Scott sent in this piece with some ugly numbers about Democratic favorability in my new (rarely visited but official) home in Colorado. Basically, Democrats’ favorability ratings are low.

The piece pegs a lot of this on cost of living, which is unsurprising for anyone living in Colorado.

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The statistics are stark. Homelessness among families with children in Colorado surged by an astonishing 134% in 2024, one of the largest increases in the nation. This doesn’t even account for the hidden homelessness of families doubled up with relatives or couch surfing. 

For those with a roof over their heads, the burden is immense. The state faces a shortfall of over 162,000 affordable rental units, and a majority of renters are now considered cost-burdened, paying more than 30% of their income on housing. The cumulative effect is a pervasive sense of anxiety, with 78% of Coloradans reporting that the cost of living causes “serious” or “some” stress on their families.

Bucket List Community Cafe

Related to the affordable housing issue, there was a story in the WSJ [gift link] about a new trend in Atlanta were renters are conning their way into “luxury” apartments by lying on their rental applications. Average rent for these luxury apartments there is $2000/month for a 2 bedroom. That’s what people pay for a 1 bedroom “luxury” apartment in the Denver area. The graph below is for the Atlanta area but I’d bet money that Denver’s graph is similar:

Democrats are directly responsible for this in Atlanta and in Denver — they run the place and they use the excuse of “more housing” to let developers fast track and completely overbuild luxury apartment complexes. Democrats can claim that housing is being built, but it comes off as being completely out of touch.

There’s not a lot that state or local government can do about expensive groceries, but there’s certainly a lot that can be done to make sure developers build more than just luxury apartments. It’s obvious this hasn’t happened, and it’s one of the reasons that Democrats aren’t very popular, even in states that regularly elect them.

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John B1 year ago

If Georgia / Atlanta is anything like NC / Charlotte, the city leadership effectively have their hands tied. The state can basically veto any city action that they want -- including requirements for affordable housing with new developments. This has been weaponized by the GOP -- "look, democrats are in charge of your cities and can't solve anything!"

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Scott H1 year ago

That is sooooooo not the case in Denver. In fact, our glibertarian, techbro governor, wants to remove local control as part of an overall, total de-regulatory strategy that's been promoted by astroturf groups as the solution. It's what's been done in CA with disastrous effect.

What you see is a sop to affordable housing so local Dems can point to the effectively-nothing they do (and also allow developers to purchase their way out of doing it in the first place) and say "See, we care!"

The people most affected by this at least now see it for the BS that it is...and vote accordingly. Or withhold their vote.

But hey, the solution to all of this is to throw trans people under the bus and run forced-birther Dems in red states. /s

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Sepideh M1 year ago

We cannot have affordable rental units in this state. No city can do that. That is a state level rule.

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Sepideh M1 year ago

There are a lot of stories about dark money in Colorado's elections, but when they said on the radio that there is Bloomberg money in attempting to ban flavored vapes, I said "Please bring us that sweet sweet dark money."

https://www.coloradopolitics.com/2025/10/08/bloomberg-wades-into-denvers-fight-over-flavored-tobacco-ban-with-big-dollar-contribution/

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Kay W.1 year ago

I’m offline for a couple of days, some of which will be spent at a fundraiser for Amy Acton (Ohio gov) Acton and Sherrod had (one, so far) good poll in Ohio so Democrats are getting hopeful again 🙂 I’ll write it up when I get back.

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Scott H1 year ago

Meanwhile, dark money pours into the Denver School Board elections: https://denverite.com/2025/10/17/denver-school-board-election-dark-money/

Charter school grifters have outspent the teacher's union 5-1: https://denverite.com/2025/10/17/denver-school-board-election-dark-money/

Everybody should read a book recommended to me by Sepideh: https://www.amazon.com/Cutting-School-Privatization-Segregation-Education/dp/1620972484 I just finished it last night after getting two door hangars from the charter school grifters earlier in the day.

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Scott H1 year ago

https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/the-supply-and-demand-myth-of-housing

Is just one a a gazillion pieces I can post on this subject.

We're shedding voters we shouldn't be shedding exactly because locals see Dems in control and doing sooooo many things that are seen as direct attacks, like displacement/gentrification.

But, in many online quarters, it's never Dems fault for showing repeatedly who they listen to as best typified by the actions and policies of local Dems, it's always boiled down to generalized tropes that divert attention from the underlying policies. Instead, they punch left.

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Sepideh M1 year ago

The local Democrats will say they will focus on "mid-priced housing." Nothing in the history of ever has been done that has helped with mid-priced housing. If someone tells me that they are focused on mid-priced housing, I know they are a complete joke.

"The city wants to give you a tiny amount on your down payment, and you have to give up some of your equity for the honor. Nope."

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Scott H1 year ago

It's all about rephrasing the same old crap in order to make it seem "fresh" and rebrand in order to cover the fact the same old crap always has the opposite effect it claims to have.

Another good read on another aspect of this, good old income inequality: https://theconversation.com/the-gap-between-wages-and-housing-prices-is-widening-fuelling-the-affordability-crisis-252157

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Sepideh M1 year ago

"At the heart of the housing crisis lies a deeper problem: runaway urban land prices are not just a crisis of housing affordability, but a problem of equitable urban design."

If a quarter acre lot costs a million dollars, how much does a house in Boulder cost?

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Sepideh M1 year ago

The chart is misrepresenting itself a little bit. Colorado is a third Democrats and a third Republicans and a third independents. A lot of independents used to be embarrassed Republicans, but there may be some embarrassed Democrats in there too.

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mister mixAuthor1 year ago

Yeah the poll looks overweighted for independents/unaffiliated:

https://magellanstrategies.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Magellan-Strategies-Colorado-2025-Voter-Opinion-Survey-Weighted-Crosstabs-090125.pdf

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Sepideh M1 year ago

Democrats in Colorado are selling out their anticipated voter base for cash. I am not sure if you saw this article on numerous Democrats going to a retreat at Vail with some lobbyists so they can be bought by some lobbyists.

https://coloradosun.com/2025/10/13/colorado-opportunity-caucus-retreat-vail/

This is more on the event above. GEO Group, the private prison corporation, is one of the lobbying groups trying to buy some Democrats.

https://boulderreportinglab.org/2025/10/21/dark-money-group-weighed-involvement-in-boulder-city-council-2025-election/

My state senator is up to her eyeballs in this.

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Scott H1 year ago

CO Democrats love dark money. It dominates into city councils now as you note in that link. My current bought-and-paid-for city councilman (and neighbor) ran the most expensive race in city history thanks to $800K in dark money funneled via a massive loophole in the city's campaign finance ordinance.

That the loophole exists, has been pointed out and nothing done? This is my shocked face.

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John S.1 year ago

Anyone or anything attached to the GEO Group should be automatically disqualified. They are ghouls.

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Butch Fries1 year ago

I left Colorado 14 years ago for the wilds of the Upper Peninsula and I've never looked back. I keep getting reminders why I decided it was time to leave.

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Kay W.1 year ago

I love the UP and it is affordable but is there work up there?

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Butch Fries1 year ago

The arc from about Ontonagon to Munising is booming - lots of high tech jobs, including "electrostatic propulsion systems for nanosatellites." I have no idea what that means, but that's the specialty of a company in Houghton. We've never had any problems with finding jobs. In fact, my first job out of college was here (I'm originally from Wisconsin).

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Kay W.1 year ago

Thanks. I’ll look up that company.

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Butch Fries1 year ago

It's called Orbion, https://orbionspace.com/. Another site that's interesting is https://www.investupmi.com/.

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tam1MI 1 year ago

Worth noting that the Houghton-Hancock is home to the Midwest's answer to MIT - Michigan Tech. That probably helps account for all those high tech jobs.

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Kay W.1 year ago

My middle son wants to buy UP property. He’s currently in Toledo. We took him up there when he was about 13 and he just fell in love with the place.

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Scott H1 year ago

I was in Houghton twice in the late Aughts, spent a week there for WinterFest the first time.

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Butch Fries1 year ago

If you get back this way check out the outhouse races every February in Trenary.

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