DENVER Six significant traffic safety laws took effect across Colorado on Wednesday, and the families who fought for them gathered at the State Capitol to mark the moment.

Lawmakers, advocates and relatives of people killed in vehicle collisions joined AAA, MADD, The White Line and Bicycle Colorado at a news conference in the Capitol's West Foyer to discuss what the new laws mean for Colorado drivers.

Among the laws now in effect is Magnus's Law, named for Magnus White, who was killed at age 17 on July 29, 2023, while riding his bicycle in Boulder. The law mandates that an officer must offer a voluntary breathalyzer test to any driver reasonably suspected of fault in a crash that kills or seriously injures someone.

Magnus's father, Michael White, said he hopes the law brings faster accountability for families.

"I wish we could get ahead of it and be proactive instead of reactive to these. That ultimately would not have saved Magnus's life, the way he was hit and killed. But it'll help families that this happens to in the future get to the truth faster," White said.

Watch Ethan Carlson's report in the video below:

Also now in effect is the Liam Stewart School Zone Act. Liam Stewart was 13 years old when he was struck and killed by a driver while riding his bike to middle school on Oct. 17, 2023. The law mandates that existing school zones must be at least 200 feet long and that all new school zones will be standardized to 1,000 feet in length. School zones cannot be reduced in size without a public hearing.

Liam's father, Josh Stewart, said he believes his son would have supported the effort.

"Knowing how much he cared, had this happened to one of his friends, had he been down the avenue that I've been down and learning and finding out so much and seeing the injustices that so many of us could face, I know that he would be proud to have his name on this bill," Stewart said.

Denver7's On Two Wheels reporter Jeff Anastasio talked to Liam's father about his familys difficult journey and how he views his work as an advocate for change in the video below:

Four additional traffic safety laws also took effect Wednesday:

The families said the work is not finished. Four more related traffic laws are set to take effect before the end of the year, including a new felony charge for causing a death by criminally negligent driving, which takes effect Sept. 1.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

A new Colorado law, aimed at making rideshares safer by placing new requirements on companies like Uber and Lyft, takes effect Wednesday.

The Rideshare Safety and Accountability Act is being phased in over time, but there are new requirements for rideshare companies starting Wednesday.

Rideshare companies will now have to run criminal background checks on drivers every six months from the first initial check.

Im totally down for it. I would rather feel safer knowing who is taking me around the city than somebody I dont, Denver resident Sami Braschler said.

If a complaint is made, the review for deactivation must be started within seven business days while permanent deactivation must include human review, not an algorithm.

Companies also have to review a driver for possible deactivation when law enforcement notifies them regarding specific allegations, though it's unclear exactly what those might be.

A driver who has been deactivated can challenge the decision.

It also requires rideshare companies to respond to a law enforcement subpoena or search warrant within 72 hours of the request and to create policies to prevent imposter drivers, account sharing and account renting.

In May 2025, a man was accused of posing as Lyft driver and sexually assaulting a Colorado lawmaker is charged with unlawful sexual contact.

As my case has been investigated, I've learned that the driver was using someone else's profile and wasn't even the driver presented to me by the Lyft app," State Representative Jenny Willford, D-District 34, said back in 2025.

It's a practice Willford's attorney, Morgan Carroll, called account renting.

The issue of account renting, if you're not familiar with the term, is one person will go through and create a legitimate account, pass a background check and often make money on the side or give a password to a friend," Carroll said. And now we have a stream of people with access to the Lyft accounts who have not passed a background check and are not a qualified driver in the state of Colorado using the app."

At the time, Lyft said the company takes reports of sexual assault "very seriously." When such incidents are reported, it works with local law enforcement so appropriate actions can be taken.

By Feb. 1, 2027, and every February after that, companies have to provide safety-related data to state officials, giving lawmakers a better picture of whats happening inside rideshare cars.

By June of 2028, the commission is required to adopt rules that ensure drivers and passengers can decide whether they want a ride recorded in audio or video.

A rideshare company that is found in violation of this new law will have to pay more than $1,500 per violation.

For some riders, it's about knowing who's behind the wheel.

Its the whole safety aspect. Especially as a woman, you just dont know. I do want to know who is going to be driving me. If there is anything that can be helped to prevent every rider from experiencing that, I think it could be beneficial, Braschler said.

Lyft told Denver7, safety is a top priority for the company and has been actively engaged throughout the development of this new rideshare law.

We're grateful for the collaboration with the bill's sponsors along the way and look forward to working with regulators to implement this law, a Lyft spokesperson said.

Uber has not responded to Denver7s request for comment. In June, the company announced new U.S. background check standards, including permanently disqualifying convictions for violent felonies and crimes that may be sexual in nature.

The Blue Bench, a local sexual assault prevention and support organization, said the human review is a step in the right direction, but added transparency will still be important so survivors know what happens after they make a complaint.

The organization recommends riders share their location and ride updates with someone you trust and ride with someone else whenever possible.

People who have experienced sexual harassment or assault in a rideshare can call The Blue Bench's 24/7 crisis hotline at 303-322-7273. To inquire about receiving therapy or case management services, call The Blue Bench's resource line at 303-329-9922 or email resourceline@thebluebench.org

The Colorado Democratic Party sent a letter to the Secretary of State's (SOS) office, saying they are alarmed by allegations that the Republican candidate for governor, Victor Marx, broke campaign finance law.

A complaint filed by the Elections Division of the SOS on July 23 claims that, according to reports filed through June of this year, Marx violated campaign contribution limitations by accepting over $78,000 in excess contributions. The documents say the funds come from nearly 200 contributions donated by more than 100 people that are over the $1,450 total limit that can be accepted from any one person.

CO Dems send letter regarding allegations Victor Marx took excess campaign funds

"This isn't about red versus blue. This isn't about which political party is good or which political party is bad. This is about making sure every candidate is held to the same standards," said the Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party Shad Murib. "All of us have a vested interest in getting as much money out of politics as possible. What Victor Marx is trying to do is put more money into politics, and money that actually isn't legal for him to take.

In addition, the complaint from the Elections Division claims there were at least 10 cash contributions from 10 people that were over $100.

The filing comes after more than 100 campaign finance complaints were filed by Darcy Schoening, a former member of the Colorado Republican party, related to Marx's campaign. The most recent complaint from Schoening was filed on July 31, where she alleged that Marx held an online event where he said he found a "work-around" for the $1,450 contribution limit.

Schoening's complaint continues to claim that Marx directed his supporters to buy merchandise from his online store, where Schoening wrote there is not "any disclaimer that purchases are campaign contributions."

The Elections Division from the SOS continued to assert that Marx's team refunded $58,195.93 in excess contributions, which is "far short of the $78,613.15 in excess contributions" accepted over the course of Marx's campaign.

The documents say that "the Division has been unable to determine whether Respondents effectively cured the violations."

Still, the filing shows that the Elections Division found Marx's team "failed to substantially comply with their legal obligations under Colorado campaign finance law."

The SOS has until Aug. 17 to review the latest complaint from Schoening. A spokesperson with the office told Denver7 there is nothing in statute that allows a candidate to be disqualified for findings related to contributions or expenditures.

The SOS sent the following reply to Colorado Democratic Party Chair Shad Murib regarding the complaints against Marx.

Denver7 reached out to Marx's team through both his website and campaign manager, but did not receive a response before publication.

This week, a measure hoping to overturn abortion rights in Colorado failed to get enough signatures to make the 2026 ballot, according to Cobalt, a reproductive rights organization in Colorado.

Amendment 283 was the latest of several ballot measures filed hoping to curb access to abortion in the state.

Initiative to repeal right to abortion in Colorado fails to make the ballot

I'm a bit frustrated that, despite the fact that voters have consistently said they do not want government interfering in this, that we always see attempts like this. In fact, there were several titles filed that did not make it through the process, and then this one was out for signatures," said Karen Middleton, president of Cobalt. "We had a feeling that they wouldn't get a sufficient number of signatures, and we were grateful for that," she said.

As other states pass more restrictive abortion legislation, Middleton said Cobalt has seen an increase in out-of-state patients seeking abortion care in Colorado.

We have raised and spent... it was $1.9 million two years ago, $2.4 million last year. We expect to spend upwards of $3 million this year helping patients, and about half of them come from out of state, and that includes both direct support for the care, but also travel, Middleton said.

Recently, acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche reportedly said he would try to prohibit mailing abortion medication to women nationwide and said he would work to make Dobbs permanent.

We heard that news report, and the language of the statement was enforcing Dobbs across the country. Well, Dobbs threw the decision back to the states. In that case, Colorado has protections that the state voted on, and the state is upholding," Middle said. "I would hope that that version of the report is the correct one. Trying to ban abortion federally, I think, would be quite difficult because, frankly, it's something that government most a majority of people do not believe government should be interfering in this decision."

Middleton said she thinks the demand for abortion care in Colorado will continue to increase until federal laws change.

A federal judge ruled the Trump administration cannot access Colorado's unredacted voter rolls, marking the Justice Department's 20th consecutive legal loss on the issue.

U.S. District Judge Philip Brimmer dismissed the case Monday, saying the DOJ did not have a valid purpose for obtaining the information and is not legally entitled to the records. The case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be filed again.

Denver7 anchor Jessica Crawford spoke with Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold about the lawsuit in the video below:

"This is one more victory against an attempt to take control by Trump and the federal government over our nation's elections, and it's one more loss for Trump and the DOJ," Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said.

In December, the DOJ requested that Griswold share unredacted voter data, including every voter's full name, date of birth, address, and complete state driver's license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number. The DOJ sued Griswold and 30 other states for refusing to comply.

"So voters should know that there are these attempts to power grab from the federal administration, but we are fighting back. We are pushing back at every turn, and we are winning. So voters should expect the 2026 election to be just like normal. We're going to make sure that every Republican, Democrat, and unaffiliated alike that is eligible to vote can have their voices heard," Griswold said.

The Trump administration's attempts to control who is an eligible voter are not over. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on President Donald Trump's emergency appeal to limit mail-in ballots later this month.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

A new Colorado law in effect Aug. 1 now requires residents to obtain an eligibility card from their local sheriff and complete an in-person firearms safety course to purchase certain semi-automatic firearms with detachable magazines.

To buy the specified firearms in Colorado, residents must first obtain approval from their local sheriff's office through a background check. Once approved, they must complete a mandatory firearms safety course, which is either four hours or 12 hours, depending on whether they hold prior hunter safety certification.

Those who purchase the same firearms with fixed, attached magazines are not subject to the new requirements.

Denver7 reporter Maggie Bryan spoke to gun rights advocates and legislators to get their perspective on this new law in the video player below:

State Sen. Tom Sullivan, a Democrat representing Arapahoe and Douglas counties, sponsored the legislation, commonly called Senate Bill 3. He said the law was a direct response to years of failed enforcement of Colorado's existing ban on high-capacity magazines that hold more than 15 rounds, which passed in 2013.

"Gun dealers are not stopping selling them, they are still selling them," said Sullivan. "The sheriffs couldn't be bothered to go and enforce that piece of legislation. They [gun dealers] were still selling high-capacity magazines at gun shows."

Sullivan's son, Alex, was killed in the Aurora Theater shooting in 2012. Police said the shooter used a semi-automatic rifle equipped with a 100-round drum magazine. Sullivan described the new law as an attempt to make high-capacity magazines obsolete.

"There is nowhere that says anybody needs a high capacity magazine to defend themselves and protect their families," Sullivan said.

The new law has been met with push back from staunch gun rights advocates, including Alicia Garcia, a firearms safety instructor with Concealed Carry Classes of Denver. She said the business will soon offer the new state-created Senate Bill 3 training course, but said the mandates go too far.

"I believe training is essential. We should prioritize it. I just do not think that it should be force mandated," said Garcia. "Are we also going to now start mandating people to take courses to freedom of speech?"

According to a course outline from Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the agency developing the curriculum, the class will cover ammunition, shooting basics, range safety and etiquette, cleaning and maintenance, ownership and transfer laws, secure storage, child safety, firearm deaths and unintentional discharge. The course does not include a live-fire portion.

Garcia argued that the people most likely to cause harm will not comply with the new requirements, leaving law-abiding gun owners to bear the burden.

"Who are the people that want to create harm? Criminals, violent offenders. Do they follow laws? Are they going to sign up for my class?" Garcia said. "We don't carry guns because we intend harm. We carry guns because we intend to get home tonight. We have intent to protect and defend."

Sullivan said he has concerns about whether the new law will face the same enforcement challenges as the 2013 magazine ban.

"We've got 50-plus Second Amendment sanctuary counties here in the state. They boast about that. We've got sheriffs who show up on channels like yours talking about the legislation that we passed being feckless, that it doesn't matter, and they're not going to do anything about it. I mean, that's what we're up against," Sullivan said. "If they had just enforced the law, we wouldn't have to go down this road, but we're up against it. We got to do something."

Sullivan acknowledged that measuring the law's impact may be difficult.

"Most of the results we won't know about. Someone's life will be saved, and you'll never know those names. That's how this works. But I'm confident that if we can keep the high-capacity magazines from being sold and put into the wrong hands, that we will be making a difference, and that's what I think something like this legislation will do," Sullivan said.

Already, the Montezuma County sheriff said his office will not participate in the new gun law, citing funding, staffing and constitutional concerns.

As a Colorado Sheriff, and every member of the Montezuma County Sheriffs Office, each of us has sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Colorado, and perform the duties of the Office of Sheriff in Colorado by protecting those rights for all citizens in Montezuma County, Montezuma County Sheriff Steven Nowlin said in a news release.

Nowlin said county residents would be directed to CPW or participating Colorado sheriff's offices regarding the firearms safety course eligibility cards process.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation reported Monday that its InstaCheck Unit processed a record number of firearm background checks in July, ahead of the new law.

CORTEZ, Colo. Montezuma County Sheriff Steven Nowlin announced Monday that his office will not participate in a new Colorado gun law, citing funding, staffing and constitutional concerns.

Senate Bill 25-003, which took effect Aug. 1, adds new requirements for purchasing certain semiautomatic firearms, including obtaining a five-year eligibility card from a local sheriff's office and completing an in-person safety course.

As a Colorado Sheriff, and every member of the Montezuma County Sheriffs Office, each of us has sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Colorado, and perform the duties of the Office of Sheriff in Colorado by protecting those rights for all citizens in Montezuma County, Nowlin said in a news release.

He also said that the new law does not provide funding for the additional personnel and administrative work needed to process eligibility cards.

Additionally, he questioned the law's requirement that prospective buyers complete firearms safety training, arguing that hunter education has historically been tied to hunting and trapping, not firearm purchases.

Colorado residents who were born before January 1, 1949, are not required to have Hunter Education, but now will be required to attend and complete a 12-hour safety class to purchase or obtain by transfer any of the many specified semiautomatic firearms restricted in Senate Bill 25-003, Nowlin said.

Nowlin said county residents would be directed to Colorado Parks and Wildlife or participating Colorado sheriff's offices regarding the firearms safety course eligibility cards process.

Supporters of the Democratic sponsored bill, which was signed into law last year, argued that the measure would reduce mass shooting fatalities and curb gun violence.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation reported Monday that its InstaCheck Unit processed a record number of firearm background checks in July, ahead of the new law.

DENVER The Colorado Bureau of Investigation reported Monday that its InstaCheck Unit processed a record number of firearm background checks in July, ahead of a new major firearms law.

The increase came ahead of Senate Bill 25-003, which took effect Aug. 1 and adds new requirements for purchasing certain semiautomatic firearms.

CBI said it saw a 195% increase in volume for the month, processing 59,452 checks compared to 20,172 in July 2025.

The agency said it was prepared for the surge, cross-training 20 employees from elsewhere in the agency and effectively doubling the size of the InstaCheck Unit.

CBI Director Armando Saldate III praised the team's efforts

"I want to extend my sincere appreciation to everyone in the InstaCheck Unit for coming together to tackle this challenge," Saldate said in a news release. "Their dedication, flexibility, and hard work were vital to our success, and I am grateful for your continued commitment to this team and the mission."

SB 25-003 requires residents to obtain a five-year eligibility card from a local sheriff's office and complete an in-person safety course before purchasing or transferring specified semiautomatic rifles, shotguns, and gas-operated handguns with detachable magazines.

Its a measure the Montezuma County Sheriffs Office said Monday it will not participate in, in part due to funding and staffing issues.

Despite the record volume, CBI said it maintained compliance with Colorado's required 72-hour waiting period for firearm transfers.

A new Colorado law gives certain crime survivors the ability to testify virtually in a courtroom, something one woman who spent years dealing with a stalker believes will make the criminal justice system more accommodating for victims whose testimony is often critical to a case.

Coles Whalen knows how difficult it is to talk through traumatic experiences from the witness stand.

"What people don't realize is that, in a lot of cases, you can be only four feet away from the person who harmed you when you're testifying against them," Whalen told Denver7. "You're forced when you're linked by the law to be in close physical proximity to them, and then in order to prove your case, your task is to describe and to prove that you have suffered serious emotional distress.

Whalen is a musician and performer who said she was stalked for over six years.

He was sending me thousands and thousands of messages. One investigator on the case estimated that he sent me about a million messages over the six years," Whalen said. "They ranged in tone from delusional to angry to ultimately very threatening. Many of the messages implied that he was following me, that he was seeing me in person without me knowing it, and that he wanted me dead.

She was a staunch supporter of Senate Bill 26-095, saying it would have changed the ultimate outcome of her case. The bill was signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis on May 19 of this year.

"If I had this opportunity available to me, my life would be totally different," said Whalen. "I think we're going to change a lot of lives here, and honestly, we'll probably save some lives too."

SB 26-095 allows survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and human trafficking to provide testimony via a closed-circuit television in certain circumstances. The change in Colorado law gives survivors the chance to testify from a place outside of the courtroom, physically removed from the defendant in the case.

"A survivor of crime is almost always a witness, and their testimony is important, may be critical to obtaining the conviction of somebody who has harmed them, and frankly, maybe others," said State Sen. Mike Weissman, D District 28, who was a sponsor of the legislation. We've all been doing Zoom, we know how that goes. This is just bringing it to the criminal legal process to protect survivors from being retraumatized.

In addition, the law implements an Anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) provision to combat lawsuits meant to intimidate survivors. It also changes Colorado law on forced arbitration for sex assault survivors. Arbitration is a way to resolve a case outside of the courtroom.

"Arbitration takes you out of the courts. It puts you into this, frankly, private kind of shadowy alternative dispute process. If people want to participate in arbitration, that's fine. But the problem is, most of it is involuntary," Weissman explained.

There are provisions in the law related to the staggering rape kit backlog in Colorado that was spotlighted during the last legislative session, such as requiring medical professionals who perform forensic examinations to tell individuals how to obtain those test results.

"Going through a SANE exam is incredibly invasive and personal, and it is hard enough to go through that. Frankly, a lot of survivors choose not to. It's just too much," Weissman said. "At the bare minimum, you should be able to get the records. There are legal restraints on the ability of prosecutors, for example, to communicate about those. It's really the medical professionals in the first instance who are in the best position to communicate options, basic awareness, and information to survivors of these assaults. So, we had some language in the bill to try to make that more clear too.

Weissman said every part of SB26-095 was developed, to some extent, from survivor experience.

"The work of making sure our law does right by survivors of crimes is never done," said Weissman.

He first met Whalen when she testified in support of the legislation before state lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"She had to change her entire life, almost go into hiding, and yet she is so poised and forceful in bringing her story into the legislative environment, which can be intimidating for people," said Weissman. "She did an amazing job, and I think it helped seal the deal for getting support from that committee.

From a young age, Whalen knew she was passionate about performing. She first found her voice on stage, and turned her love of music into a career.

Ultimately, her life in the spotlight was shattered by a stalker.

"I spent more than a decade on the road as a professional musician, and during the time that I was performing, I acquired a dangerous stalker," Whalen said. "I got law enforcement involved here in the state of Colorado. We went to trial. He was convicted by a jury, and he was sent to jail for four and a half years for stalking.

According to Whalen, that Arapahoe County trial was in 2017. She thought once her stalker was behind bars that she would return to center stage, but found it incredibly difficult to do so.

"I was experiencing terrible stage fright, horrible anxiety, and it started to feel so bad to perform that I had to step away from the stage," said Whalen. "I left the state of Colorado. I couldn't really get a sense of safety here. I did many years of therapy. I worked with a lot of trauma specialists, and I started to put the pieces of my life back together and heal.

Whalen was not prepared for what happened next, when the U.S. Supreme Court reexamined her case in 2023.

"The court ruled that a victim's fear alone was insufficient, and they required proof that the perpetrator knew that the messages that he was sending could be received as threatening, and they vacated the conviction," Whalen explained. "They ruled that the messages that he had sent to me over those years of my life, as threatening as they were, were actually protected free speech.

The case could have been retried in Colorado, but Whalen said it would require her to take the witness stand once again.

"I could not go back to trial after everything I had been through. The one thing that I could not do was testify in person in front of the stalker again," Whalen said. "This time, [prosecutors] were required to prove that he knew that the messages that he sent could be received as threats, and so without my testimony, the state had no case, and they dropped the case. The record was sealed. If you call the State of Colorado today, they'll tell you there was no crime committed, and it seems just so unfair.

Whalen said she could not bring herself to testify in front of the defendant for a second time.

"In my case, he was loudly reacting every time I said that I didn't know him or that I was afraid of him. He's making physical gestures and using his voice to, kind of like, imply disgust, and that's so traumatizing," Whalen said. It's so invasive, and it's just so difficult. Such a difficult experience to have to go through.

She desperately wanted another conviction for her stalker, but was faced with what she called an impossible decision.

"If I had the option to testify remotely, I would have gone back to trial," Whalen said. "After I decided not to testify, I thought to myself, why do we have to testify in person?

That led Whalen to advocate for SB26-095, saying it will shield future survivors from avoidable trauma.

She told Denver7 she recently spoke at the National Crime Victims Law Conference, where she discussed the new Colorado law. According to Whalen, representatives from eight other states approached her to discuss how to enact similar laws.

"It is a really incredible feeling knowing that my voice was silenced by this crime that happened to me, and it's now coming back. I'm using it in a different way," said Whalen with a smile. "Maybe my voice is not heard in quite the same way that it was when I was touring the country and performing night after night, but it's still being heard and it's still making an impact, and I'm really proud of that."

DENVER  Colorado Democratic Rep. Brittany Pettersen co-introduced a package of 6 bipartisan bills today aimed at helping communities prepare for, respond to, and recover from destructive wildfires.

The legislation comes after the Aspen Acres and Willow fires burned more than 100,000 acres across Colorado, destroyed 300 homes, and disrupted the lives of families and small businesses across the state.

Denver7's Shannon Ogden speaks with Rep. Brittany Pettersen following the bills' introductions

"The recent Aspen Acres and Willow fires were devastating to our communities and natural environment. Our Colorado families understand that wildfire season is no longer just a few months of the year. The threat is constant and increasing due to climate change, and we need an all-hands-on-deck approach," Pettersen said. "These bills will help us turn wildfire research into action, streamlines and removes partisanship from our processes, protect every firefighter exposed to dangerous conditions, combat the devastating mountain pine beetle outbreaks that make our forests more vulnerable to destructive fires, and ensure communities receive the disaster-mitigation resources they need on time, when it matters."

Since 2012, Colorado has experienced 17 of its top 20 wildfires in history. In total, nearly 2,800 homes in Colorado have been lost to fires in the past 14 years, according to the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control.

"We need urgent action and it's really making sure we're streamlining the process with our agencies so we're coordinating, getting resources to people as quickly as possible but also looking at what we can do in the long term for prevention and mitigation and then recovery dollars," said Pettersen.

Wildfire Research Coordination Act Introduced by Pettersen and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), this bill directs the Department of Defense's Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program to coordinate with the Department of Interior's Joint Fire Science Program when establishing fire-research priorities. The goal is to support increased collaboration among federal agencies to improve wildfire research and prevention strategies and to better ensure that recommendations are deployed in the field when wildfires strike.

Wildfire Responder Protection Act Also introduced by Pettersen and Lawler, this bill expands the definition of "firefighter" to include all personnel who support fire activities and are exposed to fire-related hazards. It ensures all those who fight fires are entitled to proper health care coverage when exposed to hazardous conditions.

Emergency Mountain Pine Beetle Response Act Introduced by Pettersen and Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO), this bill would establish a Mountain Pine Beetle Emergency Response Program within the U.S. Forest Service. The program would provide grant opportunities to on-the-ground partners working in coordination with the Forest Service to mitigate mountain pine beetle threats on National Forest System land. Mountain pine beetle outbreaks can kill large numbers of trees, damage watersheds and outdoor recreation areas, and create dangerous conditions that can worsen the threat of wildfires.

Mountain Pine Beetle Coordination Act Also introduced by Pettersen and Neguse, this bill would direct the Forest Service to enter into cooperative agreements with states to prevent, monitor, and respond to mountain pine beetle outbreaks. It would give localities additional resources and a stronger framework for responding to emerging outbreaks before they cause widespread and lasting damage.

The pine beetle bills are endorsed by Governor Jared Polis, the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, and the Colorado State Forest Service.

Guaranteed Disaster Assistance Act Introduced by Pettersen, this bill would ensure that Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding is distributed to states following a major disaster or when Fire Management Assistance Grant funding is provided to respond to a wildfire. Currently, access to certain long-term hazard-mitigation resources can depend on whether the president issues a major disaster declaration. This legislation would make mitigation funding automatically available, allowing states and communities to begin recovering and reducing future risks without waiting for an additional presidential declaration.

HUD Disaster Information Improvements Act Introduced by Pettersen and Rep. Tim Moore (R-NC), this bill would require the Department of Housing and Urban Development to coordinate with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Administration to support families and businesses when a disaster strikes. The increased coordination would allow federal support to reach communities affected by wildfires and natural disasters more efficiently.

DENVER A new Colorado law taking effect next month will require minors to have written permission from a parent or guardian before obtaining a motorcycle endorsement.

The law, which takes effect on Aug. 12, comes amid a growing trend of electric motorcycles and dirt bikes on Colorado roads, leading to an increase in crashes, according to a Colorado State Patrol news release Wednesday.

Existing Colorado law requires E-motorcycle riders to be at least 16 years old and have a valid drivers license with a motorcycle endorsement.

Riders must also have valid registration, proof of insurance, and minors are required to wear a helmet.

But come Aug. 12, those under 18 seeking a motorcycle endorsement will need to bring an additional piece of paper to the DMV: written parental or guardian consent.

Previously, a minor just needed consent from anyone over the age of 21.

The new law stems from House Bill 26-1079, which passed the Colorado Legislature unanimously in April and aims to improve safety and decrease the number of traumatic incidents.

Shimon Blau, a Denver doctor who said he was saddened and alarmed by the victory of Democrat Melat Kiros in last months 1st Congressional District primary, has qualified for the November ballot as an independent candidate.

Blau submitted 2,212 petition signatures to the Colorado Secretary of States Office on July 9 to run as an unaffiliated candidate. Election officials said Friday afternoon that 1,918 of those signatures were from valid registered voters in the district, above the 1,500-signature threshold to make the ballot.

Blau, who is Jewish, wrote on Facebook earlier this month that he was particularly concerned by what I view as Ms. Kiross anti-Semitic rhetoric and her refusal to meet with leaders of Denvers Jewish community to address their concerns.

Blau has since set his Facebook settings to private. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday afternoon.

Kiros, a democratic socialist who defeated 15-term U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette in a stunning upset in the June 30 Democratic primary, has been criticized for comments she made about 9/11, Israels legitimacy as a nation, and the deadly firebombing attack on Jews and others demonstrating in Boulder last year an act she refused to call antisemitic.

Read the full story from our media partners at the Denver Post here.

DENVER  The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Colorado, arguing that the states laws granting in-state tuition and certain financial aid benefits to undocumented students violate the Constitution.

The complaint was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Denver.

President Donald Trumps DOJ claims in the suit that federal law prohibits states from giving postsecondary education benefits to people not lawfully present based on state residency unless the same benefits are available to all U.S. citizens regardless of where they live.

An alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible based on residence within a State (or a political subdivision) for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit (in no less an amount, duration, and scope) without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident, reads the federal statuette that the DOJ is citing in the complaint.

Denver7's Claire Lavezzorio breaks down the new lawsuit filed Thursday

The lawsuit is specifically targeting Colorados 2013 voter-approved ASSET Act and related statutes.

The act allows undocumented students who attended Colorado high schools or lived in the state long enough to qualify for resident tuition to be eligible for in-state tuition and state aid, such as the Colorado Application for State Financial Aid.

The DOJ repeatedly argues these benefits are tied to Colorado residency and therefore conflict with federal law.

These statutes constitute blatant unequal treatment favoring illegal aliens over U.S. citizens. Worse, such preferential treatment is squarely prohibited and preempted by Congress, reads the complaint.

The DOJs claims are some of the same arguments opponents of the bill touched on in 2013: that taxpayer-subsidized tuition for those in the country unlawfully undermines federal immigration laws.

Supporters argued that the states economy benefits when undocumented workers are allowed the same educational opportunities.

The complaint also references two Trump executive orders from 2025 directing federal agencies to prevent taxpayer-funded benefits from going to undocumented immigrants and to challenge state policies favoring undocumented immigrants over U.S. citizens.

The Colorado Attorney Generals Office said it had no comment when Denver7 reached out.

However, Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper sent Denver7 a statement, condemning the lawsuit.

"Instead of actually working to fix our broken immigration system, the Trump administration is trying to reignite yesterdays culture wars," Hickenlooper said in a statement. "These young people, many of whom have never had a home other than Colorado, want an education so they can build their lives."

It's unclear how many Colorado students this lawsuit could impact.

DENVER Denver Mayor Mike Johnston used his third State of the City address Tuesday night at the National Western Center to unveil two new signature initiatives a task force aimed at delivering universal childcare and a sweeping development vision he's calling the "Mile High Line."

Johnston built the back half of his address around three "opportunities" he says will define Denver's next chapter: child care, homeownership, and neighborhood connectivity.

Citing a shortfall of licensed child care slots fewer than 5,000 for 31,000 kids under age 4, with families paying an average of $25,000 a year per child Johnston announced the Haynes-Gary Task Force, named for Anna Jo Haynes and Nancy Gary, the two women credited with building Denver's earliest preschool infrastructure.

READ MORE: Denver cuts local childcare licensing with hopes of expanding access

The task force is charged with cutting red tape for providers, building a caregiver pipeline, and charting a path to affordable care within five years but the full "childcare for all" plan isn't due until "before the end of our second term," a term Johnston hasn't yet won. The near-term step is a six-month listening tour.

On homeownership, Johnston pledged to help bring for-sale condos back to Denver after what he described as a generation-long freeze driven by Colorado's construction-defect insurance laws, and said the city would use its own land and financing tools including the Downtown Development Authority to speed up and cheapen construction. The section carried no specific unit target or funding figure.

The speech's biggest reveal was a single name given to seven major development sites across the city: Park Hill, the Globeville-Elyria-Swansea area around the National Western Center, downtown, Ball Arena/River Mile, Burnham Yard (the future Broncos stadium site), Old Mile High (the current stadium site once the team relocates), and Santa Fe Yards.

Johnston is calling the combined vision the Mile High Line. All seven sites sit on existing light rail and would eventually be linked by bike and pedestrian paths. He set a goal of 20,000 new housing units across the sites, calling it an economic, housing, transit, climate and equity strategy rolled into one.

Asked directly for a funding source and construction timeline, Johnston acknowledged the sites are on wildly different clocks Elyria-Swansea "could be ready to start next year," while the Broncos aren't vacating the current stadium site until 2031 and did not name a specific funding mechanism beyond the city's landholding and the DDA's existing tools.

In a one-on-one interview ahead of the address, Johnston was pressed on the gap between his stated 2026 goals and the city's actual standing. Asked why gun-related homicides are up nearly 40% year-to-date against his own January goal of a 10% reduction, Johnston didn't dispute the trend but recontextualized it: the increase, he said, still leaves Denver at roughly half the murder rate the city averaged between 2020 and 2023. He described the pattern as a normal reversion after a steep, multi-year decline and pointed to a new "hot street" patrol strategy, alongside continued outreach in high-crime areas, as the response going forward.

Watch Veronica Acosta's report in the video below:

On child care, pressed on why the task force's full deliverable is tied to a second term he hasn't won, Johnston reframed the criticism as being about scope rather than timeline: universal childcare, he said, doesn't exist in most American cities, and building it starts with listening before piloting a plan next year and scaling after that.

On the Mile High Line's financing, Johnston leaned on the land the city already owns nearly 150 acres across the sites, plus the Downtown Development Authority's existing investment tools rather than naming any new funding source.

Johnston opened the address with an extended homage to Justina Ford, the first Black woman licensed to practice medicine in Colorado, using her story to frame Denver as an "open frontier" a city defined by opportunity rather than pedigree. He leaned on that framing to contrast Denver's response to national political turmoil, citing the city's handling of an influx of migrants bused in from Texas as proof that "change drives hope."

On accomplishments, Johnston touted a 64% drop in unsheltered homelessness since 2023 which he called the largest such decline recorded by any American city illustrated through the story of a formerly homeless Denver man, identified only as Seth, who moved from the streets into stable housing and a trucking career with the help of the city's outreach program. He also cited a 31% drop in overall crime and a 45% drop in violent gun crime in the La Alma Lincoln Park neighborhood following a targeted policing and community partnership there, alongside a citywide homicide rate roughly half of what it was between 2020 and 2023.

On housing, Johnston said the city has cut permitting time from three years to 180 days and delivered 6,000 affordable units, crediting the changes with helping bring some Denver rents down as much as 10% over 18 months. On downtown, he cited 108 new businesses since January 2025 and foot traffic back to 90% of pre-pandemic levels, alongside November's passage of the billion-dollar Vibrant Denver bond measure.

The listening tour for the Haynes-Gary Task Force is expected to begin within the next six months. Elyria-Swansea is the earliest Mile High Line site with a stated construction window, potentially starting next year, while redevelopment of the current stadium site remains years off pending the Broncos' 2031 move to Burnham Yard.

The mayor's address wasn't without interruption; three people were escorted out for outbursts.

A bipartisan board signed off the City and County of Denvers Primary election results Friday morning, officially finalizing all results and bringing the election to a formal close with certification from the Denver Clerk and Recorder.

We have the party chairs from the Republican and Democratic parties come in, and they go over the results of every ballot that was cast, and we look at all of them to make sure there are no discrepancies, Sabrina Allie, City and County of Denver deputy clerk and recorder, told Denver7. It's a really great system that we have here in Colorado where we can audit everything that comes into us and ensure that every ballot that is cast is properly vetted, and we check all of that with a bipartisan team from each party.

Watch this story in the video player below:

The certification of Denver's Primary Election came just a day after President Donald Trump gave an address to the nation where he made claims about vulnerabilities within U.S. election systems. Trump also claimed China interfered in the 2020 election, though he did not provide specific evidence for such claims.

Our elections in Denver are incredibly secure. They're incredibly accurate, and we audit them so that we can prove that," Allie said.

She added Denver is the national gold standard in the country because of the way we do elections in Colorado.

"We have paper ballots. We are auditing them to make sure that they are correctly counted by our machines, and we do that with bipartisan teams to reassure the public, Allie said, as she encouraged people to go to the denvervotes.org website to check out all of the information about how Denver's voting process works.

"We also encourage people to come down and take a tour of the facility and learn all about the process," she said." You can see every single part of it.

Registered Denver voters will begin receiving their ballots for the November election 22 days before Election Day.

Shontel Lewis has filed the paperwork to run for Denver mayor in a crowded field of candidates for the 2027 election, according to the Denver Clerk and Recorder's Office.

There are currently eight other candidates, none of which are current Denver Mayor Mike Johnston. In the pool of candidates is Denver native Lisa Caldern who is once again running after losing to Johnston in 2023.

Lewis was elected to represent District 8 on Denver City Council in 2023, making her one of the first two openly black LGBTQ+ members on the council. Denver City Council members can serve up to three consecutive terms of four years each, and Lewis is only in her first term.

She previously served as a vice president at the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless and as an elected director on the Regional Transportation District (RTD) board.

Lewis was born and raised in the Five Points neighborhood, according to her Denver City Council bio. She graduated Manual High School and the University of Colorado Denver. She went from being a student in Denver Public Schools (DPS) to becoming a director at DPS. Lewis now has two sons one college-aged student and one toddler.

The Municipal Election is scheduled for Tuesday, April 6, 2027.

DENVER  Colorado's 8th Congressional District race between Democrat Manny Rutinel and Republican incumbent Gabe Evans is drawing national attention as one of the most competitive and closely watched races in the country.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has selected Rutinel as one of 44 candidates it is backing through its "Red to Blue" campaign, a program designed to flip Republican-held seats to Democratic control.

But Republicans say the endorsement will not change the outcome of the race, expressing confidence that voters will reject Rutinel's platform.

"Meatless Manny Rutinel wants to end animal agriculture, eradicate fossil fuels, and let criminals roam free," said GOP spokesperson Zach Bannon in a statement. "While DC Democrats may endorse Rutinel's radical agenda, hardworking Coloradans will resoundingly reject far-left liberal Manny Rutinel this fall."

Lindsay Reilly of the DCCC said Rutinel's background helps him understand the challenges facing Colorado families.

"Manny Rutinel is the son of a single working mom, a single immigrant woman. He knows the challenges that Colorado families are facing, and I think he has a story that really resonates, and he already has a record in the state legislature of working to lower costs," Reilly said.

Political experts, including the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, list the 8th Congressional District race as a toss-up.

Republicans currently hold a razor-thin majority in Congress, 218-to-212 with four vacancies. The DCCC says it is confident it will flip the House to Democratic control in November.

HUDSON, Colo. A defunct correctional facility in Weld County is set to become the second U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in the state of Colorado, after GEO Group officials announced Monday they had signed a multiyear contract with the Trump administration to expand their foothold in the Centennial State.

The long-awaited agreement, which Denver7 first reported on last year, will add about 1,200 beds to the more than 1,500 beds already in operation at the ICE detention facility in Aurora.

Denver7 reporter Maggie Bryan went to Hudson to get community reaction. Watch her report in the video below:

Located about 30 miles northeast of Denver, the former Big Horn Correctional Facility in Hudson operated for about five years before shutting down in 2014.

The facility is owned by Chicago-based Highlands Real Estate Investment Trust and is expected to generate about $85 million in annual revenue in the first full year of operations, according to a news release from GEO Group.

We expect that our company-leased Big Horn Facility in Colorado will play an important role in helping meet the need for increased federal immigration processing center bedspace, said GEO Group CEO and founder George C. Zoley in a prepared statement. We are proud of our 40-year public-private partnership with ICE, and we stand ready to continue to assist the federal government in meeting its immigration enforcement priorities.

The Town of Hudson responded to the agreement in a two-page community update on Monday, stressing the town does not have authority to approve or block federal immigration detention operations at the site because it is privately owned by Highlands REIT.

Town leaders said they have not received several key details from federal agencies, including when operations could begin, how many detainees or staff may be involved, potential traffic impacts, utility demands, or emergency service needs. Town officials acknowledged residents have strong opinions about the proposed detention operations and said their focus will remain on transparency, public safety, and protecting local resources.

Hudson Town Councilmember Zachary Reyes told Denver7 in an emailed statement he believes the town is prepared for the amount of water and wastewater the facility will use, and said he expects transparency from facility operators.

"I would greatly appreciate the operators of the facility to have transparency with the residents of Hudson as well as an off hands approach when it comes to federal law enforcement with the residents of Hudson," said Reyes.

Speaking to Denver7 last year about plans to expand immigration detention capacity in Colorado, both the towns mayor and manager said they were apolitical about ICEs presence in their jurisdiction.

"We are a small population of 1,650 people, so to think we would be able to move the needle one way or the other with an ICE facility coming here, it's just not realistic," said Hudson Town Manager Bryce Lange.

Tim Macdonald, the legal director of American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, said the nonprofit was disappointed about the signed contract between the GEO Group and ICE.

"Everyone across our state ought to be troubled that our federal tax money are going to this for-profit company that has an incentive to push a mass deportation agenda," said Macdonald.

He said the nonprofit has spent the past 18 months requesting records from ICE to learn more about plans to convert the Hudson Correctional Facility into an ICE detention center.

"We had to sue them to get documents about their plans at at the Hudson facility and to expand immigration detention here in Colorado, and they fought us every step of the way," he said.

Last year, the ACLU obtained documents showing several companies had submitted pitches to convert five other facilities to detention sites: Two in Colorado Springs, two in Walsenburg, and one in La Junta. Its not yet clear if other facilities in Colorado will also become new immigration detention centers.

Hudson residents and some members of Colorados Democratic Congressional delegation have been outspoken about bringing an ICE facility to Hudson since plans were announced last year.

Back in February, U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet, along with Rep. Brittany Petersen, sent a joint letter to former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, asking her to abandon those plans, citing concerns with lack of oversight and reduced access to legal representation for detained individuals.

In a statement sent to Denver7 a day after this story was first published, a DHS spokesperson said the contract with the Hudson correctional facility will strengthen "ICE's ability to implement the Administrations immigration enforcement priorities, restore integrity to the nations immigration system, and protect public safety," and added the Trump administration encourages immigrants to come to the U.S. legally. "If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return."

In separate social media posts Monday, Bennet and Hickenlooper expressed their concerns about the new facility, and said they would fight to stop the Hudson ICE detention center from opening.

Colorado has more than 20 million acres of public lands, which are largely considered a cornerstone of the state.

A recent analysis found Colorado lost more public lands employees in 2025 than any other state in the country.

While those in favor of the cuts argue it made the federal agencies more efficient, others are worried by the loss within that workforce.

Dorian McDaniel frequents Green Mountain Trail and Denver7 joined her there on a sunny July morning. She has lived in Colorado since 2016, but said that from a young age she knew she wanted to move from California to the Centennial State.

As soon as I got out here, just got immersed into all the outdoor activity," McDaniel said.

As she climbed the trail, she looked over the skyline of Denver which was thick with haze.

"This is one of the first clearer days," McDaniel remarked, noting that earlier in the week the haze was worse. Everyone was on edge about this fire season, and so to see it happening is just so sad for me and for the future of our forests.

She fears the layoffs from last year are coming at a dangerous time, saying it is only the start of the summer and fires are already burning tens of thousands of acres across the state.

It's just not okay for Coloradans and our forests to have all these job cuts," said McDaniel.

McDaniel is a member of an advocacy group called Mountain Mamas, which has three central initiatives: clean air for children, a clean climate, and protecting access to public lands for future generations.

Denver7 wanted to know what is happening behind the scenes with public lands employees, and sat down with an anonymous national park ranger to better understand the on the ground impacts.

We're running on a skeleton crew, even less than a skeleton crew," they said. There are not enough rangers to properly manage these national parks, and there's not enough rangers to properly keep people safe in their national parks.

According to an analysis of federal workforce data, almost 6,000 federal public lands jobs were lost in 2025 throughout six western states. Among those states Arizona, California, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, and Nevada the Centennial State lost the most jobs in the nation at 1,753.

The report was conducted by Prospect Partners and Hawk Eye Strategies, which are consulting firms composed of former government officials.

The overview for Colorado from the analysis shows that the loss of 1,753 public lands jobs accounts for 26% of that workforce in the state. It continues to claim that 36% of the reductions were aimed at "junior and probationary employees, the newly hired federal employees who are the foundation of visitor services, field operations, and emergency operations."

Roughly a third of the jobs lost in Colorado were due to moving personnel from the field to Washington, D.C. as staff were reassigned from regional offices to the Department of the Interior (DOI) Headquarters, the report says.

Denver7 asked the White House about the findings from this analysis, and a spokesperson replied with a statement which said, in part, "President Trump has been committed to eliminating bureaucratic overhead so that taxpayer dollars go towards what actually benefits the American people."

The statement continued to describe the people behind the reports as "washed-out former Biden administration staffers," adding that the Trump administration's "commitment to streamlining operations has not come at the cost of retaining first responders, parks services, or energy production employees."

A White House official tells Denver7 that fewer employees have not led to "fewer results" for the American people at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). According to that official, the BLM has approved over 6,106 Applications for Permits to Drill, which is more than were approved in the last 15 fiscal years.

Denver7 shared the response to the analysis from the White House with the anonymous national park ranger.

They have only added more bureaucracy, more red tape, more hoops to jump through. So, this has not been efficiency at all, not even a little bit," the ranger said. "Everything that they have done was possibly the complete opposite to what people on the ground level would have suggested to make the government more efficient.

The ranger conducted the interview anonymously, since their job is at risk for speaking with the press in such a raw manner. Denver7 verified the employee through two different sources.

They only spoke from their perspective, and not on behalf of all park rangers.

Many other people probably are afraid to come forward, because they fear the loss of their job and therefore their livelihood," the ranger said. A lot of our jobs are tied to our health insurance in our agency. A lot of the jobs are also tied to our housing. So, if you lose your job, you lose your health insurance, you lose your housing, and if you don't have any support systems, you are basically homeless without any help.

Still, the ranger felt they had to come forward and share what they have seen inside of a national park.

"What I'm seeing is just so egregious and so concerning, it would be wrong for me to not say something," they said. If you are not in federal civilian service, then you typically do not have any idea what is actually happening behind the scenes, what your taxpayer dollars are going to.

The ranger said this work, for many, is done by people who are passionate about their job.

"Unfortunately, you know, for some people it is just a job. For a lot of people however, this is their life, this is their career, this is their calling, this is their passion. And unfortunately, oftentimes we are stuck paying the passion tax," they said. In the past there's always been a passion tax, just like for teachers, doctors, you know, volunteers, but now the passion tax has just gotten astronomically high.

According to the ranger, the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) helped bring jobs back to public lands agencies following the first Trump administration. They said that ended with the start of the second Trump administration.

"Unfortunately, there's what is notoriously known as the Valentine's Day massacre, and that was when a number of Forest Service and National Park Service, and other agencies as well, but thousands of people got fired indiscriminately," the ranger said.

The general public is not feeling a lot of the effects of the layoffs, the ranger said, because of how hard staff is working. Still, they said there are obvious impacts to those who see the inner workings of daily operations.

There's no money for overtime in a lot of national parks," the ranger said. "There's less people to save people when they get in trouble in national parks. So, less people to come for search and rescues, less law enforcement rangers to respond, less normal rangers to clean bathrooms. It is causing rangers to also have to go outside of their job description, which again is not what we signed up for, but we are public service, and a lot of us will do it because it's for the greater good of the public.

In addition, the ranger said the National Park Service (NPS) is lacking when it comes to supervisor roles.

"I am doing the job of about three different people at my level, and some of the work of someone from above my level, because those positions are just vacant. And we have not been able to fill any of these vacancies, barely, if at all," the ranger said. There are just not enough hands to do all the work that is necessary, and now the conversation in many places is, how do we shrink operations? How do we reduce operations? How do we pull back? And that is the opposite of what the public wants.

When asked what the ranger fears about the future, they said the potential privatization and increased extraction of public lands. They plan to hang on to this job for as long as they can.

"My line is when they come to my park and start to try to cut down trees or drill or privatize it," the ranger said. "I can't say exactly how much longer, timewise, I can survive. I already survived one Trump administration, and a lot of us are now determined to make it through the second Trump administration, because we know that it is not forever.

Denver7 asked the ranger what they think about the impact of layoffs during a time of high fire danger.

"I do think that this summer, if we are lucky to not have very many fires, will maybe be all right. But, if the fires keep happening, if more fires crop up, eventually we're going to get strung so thin that we're not going to be able to fight them all effectively or in a timely manner to reduce damage and reduce harm," the ranger said.

Scott Fitzwilliams retired from the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in 2025 after almost 35 years. Most recently, he served as the forest supervisor on the White River National Forest, but Fitzwilliams tells Denver7 he worked in seven different states over the course of his career.

"It's a great experiment in democracy, where we've said we're going to set these hundreds of millions of acres aside, owned by the public for the long term and managed for the public good," Fitzwilliams said. It's such a wonderful mission, it's such a uniquely American ideal, and so I just have a real passion around public lands, and was really fortunate to work all that time with the Forest Service all over the West.

Fitzwilliams left because of what he called a "deliberate dismantling" of the agency he loves.

"I understand we've got to be efficient, but that's not what I'm seeing," Fitzwilliams said. We know the fire situation, we know the drought situation, and we have a public land system across the board, whether it's Forest Service, BLM, Park Service, that's never been more in demand by the American public."

Some impacts of the layoffs will be subtle, according to Fitzwilliams, who said it may take some time to see the true extent of the jobs lost.

Especially over the long term, what we're going to see is a gradual lack of maintenance and management, attention to the things people care about: a trail that's cleared and safe, a bathroom that's clean and doesn't stink, an office that has people that can answer questions or provide guidance," said Fitzwilliams.

He continued to speak about how he believes the layoffs have impacted the firefighting ability of the agency.

The fire staffing stayed about the same. The people whose full-time job, that's what they do, that's that's their job, you know, Congress would never let them cut the fire staffing. The problem is those 6,000 people [laid off] support the fire. They serve on national incident management teams as finance people, or planning people, or meteorologists," said Fitzwilliams.

Fitzwilliams said many of the employees who either left or were let go in 2025 had institutional knowledge that takes years to learn.

"It takes decades to rebuild some of that," Fitzwilliams said.

In the idyllic community of Grand Lake sits Shadowcliff Mountain Lodge & Retreat Center, where Alexander Thompson is the executive director.

So many people come up because they want to experience the wonder and beauty of Colorado's gorgeous mountains and natural lands," Thompson said.

The lodge hosts retreat groups in addition to hikers passing through while on the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail (CDT). Shadowcliff was founded by Thompson's grandparents, and was constructed with the help of 650 volunteers from 42 countries over the course of 25 years.

Thompson believes his grandparents would have spoken out about the public lands layoffs, as he decided to do.

"I think they would be proud. They cared about this place deeply, and I think they would have fought for it," Thompson said while walking around the property.

Shadowcliff bears a daily reminder of the 2020 East Troublesome Fire, with the burn scar visible from almost all sides of the lodge.

There were firefighters on our land fighting that fire, that protected Shadowcliff and protected the town of Grand Lake from burning," Thompson said. "Grand Lake exists still it did not burn because of the work of federal workforce people who fought that fire, and who have continued to do work in collaboration with local municipalities and the county.

Colorado Congressman Joe Neguse is behind the Public Lands Workforce Stability Act," which would not allow future layoffs within DOI or the USFS until 2030.

It's reasonable to say, let's put a freeze on layoffs until we understand the impacts of these things," Thompson said about the concept of the bill. "People will get tired. You'll lose senior seasoned park service workers, forest service workers, BLM workers, people who have experience and expertise and institutional knowledge that's really vital in keeping their initiatives and their work and their projects moving forward. So, I would support that as a policy.

For Thompson, he felt a personal responsibility to speak out on this subject.

"How do I as a person, how does Shadowcliff as an organization, how do we as a nation tend to our resources? Like we have this incredible place, why would we not take care of it? Thompson said. "I feel hopeful because I live in this community, and I see the way that people show up for each other. I see the way that people show up for the town. I see the way that people are engaged and active in these conversations... I learned things from these mountains, and one of the things that I learned is that after devastation comes regeneration. So again, when I think in terms of that scale, that's a reason I think to feel hopeful.

DENVER The too-close-to-call GOP primary for Colorado governor has been settled more than a week after the election.

The Associated Press has projected that Marine Corps veteran Victor Marx has won the Republican nomination, defeating his opponent, Barbara Kirkmeyer, by at least 2,142 votes.

The June 30 Republican primary for governor had been too close to call at the end of election night, with Marx having a slight lead.

However, most counties, including the largest ones, have now reported their final results.

Marx will face off against Democrat Phil Weiser in November.

After his win on Thursday, the Republican nominee for Colorado governor took to social media to thank volunteers and voters for helping secure the nomination.

"THANK YOU, COLORADO. Because of you, your time, your door knocking, your phone calls, and your belief in something bigger than politics, we just won the Republican nomination for Governor.This victory belongs to every volunteer and supporter who refused to give up on our state. I am grateful beyond words.Now the real work begins. Colorado families are facing real challenges. High costs. Unaffordable housing and healthcare. Fears about unsafe neighborhoods and schools. Lets face it, Colorado has changed, and not for the better.But there is hope. We can unite and build a better, stronger Colorado for all of us. This isnt about a single political party. Its about a single, unified Colorado!The general election starts now. Lets go win it together," Marx said in a social media post.

Marx is something of a wild card candidate with an eclectic past. He made big claims about his life, including that his abusive stepfather forced Marx, at 7 years old, to kill a man.

His Democratic opponent released a statement of his own.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser criticized Marx, claiming the Republican is out of step with Colorado values.

"From the little we know about Victor Marx, his views and style are far out of step with Coloradans, and his nomination for governor is a threat to our states values and our future. Governing is serious business, and Coloradans have a clear choice in this race: a politics of showing up, listening, and fighting for the rights and freedoms of all or a politics of deception, demonization, and distraction. As governor, Ill meet this moment by fighting against lawlessness and corruption and for a brighter future for all Coloradans," Weiser said in a statement.

A third candidate, state Rep. Scott Bottoms, trailed both Marx and Kirkmeyer.

Marx led the GOP field in fundraising, with about $2.8 million in contributions and about $200,000 in the bank heading into the campaigns final 20-day stretch. Marx more than doubled Kirkmeyers and Bottoms combined totals in each category.

Colorado hasnt elected a Republican as governor in more than two decades, and the state backed Democrat Kamala Harris for president by more than 10 points over Donald Trump in 2024.

Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, is term-limited.

Victor Marx has held a narrow, roughly 2,000-vote lead over state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer for several days, but the race is still too close to call as the window for voters to fix deficient ballots remains open.

Marx, a religious nonprofit leader, has led Kirkmeyer for nearly a week after overtaking the veteran lawmaker the day after polls closed in the June 30 primary. With more than 518,000 ballots counted, Marx led Kirkmeyer 39.8% to 39.5%, according to the Associated Press. The AP projected that 98% of votes had been counted.

State Rep. Scott Bottoms, a conservative pastor, was in third place, with 20.7% of the vote.

As it stood Tuesday afternoon, the 1,950-vote margin between Marx and Kirkmeyer was still outside the threshold required to trigger an automatic recount. Though Marx has held a steady lead over Kirkmeyer for several days, the AP has not yet called the race and likely wont until the end of the week.

Thats because voters have until Wednesday evening to cure any deficient ballots, meaning those with signature or voter verification issues. Voters whose ballots have been set aside are notified by their county election officials, and campaigns often work to cure ballots in close races.

Read the full story on The Denver Post

DENVER For survivors of child abuse and neglect, the trauma can last long after childhood. But for many, moving forward can be difficult when they can't access the records documenting what they went through.

Colorado lawmakers hope to change that.

A new bipartisan law, HB26-1234, is designed to make it easier for survivors to obtain records related to their child welfare cases, helping create a more consistent and streamlined process across the state.

For 20-year-old Stormi Husted of Lafayette, those records represent much more than paperwork.

"I came to Colorado when I was three years old... Lafayette specifically is my hometown," Husted said.

Like many young adults, Husted enjoys experimenting with makeup. She also has a tattoo that carries a deeply personal meaning.

"Getting that tattoo was something to remind myself constantly that I'm enough," she said.

Behind that reminder is a difficult childhood.

"Going into my teen years, it ended up getting a little harder with my parents using drugs in the home," Husted said. "Me and my brother were then sent into foster care together."

As she got older, Husted said she wanted documentation of what happened to her.

"People didn't believe me, and I wanted proof," she said. "I wanted it in writing that it did happen."

When she was 16, Husted tried to obtain her child welfare records. She needed them for medical care and to qualify for scholarships available to former foster youth.

"I needed a scholarship or a grant, and there was a Foster Ed one that you have to prove that you were in foster care," she said.

Watch Peter Choi's report in the player below:

Instead, she says she encountered a confusing and expensive process.

"They told me it was going to be $4,000," Husted said. "I was like, 'I am a foster kid. I don't have that kind of money.' It's my story on paper."

She eventually contacted her county commissioner's office for help.

Rep. Gretchen Rydin, one of the lawmakers behind HB26-1234, said the legislation is intended to eliminate those barriers.

"Let's provide some clarity on what the process actually is," Rydin said. "Let's streamline it a bit, and let's make the process more in line with how records are requested for school or medical records."

Rydin said survivors have already endured significant trauma and shouldn't have to relive it through complicated bureaucratic processes.

"So many folks who experience abuse and neglect have already experienced trauma," she said. "For them to have to re-experience that through bureaucratic red tape is unfair."

For Husted, access to those records means more than preserving her past.

The documents can help open doors to scholarships, medical care and other resources that support former foster youth as they build their futures.

For Husted and her brother, she says they're another step toward moving forward.

The law officially will go into effect on August 12, 2026.

Two lawyers said after recommending Colorado Governor Jared Polis deny Tina Peters clemency, their choice to speak publicly about him ignoring the guidance got them terminated from the clemency advisory board on Wednesday.

According to the termination letter obtained by Denver7, the two members of Polis' Executive Clemency Advisory Board were removed due to a breach of confidentiality.

After Polis commuted Peters nine-year sentence, board members Hannah Seigel Proff and Azra Taslimi revealed the board had unanimously voted twice to reject Peters application for a shorter sentence.

"I think we decided ultimately to speak out on this particular application because of the inconsistencies within how it was handled," Taslimi said.

In mid-June, after Peters release from prison, the two attorneys penned an opinion piece in the Denver Post, saying Polis' decision reflected a troubling problem.

A statement from a spokesperson with Polis' office said, in part, "publicly disclosing board recommendations and how members vote on any case threatens the credibility of the board."

However, Proff and Taslimi believe the public had a right to know what happened behind closed doors in this case.

"Miss Peters got to cut the line," Taslimi said. She was granted favor in a way that no one else does, and that is unequal justice, and that's why we spoke out.

The governors decision to commute Peters sentence comes after a Colorado Court of Appeals judge ruled in April her original sentence should be thrown out because her conviction was based, in part, on improper consideration for Peters right to free speech.

"Once the court decision came down, I sort of breathed a sigh of relief. I thought, 'This is taken off the clemency board's docket,'" Proff said. Many of us who were following the issue closely thought that once the Court of Appeals acted, that he [Polis] would stand down and let the judicial department go through and see what happened there.

Peters was convicted in August 2024 of first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty, failure to comply with requirements of the Secretary of State, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, and three counts of attempt to influence a public servant. In all, she was found guilty on seven state charges, four of which are felonies. Prosecutors said she was motivated by false conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.

Polis had repeatedly dropped hints that he was moving toward commuting Peters sentence. He faced a bipartisan push to keep Peters imprisoned amid ongoing pressure by the Trump administration to move Peters into federal custody.

Following his State of the State address, the governor told Denver7 he was considering clemency for Peters, as he does with countless other cases every year. Two months later, Polis again signaled he was considering clemency for the disgraced former county clerk after extending a deadline for clemency applications.

As part of her clemency, Peters was released on parole as of June 1, spending less than two years behind bars out of her nine year sentence.

Then Proff and Taslimi began their work on the clemency advisory board, reviewing Peters' application among many others.

Proff is a criminal defense attorney who served on the clemency board for more than seven years.

"It was an extreme pleasure and an honor to serve on Governor Polis' clemency board," Proff said. "We had a backlog of applications from the Hickenlooper administration, so we started, we hit the ground running, and had plenty of applications to review, and met at least every other month for the entire seven and a half years to review applications and have extremely tough conversations with a diverse group of individuals.

Taslimi is a civil rights attorney who was on the board for roughly three years. Taslimi described the position as "heavy work."

"We are engaging and reviewing applications of individuals who this is their last resort," Taslimi said. "This is sort of the last door that they have left to knock on, and so it's an immense responsibility, and that's how we approach the work.

The two said they treated Peters' application for clemency with the same amount of care and consideration as all of the other applications they received.

Everyone gets the same look, the same evaluation. It's the same process. There's no favor given to any one individual. And so, her application was just like everyone else. It was reviewed, we had a very similar discussion that we would on any other application, and we came to a unanimous decision," Taslimi said. We are a very diverse group with lots of different backgrounds, and there is robust advocacy and conversation that happens on these applications, and so coming to a consensus is no small deed. And so, the fact that we reviewed this application and came to a consensus, not once but twice, I think speaks volumes as to how everyone felt about it.

According to Taslimi and Proff, the board voted against approving Peters' application for clemency twice, with a second review being one of the inconsistencies the two noted.

No one gets a review twice by the board. Generally, we look at applications once, and once we deny it, it's never that someone gets to come back, submit additional information, have us look at it again. That was extended to Miss Peters, and then there was a denial twice," Taslimi said.

Taslimi said typically, eligibility for clemency comes after a defendant has exhausted all of their other options for judicial remedies.

"That hadn't happened in this case," Taslimi said about Peters.

In addition, board members questioned the authenticity of Peters' remorse.

We see so many applications written by hand in a jail cell, and then to see sort of legal letterhead, we just didn't think that the real remorse was there," Proff added. The reason we decided to speak out, and put our future on this board at risk to tell the public about what happened behind the scenes here, is because as soon as she [Peters] got out of prison, she started waving this false flag again and telling this story and spreading this misinformation. So, it was more of the same.

According to Taslimi and Proff, their positions have already been replaced.

"I think the problem with that certainly is there is a learning curve to being on the board. It takes time to figure out what's what," Taslimi said. "I think Governor Polis could have let us finish out the term, given that there are only one or two meetings left, but sometimes political egos get in the way.

One of the statements provided to Denver7 by Polis' office said it is "clearly agreed" that all members of the Executive Clemency Advisory Board keep all clemency applications, discussions and recommendations confidential. The statement ended by saying that "applicants going forward can expect the full confidentiality promised."

Essentially, what the governor is saying, is that what I do with clemency doesn't need to be shown to the public. How I, you know, make these decisions and whether there's undue political influence, no one gets to review that and look at that, and you don't get to talk about it. And I think that's problematic," Taslimi said. There has to be accountability. If we allow for this process to occur in the shadows, then we allow for corruption to take place.

Proff and Taslimi said their biggest concern now is the status of the applications that still must be considered.

"We want their applications to be reviewed by a competent board. A board that comes with the experience that's needed and necessary, and to make good decisions, and we want Governor Polis to show the same mercy and empathy that he showed to Tina Peters," Taslimi said.

Read the full, most recent statement, from Polis' office below:

The Supreme Court struck down limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates for Congress and president.

The limits had been in place to prevent large donors from circumventing caps on contributions to a candidate by directing money to a party with the understanding the money would be spent for that candidate.

WATCH: Denver7's Shannon Ogden discusses the decision with the chair of the Colorado Republican Party

The ruling means national parties will now be able to make direct contributions to candidate campaigns. The decision is also expected to give Republicans a short-term boost because they have a large cash advantage over Democrats.

Craig Steiner, chair of the Colorado Republican Party, said he supports the ruling.

"I think it's a good thing. I think that's free speech and I'm glad the Supreme Court did that," he said. "It's very frustrating the sort of web of campaign finance laws that we've created supposedly to be transparent and to make things I guess more even, less big money. But at the end of the day, it becomes just a game that we're playing trying to figure out what we're allowed not to do. It's very frustrating for parties and candidates to work together because we should be able to work together."

At the end of May, the RNC reported having more than $125 million to spend, its highest-ever cash on hand total, according to its most recent Federal Election Commission filing in May. Meanwhile, the National Republican Senatorial Committee had more than $48 million on hand in its most recent report and the National Republican Congressional Committee had more than $81 million.

In the same period, the Democratic National Committee had $14.4 million on hand, while the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had roughly $37 million and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, roughly $73 million.

Democratic socialists are claiming high-profile victories across the country, from New York City to Colorado, and it appears the movement is gaining renewed momentum heading into the 2028 presidential election cycle.

"I think that shows how much energy is with the Democratic Socialists right now," said Hillary Ping, a member of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) Northern Colorado chapter.

WATCH: Denver7's Claire Lavezzorio talks with a DSA member and the Chair of Political Science at MSU Denver about what democratic socialist wins could mean

DSA is not a political party, but rather a movement to replace capitalism with "a system where ordinary people have a real voice in our workplaces, neighborhoods, and society," according to its website.

"It looks like a very robust public sphere where everyone's needs are being met, Ping said.

Chair of Political Science at MSU Denver Robert Preuhs explained democratic socialism first gained popularity a decade ago with Sen. Bernie Sanders and his presidential run.

And recently, it is back in the spotlight with the election of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist.

Now, others are riding the momentum, from wins in congressional primaries in New York City to democratic socialist Melat Kiros ousting 15-term Colorado Congresswoman Diana DeGette.

"I think people just find the word socialism really scary," Ping said. "We are advocating for policies that will improve and increase the freedom of the vast majority of everyone.

While there are many DSA ideals, Ping said supporters fight for medicare for all, housing for all, and a free Palestine.

Despite these recent wins for the movement, Preuhs explained that all of them are in deep blue urban cores.

"The real trick, if there is going to be an expansion, is really to then start to be able to talk to rural voters, talk to suburban voters, make the case that some of your policy proposals are in the interest of those different geographic areas and their voters," Preuhs said.

But after Kiros' win, those like Ping believe there is proof of concept.

"Yes, I'm very excited. I think that this is just the beginning," Ping said.

Still, Preuhs says the democratic socialist surge could further expose the Democratic Party's divide, just ahead of the 2028 presidential election.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis fired two members of his clemency advisory board Wednesday for publicly speaking against his decision to free Tina Peters after she was convicted of election-related crimes, his office confirmed to The Denver Post.

Polis removed Hannah Seigel Proff and Azra Taslimi from the advisory board because they breached the required duty of confidentiality by publicly divulging board members votes, according to letters from Polis reported Wednesday afternoon by the New York Times, which was first to break the news.

Following the 2020 election, Peters, then the Mesa County clerk and recorder, gave a person associated with election-denier Mike Lindell access to Mesa Countys voting system. She was found guilty of four felonies and sentenced in October 2024 to nine years in prison for the crimes.

Polis commuted her sentence in May, arguing that her sentence was harsher than people who were also convicted of attempting to influence a public official had received in other circumstances. He also argued that she was being punished for her speech.

He faced swift, pointed criticism from a slew of other Democrats, along with an official censure by the state party. Peters was released June 1.

Read the full story from our media partners at the Denver Post here.

Colorados 8th Congressional District is shaping up to be one of the most competitive races in the nation, with both parties expected to pour major resources into the toss-up seat.

State Rep. Manny Rutinel won Tuesday's Democratic primary election and will now face Republican incumbent Gabe Evans in November.

The district was drawn in 2021 and stretches from Adams County to Weld County, spanning urban and rural parts of the state and encompassing a variety of political ideologies. There have been only two election cycles in the district's history.

Democrat Yadira Caraveo was the first to assume office when she was elected in 2022. Evans defeated Caraveo in 2024.

Sonny Subia, the Colorado state director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, lives in Greeley and recalled the role Latino voter outreach played during the 2024 election cycle.

"[Evans] ran a great race against Yadira. Yadira didn't do very well. She really didn't reach out to the Latino community. She reached out to the Latino community with only two months left in the race, and it was like, 'Hey, where have you been? We've been waiting to hear from you,' and they didn't," Subia said.

WATCH Watch Adria Iraheta's report in the player below |

Latino voters make up around 40% of the district's electorate and could be the deciding factor. Subia said he already saw targeted outreach play out during the primary and predicts more strategic campaigning from both candidates going forward.

"It's about the Hispanic population. How are they going to reach out to them? What are those, those red button issues that they're concerned about?" he said.

Phillip Chen, an associate professor of political science at the University of Denver, said the path to victory runs through the middle.

"We're going to see how much sort of Democratic support consolidates around Rutinel, as well as whether he can win independents, moderates, people like that," Chen said.

Issues like immigration are expected to take center stage. Evans has addressed the complexity of the current system.

"It's a convoluted, complex system that hasn't been updated in four decades," Evans said.

Affordable housing is also expected to be a key issue. Rutinel framed his candidacy around economic concerns facing working families.

"We need someone who understands the struggles of working people and has a long track record of fighting for them to lower costs," Rutinel said.

Chen said the race could get negative, with both candidates potentially being tied to national political figures on the far right and left.

"You're going to see the Rutinel campaign trying to tie Evans as close to President Trump as they can, and you're going to see the Evans campaign trying to tie Rutinel as close as they can to people like AOC and Zohran Mamdani, because those are kind of the standard bearers of that progressive movement at this right now, Chen said.

DENVER Political experts across the country are weighing in on what democratic socialist Melat Kiross win in Colorados Democratic primary Tuesday night means for the future of the party.

Kiros, a former attorney, beat Rep. Diana DeGette with a more than 12,000-vote lead, a stunning victory for the first-time candidate against a nearly 30-year incumbent.

That upset has prompted questions about what drove voters to embrace a political newcomer.

Experience only matters if you do something with it, and I can't expect anybody who was at the helm of this ship that got us into this mess to be the one to take us out, Kiros said in response to that criticism.

Meanwhile, DeGette used her concession speech to reflect on a nearly three-decade congressional career.

Frankly, this was not the way I would have wanted to end my career in politics, but I'm proud of my accomplishments from protecting the environment and cleaning up toxic waste to jumpstarting research that will cure previously deadly diseases to fighting for reproductive rights, DeGette said.

But Metropolitan State University of Denver Political Science Chair Dr. Robert Preuhs said Kiross lack of experience may have worked in her favor.

I think she was underestimated, certainly early on by the DeGette campaign, who really didn't earnestly campaign for this primary until maybe about a month ago, Preuhs said. Also, maybe overlooking the momentum that's really been generated during this second Trump term among the left within the Democratic Party, and that starts with things like protesting regarding the war in Gaza.

Preuhs said Kiross win rides the wave of recent democratic socialist wins and was likely helped by an endorsement from New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

We saw it kind of start with the Mamdani endorsements out in New York. You know, I think in a lot of ways it combined with some dissatisfaction with the connection to the district forum for Diana DeGette, as well as this kind of age difference that we see in terms of the commentary over the last several years, Preuhs said.

WATCH What Melat Kiros's win could mean for the Democratic Party |

Preuhs said Kiross win has national implications.

She's certainly going to add to the ranks of democratic socialist affiliated voters, members of Congress within the Democratic caucus, Preuhs said. But also, to make affirmative cases for more progressive and a bit more left-leaning policy choices.

But one stance that has some Democrats concerned about Kiross win is her position on Israel.

Denver7 news partner The Denver Post reported that Kiros faced controversy before entering politics when she was fired from a law firm after writing an open letter arguing that questioning Israel's legitimacy as a state is not inherently antisemitic.

She also declined to say whether the Boulder firebomb attack targeting a group advocating for Jewish hostages was antisemitic.

Despite this, Kiros denies that she holds any antisemitic views.

My commitment has always been to protecting the sanctity and dignity of all life, that includes every single person of all faith, all different religions, and that especially includes the Jewish community, especially now as anti-Semitism is rising all across the state and all across this country, and I look forward to working with the community to figure out how we can combat that hate, Kiros said Tuesday night.

From Medicare for all to calls to abolish ICE, Preuhs said Kiross message resonated with voters and the Democratic establishment should take progressive challenges seriously.

As election workers count and verify all ballots from Tuesday's 2026 primary election, the Colorado Secretary of State's Office said so far, this has been the highest voter turnout since at least 2018 outside of the primary during the COVID-19 pandemic.

2020 is the one exception, considering how the COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented circumstances in all facets of life, including elections.

The voter turnout for state primary elections dating back to 2018 is as follows:

1,457,832 ballots have been returned statewide so far, as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday. There are still more than 247,000 votes left to be processed.

The majority of the ballots that have been counted and verified were via mail as has been established practice in Colorado for years. 24,648 ballots were cast in person.

The voter turnout in Tuesday's primary was nearly an even split between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats took a slight edge with 98,163 more votes. While that seems like a high number, it's 6.7% of the total number of voters.

"The difference really is in this shift between Republicans taking the lead in 2022 and Democrats taking the lead this year, or at least folks that are turning in Democratic ballots... outnumbering Republican ballots," Robert Preuhs, chair of political science at MSU Denver, told Denver7 Tuesday afternoon to explain the trend.

While many of Colorado's races have been called, the one outstanding is a close call between the Republican candidates for the state's governor race. Both Barbara Kirkmeyer and Victor Marx hold 40% of the vote, as of 12:55 p.m. Wednesday.

DENVER In a concession speech following her Democratic primary upset, U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette congratulated the winner, Melat Kiros, and thanked supporters, staff, and constituents.

DeGette reflected on her decades in office, highlighting accomplishments including environmental protections, medical research funding and reproductive rights advocacy.

Frankly, this was not the way I would have wanted to end my career in politics, but I'm proud of my accomplishments from protecting the environment and cleaning up toxic waste to jumpstarting research that will cure previously deadly diseases to fighting for reproductive rights, DeGette said.

WATCH Diana DeGette concession speech:

In her concession speech, she also pointed to her work holding government officials and corporations accountable, including her role in Donald Trumps impeachment proceedings.

As well as legislating, I've fought my entire career against injustice and overreach. I've led oversight investigations against government officials who serve their interests instead of the public interest and corporations who have fleeced Americans. I presided over Donald Trump's first impeachment trial in the House, and I was an impeachment manager for the second trial. I have held Robert Kennedy accountable for his dangerous anti-science positions, DeGette said.

Democratic socialist and former attorney Kiros beat DeGette in a Colorado House primary Tuesday, with a more than 12,000-vote lead.

It was a stunning victory for the first-time candidate against a nearly 30-year incumbent and another win for the Democratic Socialists of America.

In a March Democratic assembly, a process to decide which candidates get on the primary ballot, DeGette barely qualified as Kiros, a first-time candidate, blew past her with more than double the votes.

The assembly process was a jolt for the Democratic establishment and DeGette, who's been a progressive lawmaker herself.

DeGette said her top priority for the remainder of her term is to oppose what she described as Trumps unlawful actions and to defend democratic institutions.

I intend to fight against Donald Trump's illegal actions until the last minute of my service. In future days, I will have more to say about the state of our democracy and politics. The challenges Trump and his cronies pose are only the start. Just yesterday, the Supreme Court made the threat even more immediate in their campaign finance ruling, she said.

Kiros win marked a broader wave of progressive candidates beating establishment-backed Democrats across the country. She will face Republican Christy Peterson in November.