DENVER (KDVR) — A Colorado conservative stronghold voted for an independent as mayor.
Voters in Colorado Springs chose the first Black man elected to lead the city, beating out Republican and former Secretary of State Wayne Williams.
Yemi Mobolade won with 58% of the vote, compared to 42% of the vote going to Williams.
For “Colorado Point of View” this week, the Data Desk looked into the numbers and found more voters are choosing to identify as unaffiliated. In El Paso County, nearly 228,000 voters — or 48% of the county — now identify as unaffiliated, outpacing both registered Democrats and Republicans.
The county still has the greatest number of registered Republicans statewide, with more than 147,000 comprising 31% of the county’s registered voters.
That number has decreased by more than 10% since 2016.
What do shifting politics mean for the Republican Party?
FOX31’s political analysts disagree about what these numbers and election results in Colorado Springs mean for the future of the Republican Party.
“Colorado Springs is fundamentally changing,” Democratic analyst Andy Boian said. “Colorado is changing. We’re going independent, we’re not going less Republican.”
Republican analyst Michael Fields focused on the division in local, nonpartisan elections.
“There’s no doubt that there’s divisions in the Republican Party in Colorado. and some of it’s the worst in El Paso County. That’s the place where you see a lot of these fights happening.” Fields said.
“A lot of this stuff is local,” Fields said. “People knew who Yemi was. He’s not far left. He’s a moderate and ran as an independent.”
You can watch their full conversation on the Colorado Springs election, as well as the debt ceiling debate, on “Colorado Point of View” this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. on Channel 2.
Source: Rocky Mountain News
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