Denver, CO is the capital of the state of Colorado and is a major population center. As such, it has its own unique politics. Denver is home to an active and engaged political environment with several local parties vying for power and influence. Local elections are competitive and feature a variety of candidates representing diverse interests from across the city. The Democratic Party dominates in Denver, but there are also several other parties, such as the Green Party, Libertarian Party, Reform Party, Constitution Party, and American Solidarity Party that compete for votes each election cycle. Candidates run on platforms that focus on issues important to Denverites including transportation, housing affordability, public safety, economic development, climate change action and social equity. With so much political activity taking place in Denver’s city limits, staying involved in local politics can make a real difference in how the city develops over time.
The political climate in Denver, CO is strongly liberal.
Denver County, CO is very liberal. In Denver County, CO 79.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 18.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Denver county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 79.6% to 18.2%.
Denver county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Denver, CO is strongly liberal.
Denver County, Colorado is very liberal.
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood Metro Area is strongly liberal.
Colorado is somewhat liberal.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
Denver, Colorado: D D D D D D
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D if the Democratic Party candidate won and I if the Independent Party candidate won. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Denver, CO
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 117,383 contributions totaling $24,137,216 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $206 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 16,348 contributions totaling $15,977,734 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $977 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)