do you say?

What's interesting to me.

And I wrote a piece for The Nation, trying to explain Colorado to the rest of the country.

And when your mail across was the third person, a third socialist in eight days, who trounced an incumbent, who had been who was not like a reactive incumbent.

I mean, as I said, candidate was the most progressive in the group, and Colorado used to always take its pride in going its own way.

And place over a platform that you would at the state that turned down the Olympics, the first state where abortion was legalized.

I mean, it's always been much more independent.

So we'll see what happens come November with all those unaffiliated voters.

We don't have the final numbers yet on how many who the unaffiliated voters went for when they could vote in a particular primary.

But come November, which way will they go?

And I think that's going to say a lot more for Colorado.

I could see if Kirk Meyer does pull it out.

You could get a lot of unaffiliated voters going for her.

I don't see that happening if Victor Marquez pulls it out.

But this is really going to be a referendum on a lot of where our state is right now.

And, you know, one thing I wanted to say in regards to what Allen was talking about, when did housing and health care become extreme?

It became extreme.

When you argue about who's paying for it, I think that's the key there.

Okay.

And that's one of the things we talk about that used to be the difference between the parties, right.

Was the role of government in bringing about these ends.

It used to be is the private sector responsibilities a government's responsibility is the faith communities responsibility.

And that's where we've evolved from.

And that's why I think today's politics has gotten a little more toxic.

Will we get back to what we used to have?

I don't see it happening.

I know, all right.

Let's go a little bit deeper into the election administration side of this week's primaries.

There's been a lot of discussion about automatic recounts.

And as, Chris is mentioning, ballot hearing, especially in that tight GOP, a governor race.

But nationally, election procedures have also been in the spotlight this week, including questions about when ballots can be counted So since you're our election guy, what do Coloradans need to understand?

Especially at this time when everything about elections is under scrutiny?

Well, one of the things they need to do is just take a deep cleansing breath, okay?

Elections are a 50 state patchwork.

And to your point, they all take place in sort of different ways.

But when it comes to our state, really wanted to drill down on this ballot.

Sure thing.

For candidates to really be able to cure ballots, they really have to get out on those doors, or at least on those phones.

Patti and I were talking about off air, that the fact that you voted is public record.

It's who you voted for, which is private.

So that's how people know whether you've returned a ballot or not.

But you can also get a cure list from your county clerk and recorder.

And then you can say, hey, we noticed that you are on the cure list.

Is there any chance you're supporting our candidate?

But one major thing that people have to understand if you forget to sign your ballot envelope and you get a letter about that and you don't want to participate, that's your business.

If you get a letter saying that we cannot make out your signature and something is discrepant, you have to respond to that, or you automatically get referred to the district attorney for further investigation, because that means there's a potential of some kind of fraud.

Usually it's something basic, like what's called a household swap.

Roommates, domestic partners, spouses accidentally signed the wrong envelope.

Now they're procedures to be able to fix that without having to even bother the voter.

But just make sure you know about that differentiation.

Had no idea.

All right, Alina.

You know, when when when I think back of my political career and one of the best, most bipartisan eras was when we worked on the modernization bill.

It was all the county clerks, county clerks represent different parties.

And they came together and created this amazing modernization of our elections.

So I think that that is a good, example of how we can work together to get things done.

I also want to take a moment and thank all of our volunteers.

Like people that go into these offices are veterans.

They're seniors.

They're people that care about their community, and they're taking extra time to make sure that our ballots are counted and that everything is safe and secure.

this, extra scrutiny from the administration has put people's lives at risk.

And the intensity that people are having to face just for volunteering at the county clerks is irresponsible and un-American.

Patty, we have to think about the fact that on Election Day, who was standing with Trump in the white House?

Tina Peters, the woman who has still says that Colorado's system was rigged, she who shows no compunction or up about her behavior, about apologizing for her behavior.

And on Election Day, she is at the white House with Donald Trump.

That was outrageous.

When you think about the number of people who put in all their time and energy into making sure that Colorado does have the gold standard of election, so that was bad.

As for the Supreme Court decisions coming down, the, Mail-In ballot really doesn't affect us because you still have to have your ballot delivered by 7 p.m.. So that was different, right?

But we will be affected by the fact that campaign donation limits, the roof's gone.

So we are going to see more and more money being poured into these elections.

And it was already outrageous in Colorado this year.

And it's going to be worse.

But do you think the mailers, I mean, they will never go away.

But like you were talking to younger people, the social media had to be what stirred everybody up.

And and the candidates who did well were very much on tips.

But the money is still going to come.

You will still see those endless and good for network TV.

They finally got some advertising, but it is outrageous the amount of money that's being spent when it could go to housing and health care.

Yeah, that's true.

I do think the social media game though, really, it's a you can't ignore it as a candidate.

You can't.

And you also get more bang for your buck doing social media, doing a boost of a post versus being up on TV.

That's a huge difference in cost.

There are campaigns that choose to lessen their broadcast budget and really focus on that social media piece.

Well Patty, would you be open to having a beer with Tina Peters?

Maybe you could, like, work this out with her.

Sure.

I'd have a beer with anyone.

I know you will.

Would you buy?

I would buy, oh, I would like to hear the Tina Peters story.

Her version.

Okay, so I'm getting asked frequently, do you think Barb, Kirk Meyer will pull it out once the ballot curing process comes down to it, and it will take that for her to pull ahead?

Like I said, she's, 2200 votes behind it while we're recording.

But curing ballots actually works because Dan Moog, who's a representative from Northern Colorado, he was a thousand, I think a thousand ballots behind when when the election night was done.

But they went out and cured ballots for him and he won.

Rebecca Kelty, also a representative, won by three votes after ballot curing.

So anything is possible.

Don't don't count Barb Kirk Meyer out just yet okay?

Okay.

All right.

We'll see what happens.

Now, the wildfire season that many of us feared during our dry winter is proving to be dangerous and deadly.

The heat, the wind, the dry conditions are fueling multiple fires across Colorado and talking, taking the lives of three firefighters, threatening communities.

And with the 4th of July just now upon us, there's a lot of concern about our preparedness and also our responsibility.

You see people still going up by 25 buying fireworks.

So Alvina, what concerns you the most this wildfire season?

This weekend, this summer, this hot, dry summer we have.

Yeah.

I don't think we're as prepared as we are.

Our national funding has been disrupted for for park services, for forest services, for our firemen.

And that's why I say we need to engage on these municipal bonds and on all of these small boats that, that or these small elections that really impact our community and how we're funding things that government is supposed to help communities survive and so not only is it going to be a drought here, it's going to be a flood over there on that side of the country.

There's tornadoes over here.

It's just it's not isolated to Colorado is our whole country's that's going to be experiencing extreme weather.

And that's it's really scary to think how much funding has been taken out of those resources that are supposed to help Americans.

You know, last weekend when those three died, you know, it just it seemed like that was the first big, big fire.

And to see that happen, it was just this devastating.

Heading one.

The fires are huge.

I mean, so huge, so early.

We are seeing that FEMA is coming through with some money for Colorado for the fires, which is great.

You might remember the controversy over the fact that Michael Bennett had voted for the head of agriculture, and he had said one of the reasons for his vote was because wildfire falls under.

I mean, fighting wildfire falls under AG for most of it.

So I haven't heard anything coming against what how agriculture has handled this so far.

But I'm sure it will be very, very closely scrutinized as the long, hot summer continues.

Chris.

Well, I have a personal story to tell about the evacuations that are going on.

Gold Mountain Fire near your is is really kicking up.

And I have a horse that has been boarded in Cimarron since I've been in the metro area.

I've been trying to figure out where to bring her over here.

The owner of the ranch where that keeps her called me election night and said we are.

You know, putting your horse in a trailer, and we are relocating all of our animals right now because we are evacuating this woman.

Her livelihood is surrounded with this ranch, and it is right in the line of fire.

It is, a terrible thing to see the dryness and and to the point of these fires being really big.

A researcher at Western Colorado University did a research piece on the fact that we're having super fires now because of the persistent drought.

The ground itself is so much drier, and that's why we're seeing these extreme temperatures.

So my horses are safe.

I'm grateful to this woman, and I pray every day that her ranch will be spared.

And we will tell.

Okay, Alton.

And you know, nothing I'm getting ready to say is making light of any of this.

But you mentioned personal responsibility in the intro there, Kyle, and it just reminds me of my time working for Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, who was a big personal responsibility person.

But he was also a personal responsibility person, to the point where a little risky, having him talk to affected homeowners, especially the ones who didn't do the wildfire mitigation around their properties, he was kind of on team.

When you chose to go live in the middle of the forge, you didn't do your necessary clearing.

I'm not sure how that's a federal issue, and it's like, well, you can't quite see it that way, boss man.

But we had responded, to the Hayman fire, as a matter of fact, which was a large one.

And I have literally been allergic to smoke ever since.

Back to the personal responsibility part.

And, York County.

Chris, what in the world is going on down there?

I've seen that there have been some cancellations of fireworks shirtless.

I've seen that there's some communities that are saying, God bless America, we're going forward.

And it is windy.

It is hot.

And that's been the case for like the last week.

Climate change is real.

People need to get over that and it's going to be a really tough season.

Yeah.

So Douglas County has passed, stage two fire restrictions and they have canceled fireworks in the high country has as well.

But there is the concern about people then who want to go get.

And that's my biggest concern.

My neighborhood was wild last 4th of July, so.

All right, please be careful.

Everybody got to let's go around the table and talk about some of the highs and the lows of this week.

We'll start on the low note with Patty.

It is the 250th anniversary of this country this weekend.

And Trump is pitching a fit over the coverage of the abysmal state fair concept that came out.

You know, so we have to worry about the reflecting pool.

We have to worry about the state fair, which is a huge failure.

Let's remember to celebrate what's important.

And it might not be cotton candy.

Okay, Chris, Rocky Mountain gun owners, they, picked up last minute candidates to run against really fine lawmakers that are incumbents in the legislature, really great Republicans.

And, they lost a lot of races.

But of course, the money that was spent for those incumbents to stay in office is money that could have been put towards defeating Democrats.

Okay.

My low goes back to, Lauren Boebert.

Lauren Boebert took a pot shot at Representative Keane, the one who had missed, like four months of boats due to being treated for depression, essentially saying, well, you shouldn't be able to take that much time off work just for being sad.

It shows and understand a lack of understanding of what clinical depression is.

And every time that I think she may be creeping a bit towards being more of a stateswoman, she says something like that.

Okay.

I'm going to talk a little bit about broadcasting.

We were just kind of mingling about this before, but we didn't see any diversity on political commentary.

I didn't see any, any on any local broadcast stations.

So I would encourage our I mean, besides this, I know Alison did some, but the young voters, the ones that are like getting engaged in these primaries, if we want them to care about it, we need really strong representatives talking about it.

Okay.

Do young people watch broadcast TV?

I mean, they use but they're that they're subletting these platforms with all of the content.

So yeah.

Well call me, you know, maybe we lots of young people out here.

Patty, as something good, I was honored with a proclamation by Denver City Council.

Thank you.

Kevin Flynn.

Thank you for all the people who said very, very nice things.

Because July 1st came your new status at West.

I moved from editor to editor emeritus.

So if you don't like a story unless it's mine, you can call me if it's mine.

But go ahead and call the office.

Congratulations.

All right.

Chris, so as we celebrate the 250th birthday of our nation, I think it's worth remembering that during the bicentennial, which I was present for, there were just as many, issues that we face today.

There was political division, there was economic challenges, and there was a lot of uncertainty.

I looked at the preamble of the Constitution, and our founders wanted to create, a more perfect union.

They didn't say a perfect union, but a more perfect union.

And we are continuing to experience that.

I still believe despite division, we are one nation under God, indivisible.

And I believe that despite, you know, when we see, injustice, we are still the best opportunity in this world to offer liberty and justice for all.

So I want to wish everybody a happy 250th, 4th of July birth of our nation and stay safe.

Be careful with fireworks.

Oh, Chris, that was excellent.

All right, I'll say follow that.

And, well, my high goes to the campaign staffers, the ones who are really doing that boots on the ground work, whether it be curing ballots or placing yard signs illegally and public rights of way, and some of the other things that they're called on to do.

It's long hours, it's thankless work.

And regardless of whether your candidate won or lost, the fact that you care enough about politics and democracy in general and chose to participate is honorable.

I like that.

All right.

Well, I would just to add on to what Chris said, the people that have been, boots on the ground, our firefighters, our county clerk, volunteers, our campaign workers, all of this is is our country.

And so the high this is how community works.

We take care of each other when we need it and we have to survive.

Yeah.

Before we go, I have one last little lightning round.

As we approach the 4th of July weekend, I ask each of you what one American value or strength do you hope endures over the next 250 years?

Patty.

Freedom of speech now.

Bill of rights.

Freedom in general.

We're a young country still.

Yeah.

Community.

Community.

All right.

Kind of what everyone else here says.

I hope we continue to have our willingness to disagree and to keep on listening to one another.

We don't also share the same experiences.

We don't have all the same opinions or backgrounds.

We never will.

But we may share the same hopes for our communities and country and we can work together.

So that is my hope that our democracy really depends on people being willing to listen and to talk and to engage and to care.

Thank you, insiders, thank you for watching.

Thank you for engaging this primary season.

I'm Kyle Dyer.

I will see you next week here on PBS 12.

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