What happened to the home of ‘South Park Republicans’? It’s a complex story involving big money, demographics, GOP infighting, and the disputed ’Trump factor.’
Not long ago, Colorado was a GOP-leaning battleground state. But now?
“We’re not one of those,” Wayne Williams, the last Republican to serve as Colorado’s secretary of state, told The Epoch Times.
The Democrat who defeated him, Jena Griswold, made headlines in March when she said she was “disappointed” with the Supreme Court’s decision to let former President Donald Trump remain on ballots.
“A lot of things [have] gone wrong in Colorado,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) told The Epoch Times.
Younger generations may find this hard to believe, but two decades ago, the Centennial State was controlled by Republicans at almost all levels.
The state that voted a Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights into its constitution was home to Colorado Springs evangelicals, conservative rural ranchers, and irreverent, libertarian-leaning “South Park Republicans.”
The “South Park Republican” label—one of those generalizations that journalists love—dates to 2001, when the show’s co-creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, were accepting an award from Hollywood producer Norman Lear’s People for the American Way.
After an introduction from radio host Larry Elder, the former Coloradoans shocked the show business crowd by describing themselves as Republicans.
“I hate conservatives, but I really [expletive] hate liberals,” Mr. Stone later quipped.
“South Park,” though still liable to satirize the left, has come out strongly against President Trump. Colorado, which twice voted for President George W. Bush, has gone Democrat.
President Joe Biden won Colorado in 2020 by more than 13 percent.
Today, Colorado’s governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and treasurer are Democrats, as are both its U.S. senators and most of its U.S. House representatives. Democrats have a veto-proof majority in Colorado’s House and a near veto-proof majority in its Senate.
Even as the Trump-era GOP has gained ground in the Rust Belt and other former Democratic strongholds, Colorado provides a striking example of an opposing trend.
