Election 2026: A Democratic Supermajority and Tax Reform for Colorado

This election cycle, COWINS SHOWED UP! Our members and staff knocked on more than 25,000 doors across the state, and it paid off: 67 of the 69 candidates we endorsed for Congress and the state legislature won, and critically, Amendment 87 and Proposition NN have passed, and will go a long way to helping us fix our broken state budget!

Our key takeaways are below, and you can read the full re-cap at the link below.

First supermajority for Colorado in 20 years.

We helped flip a senate seat and more than enough house seats to win Colorado’s first legislative supermajority in 20 years.

Kevin Leung of Douglas County (SD30) is headed to the senate, becoming the first-ever Chinese American elected to the state legislature.

We needed to flip one seat in the house, and our endorsed candidates flipped four: Jacki Marsh (HD51), Steph Vigil (HD16), Jillaire McMillian (HD19), and Tommy Butler (HD50).

Is having a supermajority like having a superpower?

Does winning a supermajority mean we have a superpower? That’s up to us.

Having a supermajority does mean we can fight to override vetoes that hurt us, that we have a better shot at getting constitutional amendments onto the ballot, and that we will have more power on committees.

But as state workers know all too well, we can’t take anything for granted. We’ve helped elect the best candidates. We’ve created the opportunities we need. Now we need to do the work to turn those opportunities into wins for workers and the people we serve.

First-ever WINS member elected to legislature!

For the first time ever, we’ve helped propel one of our own–COWINS member Kenny Nguyen (HD33)–into the State Legislature.

He’s not new to the job–having previously been elected by a vacancy committee to replace former Representative William Lindstedt–but now he’s been voted into the position by his constituents. That makes Kenny the first-ever Vietnamese American elected to serve in Colorado’s General Assembly!

Statewide election wins.

All four of the candidates we endorsed for statewide offices won, including Phil Weiser for Governor, Jena Griswold for Attorney General, Amanda Gonzalez, who will be Colorado’s first ever Latina Secretary of State, and Jeff Bridges for Treasurer.

We helped flip two Congressional seats.

We helped flip two Congressional seats, sending Manny Rutinel (CD8) and Jessica Killin (CD5) to Washington to help fight federal cuts to the programs we help deliver, including Medicaid.

We passed measures that will help fix Colorado’s budget.

The COWINS team championed and helped win on two critical ballot measures when we were out on doors: Amendment 87 (Graduated Income Tax) and Proposition NN are going to help us fix Colorado’s broken budget, supporting education, healthcare, and childcare and freeing up more funds for our contract and state services.

Proposition NN was declared a win early with 56% of the vote, and our GIT coalition claimed the win last week with 99% of votes in and outstanding tallies coming in from counties that supported the amendment 2 to 1.

What does it mean for state workers?

These ballot measure wins are really, really, really good news for us. Medicaid and education have made up more than 60% of Colorado’s general fund spending for years, forcing us to compete for scraps to fund our contract and state services.

Now, we head into a legislative session in a stronger position to fully fund our contract. And, more importantly, these wins, combined with membership sign-ups of almost 2,500 over the last year, mean we are in a much, much stronger position as we head into collective bargaining for our Partnership Agreement, and that is our best chance at recouping the Cost of Living Adjustments we lost last year.

Tight races still to be called.

We are still waiting on the outcome of a very tight race for Pueblo County Sheriff: our fellow COWINS member Allen Medina is currently leading by more than 250 votes.

Help us turn these opportunities into wins.

COWINS had a big impact on these midterms, but our work isn’t done yet: we’ve created critical opportunities for change, and now we need to turn those opportunities into wins for state workers and services.

You can be a part of that too. By joining our union you can help shape the path forward, and be a part of the work that all state workers are going to benefit from.

The Colorado State Legislature reconvenes on January 10, and we are going to hit the ground running to make the most of our wins. By joining now, you can help lead that work and have your voice heard by:

• Joining member meetings with our new governor
• Electing the members who will fight for us in bargaining
• Joining the Contract Action Teams that will inform our bargaining
• Joining the Political Committee to help guide our work in the legislature

As state employees, politics will always impact us. Let’s use our union to impact politics.