Politics of Colorado

The politics of Colorado, United States, are that of a blue state. Once considered a swing state that used to be Republican-leaning, Colorado has been trending Democratic since the early part of the 21st century due to changing demographics and a rising number of the large unaffiliated bloc of voters leaning Democratic. The growing shift of the state's Republican Party towards social and religious conservatism along with shifting further to the right has also been cited as reasons for the changing voting patterns of Colorado.

After showing support for the populist movement between the 1890s and 1910s, Colorado voted for Republicans nationally, all but five times between 1920 and 2004. Only in 1932, 1936, 1948, 1964, and 1992 did the state vote Democratic, however, since 2008, Democrats have won the state four cycles in a row, the longest such win streak for the party in the state's history. Democrats have historically fared better for state offices (especially for the governorship), however, they tended to be more moderate than the national party.

For instance, until the election of Barack Obama in 2008, the people of Colorado had voted Republican in every U.S. Presidential Election since 1964, with the exception of 1992 when a plurality voted for Bill Clinton, possibly due to the effect of Ross Perot's candidacy. Conversely, Colorado has held a Democratic governor for 24 of the past 32 years since 1991.