“What’s next?” is the question facing Democrats now that they have won majorities in Congress and expanded their power in Colorado.
“What’s Next” is also the name of a major gathering of Democratic leaders in Denver this week. Political rockstars — including Pete Buttigieg and James Talarico — are in attendance, so are actual rockstars — including Brandi Carlile and Nathaniel Rateliff.
While he doesn’t get top billing, State Democratic Party Chair Shad Murib is taking part, as well. He can strut confidently around Mission Ballroom having helped flip at least two House seats. A third remains too close for the Associated Press to call.
“Last week sent a message that not only did Democrats win big, but that big win comes with the responsibility to follow up on this,” Murib told Colorado Matters during a break in Thursday’s events.
In this wide-ranging conversation, Murib discussed the coming leadership fight in Congress, which he imagines could get ugly, holding the Trump Administration accountable, and why the so-called blue tsunami missed Colorado’s Third Congressional District, which includes Pueblo and Grand Junction.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Ryan Warner: Members of “The Corner People” (grassroots activists in Fort Collins) told me they want accountability and affordability. So would you name a policy from each of those baskets you think Democrats must pursue to meet their mandate?
Murib: Well, I think last week sent a message that not only did Democrats win big, but that big win comes with the responsibility to follow up on this. And I think the biggest thing you’re going to see Democrats take on is this endless foreign war in the Middle East. This conflict in Iran has driven up the cost of gas, and that is hurting families, not only in their own travels, but it’s driving up the cost of everything at the grocery store and anything you might be buying out there because diesel is just off the charts. And it’s all tying back to this endless war that Donald Trump says is a good idea, but there is almost no one who agrees with him besides Pete Hegseth. So I think you’re going to see the Democratic Party really try to reign in this, again, endless foreign war in Iran.
And then in terms of accountability, the Trump administration is exercising corruption at no discretion or shame. And I think that you’re going to see the Democratic caucus pull people in for questioning and start to figure out exactly why contracts are going to certain people. Why are taxpayer dollars being used in certain ways? Similar to the way you saw Congressman Neguse hold Secretary Noem accountable and essentially forced her resignation. I think you’re going to see a lot more of that.
This is Kristi Noem, and you’re speaking of Joe Neguse, the Boulder congressman who was reelected. On the question of the war, the vote to impeach the defense secretary failed under the current Congress. Do you imagine that will come back up in the new Congress?
Murib: Yeah, I think it’ll absolutely come back up.
Democrats won, at least in part, on affordability. And yet in Colorado where people struggle to afford housing, there’s been Democratic control for a long time. So did you win here on complaining about a problem you contributed to?
Murib: Well, here’s something that I think is most important about this election: Governor-elect Phil Weiser campaigned on this acknowledgement that we haven’t done enough on housing. He has challenged the legislature and local government officials to rethink our approach. I think his vision and the way that he’s going to focus on this issue is going to be welcome news for people. And the other thing that’s really important, is that we also won county commission seats across the state in places that people aren’t used to Democrats competing in. And so we are reclaiming power in places where Republican leadership has too often said, “We’re going to favor the developers over renters or people looking for starter homes.”
Will you name a place?
Murib: So we won the Pueblo County commission seat. We won a county commission seat in Garfield County where you see some of the highest health care and housing prices in the country. Those are just two examples, including the El Paso County commission seat. The first Democrat in many, many years won a seat there on this argument that your Republican local leaders aren’t doing enough to address this issue. And so we’re making this argument to the people and winning.
Inherent in that answer, is there an acknowledgement that there were shortcomings in Polis’ housing approach?
Murib: Well, I think even the governor would say we haven’t done enough. So I think this is something that has become an issue that requires federal cooperation. And right now you have a Trump administration that’s focused more on damaging Colorado and seeking political retribution against Colorado. And it’s going to be welcome to have a House majority and a Senate majority that’s actually interested in solving this challenge. But we really have to be making this argument and putting forth a vision to Coloradans to be able to reclaim the White House in 2028 and have sweeping collaboration between Colorado and the federal government.
Is the bench now deeper for 2028 because of the midterm victories? I’m not sure anyone knew who Rob Sand was outside of Iowa, except the real political nerds until this election.
Murib: I think that’s exactly right. And you saw the average age of the U.S. Senate drop by, I think, a couple decades by having this new class of people who are millennials and first time candidates or people exactly like Governor-elect Sand who were sort of in the Iowa ecosystem, but now have a national profile. And I think that we’ve answered what the American people asked us to do in 2024, which is: seek younger leadership, bring fresh voices into the party. That’s something we’ve done right here in Colorado, but the party has really done nationally as well.
What should Democrats’ relationship be to the idea of reaching across the aisle? On social media, I’m seeing the most spirited discussions about whether that is even appropriate under the current circumstances.
Murib: It’s absolutely appropriate. And the thing that I’m most excited about Democratic leadership in Colorado is that you can’t win by the margins we won by without earning Republican votes or unaffiliated voters who lean to the right. It’s simply not possible. You can’t flip CD4 and defeat Lauren Boebert without attracting a huge amount of time. And the fact still remains that you can’t even get close without that type of activity and without that type of energy towards telling Republicans who have put their trust in Donald Trump and the Republican Party and are now realizing this was a total con, that we actually have a vision that includes them. And I think you’re going to see us govern in that same way too, which is we’re not here to enact some sort of agenda of retribution or some sort of mandate. We’re here to bring people together around something that unites us as Coloradans.
No doubt you are hearing from people on the left though who say don’t reach across the aisle, not now.
Murib: Yeah. It’s not our job to fix the Republican Party. So it’s up to the Republican Party to say, yes, we are going to come to the table. And if they choose not to come to the table, the voters are going to respond and say, you also deserve to lose. And so the ball is really in the Republican Party’s court. We have reached across the aisle to voters and whether their elected officials acknowledge it or not, it doesn’t matter to me if you’re the furthest left progressive or the most moderate member of our coalition. You come with an ideas and a core value set that has included every Coloradan and that’s something we have to be responsible for.
Murib: Absolutely.
OK. Let’s talk about this conference in Denver. “What’s Next” indeed is put on by the majority Democrats pack. This is backed by billionaires like Steve Mandel and Michael Bloomberg. Money in politics has been a big issue this election cycle, especially for candidates like Melat Kiros. Do you think the conference aligns with those values?
Murib: Well, I think the most important thing is you know who those donors are and what the American people deserve is to know who is injecting so much money into our politics. I’ve long been an advocate that every dark money group needs to disclose their donors, if not have severe limitations on how much money they can even spend in our politics. I think you’re seeing the new Democratic class, including Congresswoman-elect Kiros, talk seriously about how addressing Citizens United and the amount of money that flows into politics has to be the top priority of the new Congress. But we also know that Donald Trump has been catering to many, many billionaires who are going to tell him to veto any legislation that reaches his desk. So we need to put forward a vision and I think all of us would be happy to have less money in politics, even if that means less money for Democrats.
So I hear you saying at the moment we need to play the game. At least we’re doing with a modicum of transparency.
Murib: President Obama said after the decision in Citizens United (by the Supreme Court), we have to fight fire with fire and we can’t just disarm and hope to not only win the seats we need, but to also then go make the change that addresses this awful, awful situation we’re in in this country where people can give undisclosed secret amounts of money in ways that are almost impossible to track. And we’re seeing that happen in Colorado. These ballot initiatives that Advance Colorado and that these right wing dark money groups supported by folks like Kent Thiry and some of the biggest billionaires and almost billionaires in the country are trying to enact policy through dark money spending on ballot initiatives.
Except you just named him so you know he’s a part of it.
Murib: Well, because he likes to take credit for a lot of what he does. A lot of them don’t.
We’ve invoked Joe Neguse of Boulder. He will have a new leadership position in the new Congress. I’ve got to tell you, I’ve never seen anything like it. When I shared the news of his new position in the House on social media, I don’t think there was one critical comment about this guy. I’ve never seen anything like it. Most of the time when I invoke a politician, it’s a mixed bag. What I am seeing over and over again from Coloradans is that they are rooting for him to be the House Speaker, not the assistant, the guy. And I think this speaks to perhaps a fissure in the Democratic Party right now, which is whether to go with the sort of mainline leaders or inject new and more progressive leadership. Where do you land on the question of the Hakeem Jeffries of the world, the Chuck Schumers versus the Neguses?
Murib: Alluding to something Melat Kiros actually said, regardless of who’s in leadership, there’s an agenda that the American people voted for and leadership’s job is to facilitate having that conversation. Congressman Neguse deserves a leadership spot at whatever level he finds that he wants to compete for because he starts with his values. He starts with bringing people together. I think that’s why you’re seeing so much energy around his leadership, but I also think it’s why you’re going to see so much energy around whoever wins the speaker role or the Senate leadership role to make sure that we’re facilitating and allowing that.
Is that going to be an ugly fight?
Murib: Probably. I imagine so. We’re Democrats. We like to have these fights. So yeah, I imagine it’s not going to be the most pleasant thing, but that’s also what the American people want. They don’t want to see coronations. They don’t want to see backroom deals. They want to see us have this fight and they want to be a part of the conversation. And that’s really important to building trust.
No doubt the Republicans have had struggles with electing their own leadership. Can I just test a theory, an observation I have, which is that Democrats eat their own. It’s the circular firing squad, whereas Republicans tend to rally around their guy. Do you think that’s a fundamental truth about these parties?
Murib: Yeah, I think so. And what I think is bad about us fighting each other is obviously we diminish our coalition. We give an allowance for people to step out or cast protest votes or not vote at all. But what I do think the overwhelming benefit is that I wouldn’t trade for the Republicans’ system of just following behind a leader is, we have that argument. I love being a member of a party that allows you to have a different opinion. And whether that means it has some negative impacts, I’d much rather that situation than having to defer to this president or any president’s determination of what makes you a good Democrat or not.
Winning the Fifth Congressional District, Colorado Springs, while losing the Third, which includes Pueblo, seems like a foul to me. Yet another candidate from the Aspen area loses.
Murib: Well, look, Dwayne Romero ran a spirited campaign. We knocked on tens of thousands of doors. One thing that I’m really proud of is that every single Congressional seat held by a Republican, we were able to successfully align the national parties around fighting in. Unfortunately, I think that fight came to the Third (Congressional District) too late. And so we’ve been fighting in this district for years.
The national assets, that is, of the party?
Murib: And I’m really grateful for their support, but it did come late. And I think that’s a lesson learned, that when you are fighting in rural areas, you have to start early. And the fundamentals of this district are hard, Ryan. It’s multiple media markets. It’s dozens of counties. It’s a regional split between this High Country and the Western Slope. But then you also have the Lower Arkansas and the San Luis Valley and Pueblo. It’s a big diverse district with different needs. And so I will say it is an absolute miss, but it’s also one that I’m really proud of our campaign, I’m really proud of our candidate. We also scored tons of down ballot wins showing that this is a winnable district and I need not just the state party and the local county parties to be aligned, which we were 100% in lockstep. I’m really eager to get the support of some of these national committees sooner. That way we can run a full-fledged effort like we did in the Fifth, like we did in the Eighth.
Murib: Yeah. I mean, Eileen Laubacher is a talented candidate.
But did the investment come early in the Fourth? I can’t imagine.
Murib: No, I think she didn’t receive nearly the support from those committees that other districts did. But what she did receive was an aligned state party, an aligned local county leadership.
Wouldn’t Dwayne Romero have had all that?
Murib: Well, the thing about Eileen Laubacher is that she was also running against Lauren Boebert, who is one of the most toxic individuals in the country. I disagree with every vote that Jeff Hurd has made because he’s enabled Donald Trump’s corruption. He has singularly supported Donald Trump, even if he pretends to be a moderate. Lauren Boebert has so aggressively tied herself to a vision and put herself out on the front stage of making sure everybody knows she’s in lockstep with Donald Trump, that people were able to more visibly see that. Jeff Hurd hides in his basement and we’re going to make sure that we focus on his leadership or lack thereof over the next couple years to flip that seat.
Do you worry that you don’t know who you are without Trump?
Murib: No, not at all. I think that this election showed that Donald Trump provides us an opportunity to have that conversation of how we address the Democratic Party’s shortcomings and provide a vision for this country. And I think Donald Trump’s going to be an afterthought, especially as we begin to hold him accountable as we start to make sure that his administration is in check. And as soon as the Republican Party starts trying to figure out who the heck they are without him, I think they’re going to come up with very few answers.
An afterthought. That sounds like wishful thinking.
Murib: We’re going to do our best to make sure that we reverse the damage of this administration and move on in a way where we actually have two parties competing on ideas rather than does this make Donald Trump happy or not.
Talk to me about a few places where you think Democrats will undo what has been done. You’ve spoken to the war, you’ve spoken to housing, but I think of the folks who were DOGEd, disinvestments in science. Do you want to name a few that you have heard from perhaps the delegation-elect?
Murib: Yeah. I think Congressman-elect Rutinel has said this plainly, that one of people’s biggest concerns is how much they’ve seen the cost of health care skyrocket over the past couple years under Donald Trump’s administration, reversing the cuts to Medicaid, reversing the cuts to the Affordable Care Act.
So undoing some of the One Big Beautiful Bill.
Murib: Absolutely. And then following up with a proactive vision of, how are we holding insurance companies accountable? How are we streamlining services at hospitals? But almost immediately Democrats can take action on making sure we reverse some of Donald Trump’s worst attacks on people’s health care costs.
And yet he remains in the White House, so the veto is looming. Is the idea in these first two years to demonstrate what Democrats can do, get vetoed for it and then run on it in ‘27, ‘28?
Murib: If he wants to ignore the results of the election and veto legislation that the American people are asking for, that’s on him.
I mean the appointment of Stephen Miller does not indicate that he’s moving to the left.
Murib: Yeah. And you have not seen a Colorado Republican say that was a bad idea. And so Jeff Hurd and the rest of them that remain are in lockstep with this choice of Stephen Miller, and that’s going to be a problem for them.
Do you think we’ll see any presidential announcements out of this What’s Next conference?
Murib: I sure hope not.
Wait, why?
Murib: We have a lot to do. You can’t control. People are going to announce for president, I’m sure, in the next couple weeks, if not in the next couple days. But we have a lot to do to start on this agenda and to keep the focus on holding Donald Trump accountable and building this vision. So we can’t control people announcing for president and we’re excited to start having that conversation. We’re excited to nominate them in Denver in 2028, but I think that we need to make sure that we’re focused on delivering for the American people rather than immediately hyper-focusing on a presidential contest.
Murib: No, I think a lot of times these ballot measures are passed in terms of a goal and in terms of their implementation, that’s often a different conversation. It is not unusual for a legislature to go in and say, “Here’s how something can be implemented.” Now, these ballot measures that passed do an unbelievable amount of harm to trans members of our community, and it puts healthcare decisions in the hands of the government rather than families and doctors. It tells your kid that it’s OK to be bullied. It tells you that if you accidentally, not even purposefully, have any fentanyl, which is commonly laced into any sort of drug or other things, that you are suddenly committing a felony that puts you in prison. These are not implementable in a way that is protective of our communities, that provides justice for folks. So I think that you’re going to see an incredibly thoughtful approach to how you implement these, or is there a conversation around the legislature of saying, “We want to refer something back to the public to have an opportunity to clarify and potentially reverse some of the most damaging elements of these hyper-political, hyper-partisan initiatives that are meant to create this type of division, that are meant to create this type of harm.”
Except Lauren Boebert may be unseated by the same electorate that voted for these things. So isn’t this the kind of old Democratic Party that lost you power in the first place, this kind of avuncular, trust us, we know better.
Murib: Sure. I think you’re going to see adjustments to things that pass that we supported too. I think implementing things is very different than passing them at the ballot.
Before I let you go, how long do you want to be chair of the state party? Are you sticking around?
Murib: I’m hoping to. I’d love to.
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