(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Labor Day and Politics, A Colorado State Open Thread, September 7, 2026 [1] ['News Corpse', 'Darrell Lucus'] Date: 2026-09-07 Colorado celebrated Labor Day in a variety of different ways, from the Labor Day Liftoff in Colorado Springs, where more than 70 balloons flew in Colorado’s largest balloon festival to arts festivals in many towns including Estes Park, Manitou Springs, Boulder, Telluride’s movie festival and the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo. If the arts weren’t your thing, there were five college football games (CSU Rams smoked the Wyoming Cowboys for the Bronze Boot – go Rammies!), auto racing, multiple races for runners, concerts, Oktoberfests in Keystone and Beaver Creek and many more things to do. That’s all in addition to Colorado’s normal list of summertime activities like hiking, biking, visiting museums, shopping, visiting parks, and viewing wildlife. Speaking of wildlife, the Mama bear and her two cubs pictured above tried to come to Estes Park’s Arts and Crafts festival downtown, but the thousands of people and overwhelming traffic finally discouraged her only a couple of hundred yards short of the nirvana of food she might have been able to feed her cubs with. They decided instead to hang out in a tree in a small gulley and pass the warm afternoon, waiting for the people to move on so she might get her cubs out of the way of the masses and get back to a quiet natural area to scrounge for food instead. I went to some bird banding sessions Friday and today at the YMCA in Estes Park to see the migratory and year-round residents of the Colorado mountains and was happy to see this one, though I don’t think the feeling was mutual. At a bird banding exhibition, this Wilson’s warbler, a migratory bird headed for Costa Rica is patiently waiting to be released so it can continue its journey. ColoTim Speaking of reasons to celebrate Labor Day, the Colorado Sun has a story to make the President have a sad day: Clean energy jobs have propelled growth on the Eastern Plains with high-paying work in some of the state’s smallest counties, according to a new report by the Colorado solar industry that claims a $6.3 billion economic statewide impact by renewables. The growth will continue as solar and wind farms on the plains continue to push out dirtier fossil fuel generation, the report says, with clean energy predicted to add 3,594 jobs statewide in the next 10 years and 961 of those in Eastern Plains counties. That would boost economic impact by another $1.7 billion, the industry report says. Eastern Plains clean energy jobs grew from 4,316 in 2010 to 6,715 in 2024. Those utility jobs are the second-highest-paying job category in the eastern counties. “Clean energy jobs here went from almost nothing in 2010 to dozens of good-paying positions today, and that kind of growth matters in a county our size,” said Troy McCue, executive director of Lincoln County Economic Development Corporation. “This industry is helping us diversify our local economy in a way that benefits everyone, not just the energy sector.” Ah, the Colorado Libertarians continue to support Republicans in elections. After “suspicious” dropout, judge lets Colorado Libertarians pick new secretary of state candidate From the Colorado Sun: A judge Friday ruled that the state’s Libertarian Party can put another secretary of state candidate on November’s ballot after the party’s original candidate dropped out a day after the deadline to replace him. The Libertarian Party of Colorado rushed to name Sean Vadney as their replacement candidate in the days after Alex Astley bowed out. Astley’s late withdrawal fueled speculation in the party about whether he intended to drop out all along to help the candidacy of James Wiley, a former Libertarian who is running as a Republican. … A takeover by a faction of more conservative, MAGA-leaning Libertarians, known as the Mises Caucus, named for the Austrian-American economist Ludwig von Mises, around 2022 led to the party asking Republican candidates to sign pledges promising to uphold libertarian ideals. In return, the Libertarian Party agreed not to run candidates in races against GOP candidates who had signed such “liberty pledges.” Wiley was a member of the Mises Caucus until leaving the party last year. The Mises Caucus lost power in the state party after President Donald Trump won reelection in 2024, said Joe Johnson, the party’s campaigns director. The party later denounced liberty pledges and said they would no longer be honored. Last fall, Johnson said he learned that some party members were talking about running candidates with the intention of having them drop out later, to help Republican candidates running in the race. So at the party’s statewide assembly in April, he asked Astley, whom he had never met before, if he planned to run to stay in the race to the end. He said Astley said “yes.” … Astley posted his withdrawal letter on social media Sunday, the same day that Wiley put out a news release saying that Astley had been encouraged to drop out because Wiley had signed a liberty pledge to prevent a “Libertarian spoiler” in the secretary of state’s race. Wiley said Astley asked him to agree to other things not named in the standard liberty pledge. He said candidates are still free to ask candidates to sign liberty pledges no matter what the party says about them. Wiley deferred questions about the timing of Astley’s withdrawal to Astley, but said it seemed “precisely timed.” From Colorado Public Radio and Colorado Capitol News Alliance comes a lengthy piece on Eileen Laubacher, the retired admiral running on the Democratic ticket to oust Lauren Boebert from CD-4. Can a Democrat flip the state’s reddest seat? Eileen Laubacher is trying The bigger problem Laubacher faces, however, is how she wins what is considered the state’s safest Republican seat. There are more than twice as many registered Republicans as there are Democrats in the district, although almost half of the registered voters are unaffiliated. The last time the district elected a Democrat was in 2008, when Democrat Barack Obama was at the top of the ticket. “Showing up in person is more important than anything,” she said during a campaign swing in the Eastern Plains. “You have to be there to have the conversation. You have to look people in the eyes.” … “A lot of times people think that the rural hospital is like a smaller version. And I’d say, no, actually I think the problem is magnified because every doctor that you lose, every nurse that you lose, every teacher that you lose has an outsized impact there,” she said. These are not Republican or Democratic issues. It’s a rural America problem. She wants to be a fighter for rural America. … She said being here and talking to people can translate into votes. She said at a parade in Logan County a lifelong Republican came up to her. “We had this great long conversation talking about all kinds of things. Costs, Iran, you name it, smaller government, national debt, things that I’m also passionate about,” she recalled. “Things that are gravely concerning to me. And at the end of it, he was like, ‘Yeah, all right. You’re my person.’ And I said, ‘Well, I really appreciate that, but I need you to do me a favor now. I need you to tell your neighbors, and I need to talk to people about me.’” … But the real reason Laubacher may have a chance is the economy and Trump’s sinking approval rating. “We put our trust in Trump and in his promises that he was going to carry farmers through, and he failed,” Zaiden Wertz told Laubacher at a candidate meet-and-greet in Lamar. “He really did fail. And I think that we would consider ourselves right-leaning, but we can’t be that way. We can’t be married to a party anymore.” Wertz is a registered Republican who voted for Trump but now regrets it, adding that she’s not comfortable with either party right now. … Laubacher acknowledged that flipping the seat won’t be easy. “I firmly believe that all things that are really worth doing in life are hard,” she said. Also from CPR, Colorado Rep. Manny Rutinel resigns to focus on Congressional race Democrat Manny Rutinel of Commerce City who is running for Congress in Colorado’s most competitive race this cycle, has resigned from the state legislature. Rutinel is challenging Republican incumbent Rep. Gabe Evans in the 8th congressional district race north of Denver. Evans narrowly won the seat two years ago, defeating Democrat Yadira Caraveo. It is considered a district that could swing and has garnered national attention. Rutinel’s campaign announced Friday that he was resigning effective immediately. “With less than 2 months until the general election, we are now fully focused on defeating Gabe Evans and his reckless, cost-hiking agenda,” said Rutinel in a written statement. Rutinel’s seat is not going to be filled by the Democratic party because the legislative session is over for the year and there will be a new person elected to fill the seat in November before the next legislature convenes. I hope you folks had a great weekend and you will continue to enjoy the beautiful weather of Colorado’s fall season. The fall colors are being predicted to be fleeting, as drought and the warm weather are predicted to have a negative impact. Get out and enjoy the season while you can and hopefully we can look forward to plenty of snow this winter. In the meantime, please let us know about what is going on in your parts of our square(ish) state, maybe how you celebrated this weekend and any ways that you can help our politicians win from the top of the ballot down to the smallest elective office. Do they still elect dog-catchers? The floor is yours… [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/9/7/800095217/community/col/ Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/