It seems our beautiful Colorado blue sky has a wider significance than just climatic.  Yesterday, we elected the first (openly) gay governor in the country.  He appears to have won the confidence of a majority of Coloradans, because he will become governor alongside Democratic control of both chambers of the state legislature.  Turning Colorado even bluer, Democrats have been elected to all of the other significant state-wide races:  attorney general, treasurer, and secretary of state.  I have no idea when that last happened here, but I suspect it’s been a long time.

Although I do not live in the congressional district of Rep. Mike Coffman, I am nevertheless pleased to see that he was defeated yesterday and will not be returning to Washington, D.C., next January.  I freely admit that my joy at Coffman’s defeat is both personal and political:  A couple of years ago, Coffman, who has always made much of his fervent support of the military, wrote an op-ed in the Denver Post, disparaging Vietnam veterans (of which, I am one), in which he intimated that we were somehow cowardly, because so many of us opposed the war, both while in Viet Nam and after coming home.  So, no regrets about Coffman being seen off by Jason Crow.

It was not all blue sky, though.  At the same time voters supported Jared Polis and other Democrats, they also rejected ballot measures that would have helped fix the pitiful state of our roads, and the pitiful state of our schools.  Perhaps with Democrats in full control of the state government, something can yet be done about that.

Elsewhere in the country, it was amazing and encouraging to see so many women running for office – and winning, often against Republican incumbents.  I don’t know to what degree women helped Democrats regain control of the House of Representatives, but I suspect they had a strong hand in it.  Amid the wreckage that is the Trump presidency, we can now find reasons for hope as we move through the next two years, toward an election in which Mr. Trump will actually be on the ballot.  Forward!

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