Colorado and California Flatline

The populations of Colorado and California have both flatlined after decades of increases. Colorado growth this century was spectacular and has not yet hit zero but dropped to its lowest level since 1959 and was only 0.4% in the last 12 months, below the slow U.S. growth rate. There have been declines in some key metro cities like Boulder and Denver.

In 1965, I couldn’t wait to move to California, find a job in Hollywood and start college. Not today. Millennials and Gen Z are not flocking to the Golden State. California has seen a significant fall off after being the country’s growth leader for decades, primarily because people have stopped moving there.

After the 2000 Census, Colorado gained its eighth Congressional seat and California, for the first time in history, lost one. Both states in recent decades received high net in migration. It has stopped both internationally with the closed borders since 2024 and internally due to much lower U.S. inflow matched or exceeded by outflow, especially in California. If California growth doesn’t increase, it could lose up to 4 Congressional seats in 2030.

SCFD – Fueling Recovery from Pandemic

The Denver Art Museum is located in the Golden Triangle Creative District. Photo by Visit Denver

After the pandemic shutdown of the Denver metro area’s economy, a slow recovery in the cultural community is notable, fueled by prodigious work by the cultural organizations and the steady funding of the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). The latest economic impact study from the Colorado Business Committee of the Arts (CBCA) shows a $1 billion increase to $3.1 billion from its pre-pandemic 2018 report.

Although attendance is still recovering, the SCFD is an economic powerhouse providing more than 14,000 jobs, an increase of nearly 3,000 since 2018. The growth in metro adult residents participating in cultural programs has doubled in the 35 years of SCFD existence and children attendance increased four times. Economic impact, with its employment component, is the major boost for the region’s hospitality and tourism industry!

Every two years since 1992, the CBCA in partnership with the (SCFD) conducts a study on the economic impact of the arts and cultural organizations funded by the SCFD in the seven-county metro area. In 1991, shortly after the District was established (1989), Deloitte Consulting conducted the first economic impact and activity study of the arts.

Ciruli Associates produced the report and A.B. Hirschfield Press provided the printing. Since then, a similar study sponsored by the CBCA has been conducted every two years, with the latest report just being released covering from 2025.

RELATED:
Colorado Business Committee for the Arts 2023 Study-Better News October 31, 2023
Five Hundred Cultural Supporters Celebrate the Economic Impact of SCFD funding November 20, 2018
SCFD – An Economic Powerhouse October 7, 2016

The Baby Boom Celebrates Their 80th Birthday

The earliest of the baby boom, born in 1946, are about to celebrate their 80th Valentine’s Day. The Clintons, W. Bush, Trump, Cher, Dolly Parton all have a reason to make it an especially loving day. It’s near my birthday and we will have a long family lunch near Newport.

Pick a song, a poem, a movie, a meal, a place that is romantic and share with your loved ones. I watch Casablanca every New Year’s. This song, “As Time Goes By,” is the movie’s signature love theme, “Play it, Sam.”

You must remember this
A kiss is still a kiss
A sigh is just a sigh
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by

And when two lovers woo
They still say, “I love you.”
On that you can rely
No matter what the future brings
As time goes by

Happy Valentine’s Day

Colorado Presidential 2028 Election Turnout

Denver Metro Area Map courtesy of www.larryhotz.com

The 2028 presidential election will bring out Colorado’s largest number of voters. The following chart shows voter turnout among Colorado, regional and Denver voters in the 2016 and the more recent 2020, 2022, and 2024 elections. Denver’s most recent bond election had 192,000 votes (2025), an unusually high number of voters for an off-year/off-year event. The falloff of votes in 2024 from 2020 reflects Colorado’s population slowdown and a presidential candidate less attractive for Democratic voters.

Colorado’s 2026 mid-term election for U.S. senator, governor, statewide constitutional offices can expect about 2.5 million voters.

The next presidential election will likely be very competitive within party primaries and between the parties in the general election. Highly polarized voters, especially on cultural issues, can be expected. The Denver region should see more than 1.7 million votes, the turnout in 2024.

RELATED:
Quarter Century of Political Change for Colorado and Metro Denver 2000-2024 November 11, 2025
Population Growth for Colorado and Metro Denver Slows 2000-2024 November 13, 2025

Colorado Democratic Party Nominations Tend to Go to Money and Establishment

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, left, and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, both candidates for governor, participate in a forum hosted by Colorado Young Democrats on Jan. 10, 2026. (Photo by Chase Woodruff/Colorado Newsline)

In the Colorado Democratic Party’s two-phase nominating system, activists often dominate its old-time caucus system but don’t win the nomination in the later voter primary. Governor Jared Polis and Senator John Hickenlooper both lost their party convention/caucus endorsements in their first elections but went on to win primaries and then general elections. That history bodes well for Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper winning their nominations and general elections in spite of party challenges.

Hickenlooper has left-wing challengers who may excite some grassroots progressive support (Julie Gonzales and Karen Breslin) but their campaigns so far have attracted little attention and less money. History suggests the Democratic party’s progressive wing can’t beat the party’s establishment candidate. Hickenlooper, as a former mayor, governor and now senator is the well funded, old guard incumbent.

Bennet vs Attorney General Phil Weiser race doesn’t have a clear moderate vs. progressive atmosphere although Weiser is the candidate closer to home. Senators are frequently burdened by the distance and poor image of Washington DC. But as winning the caucus vote shows, party activists’ support doesn’t make up for money and endorsements in the primary, Bennet advantage. Whichever one wins will likely win the general election.

RELATED:
The 2026 Colorado Election Season Starts April 25, 2025
Does Mamdani Change California and Colorado Politics? July 8, 2025

Eisenhower in Davos

Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground at Laguna Playhouse

Just saw the one man play “Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground” at the Laguna Playhouse. If President Eisenhower had been in Davos last week, he would have praised NATO’s incredible perseverance and the peace in Europe it has secured. He would have pledged U.S. strength unambiguously to it and to the sovereignty of Ukraine.

His biggest political fight was with the isolationist wing in the Republican Party and among the U.S. electorate. He won and supported a world of alliances, institutions and rules that benefited the American people and its economy. He aided democratic allies and spread the country’s ideals. Eisenhower helped launch and lead a golden era in American politics.

SCFD Has Grown and Changed

In 2028, the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) will be up for voter reapproval. It has been a huge success in funding cultural organizations and is praised and envied as a national model. There has, of course, been substantial growth in the seven county Denver metro area in both population and the number of cultural organizations serving the population since the SCFD voter approval in 1988. The amount distributed has also increased due to the growth in the revenue from sales tax. It produced $14 million 1989 and $85 last year.

The distribution formula of the SCFD has been adjusted at each of its three reauthorization elections (1994, 2004, 2016). The 1987 statute, approved by 75 percent of regional voters in 1988, allocated 65% of the funds to Tier I, 25% to Tier II, and 10% to Tier III. Today, after repeated adjustments, the formula is 59%, 24%, and 17% respectively (SCFD Annual Report 2024). Tier I began with four large regional organizations and after the 2004 legislative changes, now has five. Denver Center of Performing Arts, the largest organization in Tier II, was removed and placed in Tier I, providing more funding to share among Tier II mid-sized organizations. Tier III, smaller county level organizations, have had the most substantial increase from 10% to 17%, a seventy percent increase.

The table compares the percentages and total distribution (millions) of each SCFD Tier in 1989 and 2024.

RELATED:
SCFD Approaching 40th Anniversary January 13, 2026
CATZ Mission & Purpose July 15, 2025