Colorado Democratic Party Chairman Shad Murib wants to make the party’s platform so short that it can fit on a business card in an attempt to discourage working class voters and voters of color from fleeing to Republicans.
“Something that is clear, concise and values driven, and can actually meet the moment of the issues that are facing people today,” he said.
Murib told reporters this week that the current platform has gotten too long (it was 52 pages in 2025 and 35 pages in 2022) and been influenced by small groups of Democrats who have strong feelings about particular issues. As a result, Murib said, the platform doesn’t represent how everyone in the party feels and has been used by Republicans in advertisements attacking Democratic candidates running in tough races.
“We’ve lost the plot with our platform to the point that it is an effective weapon against our own candidates,” he said.
Murib complained how the platform states that the Colorado Democratic Party is effectively both for and against wolf reintroduction. In the past, the platform has been a forum for Democrats to battle over the party’s stance on education — specifically whether to support charter schools — as well as immigration.
The party’s central committee is ultimately responsible for adopting the platform at the state assembly. But first, a platform committee drafts a document that is used for many months.
Murib wants the new platform to be put together in the coming weeks “to essentially be able to take this around the state and advertise it and workshop it and use it to recruit great candidates.”
The proposal is likely to draw some blowback from members of the party’s central committee who have tried to use the platform as a way to hold elected Democrats’ feet to the fire on certain issues. But Murib said the idea is to get Democrats to coalesce around values and not specific policy positions. He thinks that will be more attractive to the kinds of voters who traditionally backed Democrats but voted Republican in 2024.
“We all have a general sense of the direction that we want the state and the country to go in, and we are all unified behind those values,” he said. “If we’re going to be honest with ourselves, the Democratic Party is in crisis and at a crossroads. We demand a refresh — and we need a unified message.”
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A NEW APP
The Colorado Democratic Party this week also announced that it will launch a new smartphone app that Murib hopes will make it easier to communicate and target voters.
The app will let party volunteers link their contact lists to the party’s voter file and add comments about their friends and family — otherwise known as voters.
“This essentially turns every group chat, comment section, yoga studio, dive bar, coffee shop — the very world that we live in — into your own personal field office,” Murib said. “We’re going to be awarding monthly, quarterly and annual financial grants for our most active volunteers.”
WHAT TO WATCH IN THE WEEK AHEAD
The Capital Development Committee meets at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Capitol. The quarterly fundraising period for state and federal candidates ends Tuesday. They must file campaign finance reports July 15.YOU HEARD IT HERE
“Not only has trust been broken with the immigrant community. Trust has been broken with the Latino Caucus and with the Latino community more broadly.”
— state Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver
Gonzales was speaking to reporters Wednesday during a news conference about a judge’s ruling blocking Gov. Jared Polis from ordering certain state workers to hand over information to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in response to a subpoena from the agency.
The ball is now in the governor’s court. But his team won’t say where he’s going to hit it.
Polis is blocked from ordering the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics to comply with an ICE subpoena the state received in April. But he didn’t respond to a letter Thursday from Colorado WINS, a state employees labor union, asking the governor to confirm that he won’t direct any other state employees to comply.
Still, Polis seems determined to get ICE the data it wants: personal information of 35 sponsors of unaccompanied immigrant minors.
In her only statement since the ruling, Polis spokesperson Shelby Wieman said in the future the governor’s office hopes ICE will submit subpoenas in a way that would follow the ruling. The governor can only comply if ICE is going to use the information for a criminal investigation, not immigration enforcement.
That response alarmed the governor’s critics.
“The statement essentially solicits ICE to re-serve its subpoena,” said Laura Beth Wolf, the lead attorney for plaintiff Scott Moss, who leads the Division of Labor Standard and Statistics, in the case against Polis. “That is very concerning that that’s one of the first things that the governor said.”
Scott Moss, who leads the Colorado Division of Labor Standards and Statistics, speaks at a news conference at the Colorado Capitol in Denver on Thursday. Moss sued the governor, leading a judge to block Gov. Jared Polis from ordering certain state workers to hand over personal information to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in response to a subpoena from the agency. (Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun)On that note, Wieman didn’t say whether ICE has resubmitted the subpoena in a way that would meet the criminal investigation exception. And she didn’t say whether the governor has enlisted his own law enforcement and/or human services agencies to go check on the unaccompanied immigrant children that ICE requested information about.
One thing seems certain: trying to comply with ICE only to be told complying would be illegal has not won the governor any fans in his own party.
Judge blocks Colorado governor from ordering certain state workers to hand over employment info to ICE How many unaccompanied immigrant children are in Colorado and who is taking care of them?Want to reach Colorado political influencers and support quality local journalism? The Sun can help get your message attention through a sponsorship of The Unaffiliated, the must-read politics and policy newsletter in Colorado. Contact Sylvia Harmon at underwriting@coloradosun.com for more information.
THE POLITICAL TICKER
ELECTION 2026
Broomfield City Councilwoman Heidi Henkel is running in 2026 to represent House District 33.
Henkel faces Broomfield City Councilwoman Paloma Delgadillo in the Democratic primary for a chance to replace state Rep. William Lindstedt, D-Broomfield. Lindstedt is running next year to represent state Senate District 25, which is currently represented by term-limited Sen. Faith Winter, D-Broomfield.
ELECTION 2025
Keep Kids Fed Colorado will be the issue committee supporting propositions LL and MM, a pair of measures on the November ballot that seek to boost funding for free school meals.
One of the measures seeks to let the state keep all of the money it collects from a 2022 measure limiting income tax reductions for families earning more than $300,000 a year while the other would expand the number of reductions that are limited for people in that income bracket.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE
An independent expenditure committee, basically a state-level super PAC, has formed to help support Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s bid to become Colorado’s next attorney general. It’s called the Colorado First Fund.
CAPITOL BUILDING ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Gov. Jared Polis this week appointed former Senate President Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder, to the Capitol Building Advisory Committee, replacing Kurt Morrison, deputy attorney general for intergovernmental affairs.
Morrison had served on the committee for a decade. His term was up July 1. The four members of the panel appointed by the governor serve two-year terms, but they are not limited in how many terms they can serve.
“Kurt Morrison’s term on the Capitol Building Advisory Committee was coming to an end, and he was unable to attend the June meeting,” Shelby Wieman, a spokesperson for the governor, said in a written statement. “Given the timing, we moved forward with the appointment of his replacement. Sen. Fenberg brings deep institutional knowledge and a strong familiarity with the Capitol building and its grounds, which will be an asset to the committee’s work.”
Fenberg is a Polis ally.
The swap comes as the Capitol Building Advisory Committee is considering whether to recommend that the state move forward with a $29 million bridge over Lincoln Street in front of the Capitol. The governor is behind the plan.
READ MORE
After Trump gripe, presidential portraits at the Colorado Capitol may be replaced with governors Colorado losing a third major clean energy project as subsidy cuts, tariffs roil markets Trump administration reviewing Colorado spending on health care for undocumented immigrants Douglas County home rule vote fails by wide margin— CPR News via the Colorado Capitol News Alliance $3 million from Colorado’s opioid settlement haul will be used to buy overdose reversal kits as federal funding dries up— CPR News via the Colorado Capitol News Alliance Former postal carrier gets 5 years for ballot theft scheme— CPR News RTD board gives tentative yes to pursuing Front Range passenger rail between Denver, Fort Collins— The Denver Post ? Colorado racial equity study uncovers history on early lawmakers, runs ahead of schedule— Colorado Newsline Colorado legislative committees to be video streamed in pilot program— Colorado Newsline?=source has article meter or paywall
POLLING
Someone is testing the waters on a $42.63 million Denver property tax hike
Denver Public Schools’ administrative office building pictured Feb. 27 in downtown Denver. (Erica Breunlin, The Colorado Sun)A poll circulated among Denver voters last week is testing the waters on a $42.6 million property tax hike that would generate revenue to increase teacher pay and boost the number of school days.
The tax would go before voters in November and be imposed starting in 2026, costing homeowners an average of $5.91 more each month on their property tax bills.
We haven’t seen anything public about the proposed tax hike and it wasn’t clear who was running the poll. But the survey appeared favorable to teachers and the district.
The poll also asked participants to share their thoughts on the district, whether property taxes in Denver are too high and the cost of living in Denver.
Some other questions asked by the survey:
“Do you think Denver Public Schools has enough funding already or do you believe it needs additional funding?” The poll asked whether people would be more or less likely to vote for the tax hike if they knew it would increase teacher pay in poorer schools, boost teacher health care and let the district hire more mental health professionals The survey tested whether messaging about how the high cost of living in Denver would affect their vote on the tax hikeANOTHER POLL
Some Colorado voters received a text-messaged survey this week from the pollster US Speaks about antisemitism on college campuses.
It asked whether antisemitism is a problem on college campuses, how likely they are to get involved in combating the issue and who they voted for in the 2024 presidential election. Participants were also asked to say who they think is to blame for the “current crisis in the Middle East.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE
How hotels, once a last resort, became New York’s default answer to homelessness— ProPublica Can Mamdani’s energetic campaign be a blueprint for Democrats?— The New York Times ? A nasty Texas primary campaign has Republicans in a panic— The Wall Street Journal ? Seattle wants to change how landlords set rents— The Seattle Times ? Trump’s bill slashes the safety net that many Republican voters rely on— The New York Times ??=source has article meter or paywall
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