Those of us who migrated to the west came for the landscape, the mountains, and the weather. Blue skies, no humidity, breathtaking scenery. We did NOT come for the anti-government/conservative/libertarian ethos this author describes.
When I moved here from the Northeast years ago, I used to say that it was perfect here, if only I could import the culture and people of the east. Well, 20 years later, that has happened. Outsiders are pouring in, and the large Gen Z population makes us demographically younger than anywhere else. Culturally, things have changed very, very rapidly. Population is skyrocketing because of young people and migrants from more liberal places, and the descendants of pioneers are losing their economic and political predominance.
Bernie was wildly popular out here. Far moreso than either Hillary or Trump.
And all the media focus on black versus white racial tensions and resentments, some of which seem to go back centuries, is alienating and totally irrelevant out west. You never hear anything about Polynesians, various Native tribes, Asian immigrants, very different factions of Hispanic immigrants (first versus second third or fourth generation from all different countries), or places where whites are already -- happily -- a minority. The black/white focus makes no sense out west and seems archaic.
The west is outdoor country and to say we don't care about the environment is laughable. By 2030, I can see every state but Wyoming turning blue.
40
Wallace Stegner called the region “the geography of hope.” He also coined the most cogent phrase I’ve ever heard on a typical westerner’s attitude toward the federal government: “get out, and give me more money.”
I used to live in Idaho. There, areas that used to vote solidly union blue are now deep red, due to white flight from California and other environs. Other areas are becoming less Mormon but no less Republican, for the same reason.
Idaho is beautiful, wild, vast, with a rich history of exploration, adventure, and settlement; Indians, vaqueros, miners, Mormons, are all part of its story. Some of the newcomers love it for those things. Others couldn’t care less, so long as they don’t have to share space with folks of another color.
Idaho is changing, but in many ways not for the better. And it certainly isn’t going blue any time soon.
10
I grew up in NJ, moved to Salt Lake City 45 years ago for grad school. The Mountain West is still regarded as province of the “real” US. Don’t think so? Major broadcast networks still haven’t found Mountain Time. And the NYT insists on calling folks in my state “Utahans”, not “Utahns”.
3
New Mexico has a few southern counties that are Red, but the majority of our state is deep Blue, mostly moderates and conservatives, but Blue. Doubtful that Ms. Mair has even been to New Mexico after reading her comments. No way will Trump flip this state. Won't happen.
6
I find it intereting to read this a day after yet another school shooting (in Colorado). And a few weeks after the Denver area schools were all shut down preventively to avoid another shooting massacre. I don't know anyone along the front range of Colorado who isn't concerned about being safe around so many guns. The front range of Colorado is moving the needle toward sensible gun restrictions (such as the "red flag" law).
As well, Colorado's tourism is heavily reliant on good snow, and the snow is not as plentiful in the last several years. Drought is a real concern, as are wildfires and historic flooding in 2013. Most folks here love to hike and camp and protecting public lands is an issue many hold near and dear.
7
I have resided in 24 of our 50 states and visited all of them, except Alaska. The vibe you feel in every state is definitely different and can be generalized according to your own perspective. For instance, I found that Californians were generally the friendliest people I have lived amongst and South Dakotans the meanest. Slicing and dicing a state or region by political leanings is a lot more difficult and perhaps hard to accurately do. The only thing that resonates with me over a considerably long life is the extreme curtailment of individual liberty I have witnessed firsthand. Unlimited money in politics and the completely unjust influence of corporations on the political process has ruined America. The genuine will of the people is usually not followed. And the misinformation and outright lies put forth by corporations and the wealthy through lobbying and political advertising coopts a terribly undereducated population into believing in policies that are completely against their own values and interests. If corporate lobbying were outlawed and money in politics strictly curtailed, we would have a vastly different America today. Al Gore would have been President and Hillary Clinton would be our President today. Imagine no 9/11, no financial crisis, no massive federal debt and a country running on clean energy right now. We would all be so much happier and freer and, remember, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is what it is supposed to be about.
11
That those counties in the mountain states (the true "Midwest" as I like to call them) that are gaining population are the reason that states like CO, AZ, and NV have moved or are moving into the blue column. And Utah, often considered the reddest state, did not vote for Trump in 2016, although it didn't go blue either.
That new population is coming from somewhere, and it's generally not from more conservative states. So the libertarian streak you speak of is being tempered by an influx of generally more liberal residents, although many of them may be attracted to the live-and-let-live way of life in the West.
2
@Susan
Trump handily won Utah with a plurality of 45% and all 6 electoral votes. So I submit that Utah did vote for Trump. The other republican, Evan McMullin, only garnered 21%.
It was the Clintons who showed Democrats how to win in the mountain west, with Bill winning Montana in 1992 and AZ in 1996. Hillary won more mountain west states than Gore and Kerry combined.
There are a lot of Latinos in the MW, but not many who are eligible to vote (only 48% in AZ compared to 81% of whites).
There are few blacks in the MW.
So, where do Democrats get the votes to win elections? Maybe uh, white people?
If Hickenlooper and Bullock wanted to do the right thing they would each run for the Senate in 2020 from their home states and not chase at windmills in the presidential election.
As for Sinema, she's starting to burn bridges with her party by, first, voting to confirm Barr, then refusing to give an opinion on the Mueller report claiming she is still reading it.
1
Ms. Sinema won an incredible close race to an incredible bad opponent. Arizona may elect a gun control Democrat in Mark Kelly against the same Republican Candidate, Martha McSally that Ms. Sinema beat.
Kelly, unlike Sinema is actually a progressive democrat.
The people who are moving into these states don't have entrenched political interests with either party. I suspect they can be flipped either way depending on the quality of the candidate.
The mountain West isn't solidly anything. Like the geography itself, it's wide open.
2
less gun averse?! really, you are ok with kids in the line of fire and the ones who bear the brunt of it? of all days, today is not the day to make that comment.
4
The blue future of the Mountain West can be charted by the level of Lake Mead. The West is in drought. This century will be marked by ever worsening drought, and forest fires. And anyone with a third-grade education knows which Party did this to the West.
4
Lots of generalities and stereotypes here, starting with the lumping together of a "mountain west" of "voters who have a natural aversion to the way the rest of the country thinks." Not a solid foundation for convincing politicians that this group needs special treatment.
The area gets plenty of federal $$$ in subsidies for provision of water, roads, sewerage, forest management. Obamacare was a way for many people who were not in "good jobs with good benefits" to receive regular health care. New minimum wage campaigns supported by Democrats were helpful to voters where they passed. The extension of unemployment benefits during the Great Recession - opposed by Republicans - were surely of help to many affected by that financial crisis.
I"m not exactly sure how I'm supposed to genuflect to western pioneers (my midwestern forbears were maybe 30-40 years ahead of the west in building their cabins, etc.) but, sure, I'll give a hand wave and salute you brave pioneers, if that will help.
1
A campaign visit for starters?
If Ms Mair (or i suppose the Times' fact-checking department) did even the tiniest bit of research, she'd know that "Don't Fence Me In" isn't an "old cowboy song" but a campy show tune written by the very coastal elitist and very gay Cole Porter.
It's typical of this kind of paper-thin political analysis that she throws around these cultural signifiers without any real knowledge about what they are and mean.
9
I don't know that Liz Mair speaks for the Mountain West either- she's based in Alexandria, VA, according to her company website.
2
Trump/GOP haven't a clue on New Mexico voters. We may be a bit more libertarian than some states, but we are strong environmentalists and aren't afraid of immigrants and people that may not be just like us. The Anglo people (non-hispanic whites) that live here are used to not being a majority.
5
Liz Mair is as phony as a three-dollar bill:
https://theconcourse.deadspin.com/disgraced-racist-british-political-pr-doofus-from-sea-1834609182
4
The comments were great: they were sincere and well-thought out, while the same cannot be said for the columnist nor the column. Two words make all of this irrelevant in the presidential elections: Electoral College. 2 of 4 elections in the new century were stolen by the GOP due to this antiquated bug of our country. This will continue, and this will alienate lots of voters less devoted to voting than most readers of the NYT. That is part of the GOP strategy. Except in the south, they cannot win on "ideas" and "issues" important to most of us. So keeping us away from the polls by any means (including a giving up attitude) is important to the GOP power retention. What we can and must do in the western states discussed today is get massive voter registration, and massive voter turnout. Win at the state and local level, flip the Senate to blue, keep the House trend going--- and we just might survive as a country. If not-- then perhaps it IS time for secession or formation of regional governments.
4
As a native of Colorado, I don't share the author's view that the politics of the west is uniquely different than the rest of the nation. The western states of Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, like the rest of the US, consist of urban centers which vote Democratic, and rural areas that remain strongly conservative. Hence, Wyoming and Montana which remain primarily rural remain politically conservative. These trends apply to the US in general, and the western states are not an exception. The greatest determinant in whether these states becomes more or less blue probably lies within the political leanings of the suburban population, a trend which I suspect applies nationwide as well. Noticeably absent in this discussion is the influence of the Mormon Church on the politics of Utah, Idaho, and to a lesser extent Arizona and Nevada. If in-ward migration of non-mormons grows in these states, I suspect GOP control will wane in these states as well.
6
The author's online bio says that she was born in Seattle, lives in DC, received all her degrees from European universities and has worked on the campaigns of several non-mountain west politicians. If she is going to use the first person "we" and speak from the perspective of mountain west residents, she ought to provide some basis for doing so.
The only thing this column accomplishes is helping drum up business for the author's political consulting business.
7
"If Mr. Trump gets re-elected in 2020, 2024 could get very interesting,..."
Found this quite amusing as the predicate of the sentence seems to intimate that there will actually be an election in 2024 if the wannabe emperor were to prevail in 2020. Pretty comical notion.
Get with it, Mountain West. Vote out the Charlatan-in-chief in 2020 or there won't be a 2024 election on which to fall back to fix all the damage that will have been done.
2
A few observations:
Liz Mair writes, "Who speaks for voters living in and around the Rockies — or those of us who think like them?" "Those of us who think like them" means she isn't one of them. While that doesn't necessarily negate the validity of what she says, I do think it is telling the Times couldn't find some long-time resident of the region to write about it.
I note that none of the currently top three most recommended commenters is from west of New Jersey.
"Gun owners" and "values voters" have largely become derisive terms on the (coastal?) Left. As with many other things, they are simplistic, politically useful but factually confused stereotypes. Rural gun ownership and use and urban gun ownership and use are very different. And not all values voters have the same values.
My own sense from decades traveling in the Mountain Time Zone is that its essential conservatism is very different from coastal conservatism. It is strongly libertarian, not ideological. Politicians are trying (with some success) to make it ideological for primarily self-serving political reasons, but most folks, especially in the more rural, less "blue" areas, are of the "let me do what I want and you can do what you want" persuasion. The pre-internet belief in privacy still largely holds sway.
Along with that comes a sense of what I might describe as "we're all in this together individualism." As in, "I might not agree with you on many things, but if you need a hand, just let me know."
2
@Steve. Strongly libertarian while constantly complaining they're were not getting enough federal money. At least that was what I got out of my sojourn to rural front-range Montana. I found Minnesotans the most upright, kind, and self-aware. The casual racism and hatred of Hispanics in Montana was endemic. Dressing and looking a bit like the natives-- jeans, beat up boots from hiking about, and being White-- and keeping my mouth shut, it was amazing what they'd casually say.
2
I don't think the Mountain West is as solidly blue as the author thinks. I dont consider Colorado blue. Denver, Boulder, Ft Collins yes...but C Springs is on the the reddest places on earth.
New Mexcio is a mixed bag of white liberals and old school Nortenos who are Democrats but not liberals. Ranchers down south are heavily in T's corner.
One unifying factor, especially in high desert, is water and climate change. Anyone who's lived in the west a decade or more can walk out their front door and watch fire season grow longer every year while the water table drops. Responses and non responses to this issue are going to shape the political future of the west. Suggestions to take the forest ain't gonna cut the mustard. Most in the west a fiercely protective of public lands.
37
@Sam Yes, but, 7 of the 10 most populous counties in CO voted for Clinton. The same was true for Obama in '08 and '12. There are also more actively registered Democrats than Republicans. There is definitely a libertarian strain among many of the longtime residents but at the national level CO is solidly blue.
6
I'll tell you who doesn't "speak for" the "Mountain West": Liz Mair.
8
I don't fully agree with this assessment. The Mountain West, almost more than anywhere else is extremely politically between the economic hearts of each state (aka the cities) and the sparsely populated hinterlands. Gerrymandering largely masks this. While it is true this dynamic plays out all over the country. It is worth noting that in Utah, for example. a touch over 80% of the population lives on just 1% of the state's land. Yet, with how the political boundaries are drawn the 20% who live on the other 99% of the land have the lion's share of political influence. Our state government is 80% republican while the voting public is about 55%. As if land gets preferential status over the actual people who can vote. With the exception of Colorado, that is largely the case for the rest of Mountain West. Regardless of which party runs each state.
5
@Still Waiting for a NBA Title
All good points. And also why the only time anything gets done out west, it's by ballot initiative, because our representatives don't actually represent us and are far more conservative than their constituents.
That is, when the representatives don't tamp down the will of the people by overturning ballot initiatives.
That's some wild speculation about Sinema! While I was thrilled that she defeated the Trump shill McSally, and look forward to Mark Kelly defeating McSally again, Sinema is now as high on the government food chain as she will ever go. As someone who has lived in AZ for 30 years, I can say that the state is changing, not just with Sinema's election but with the fact that the majority of the state's House delegation is now Democratic. Look for more of the same in the Southwest as more people sour on the policies of the Trump administration.
8
Thanks to Trump the Republican Party is up for grabs. Maybe now we can get beyond the Republicrats nonsense of gradualism support of the status quo on every major issue. We need to end these senseless wars and do something smart with our national wealth.
2
Oh. Please. The day after another school shooting, this one outside Denver, is an ironic time to romanticize about those of us who live here and our support of gun rights. I don’t know anyone here who supports unrestricted gun rights. See “red flag law.” As well, Coloradans depend on tourism and skiing and climate change is putting a dent in that, not to mention the grave concern about drought and wildfire.
12
This. Plus, if she thinks that no one cares about strategies to make expensive cities more affordable she hasn’t been to Denver. And those new economy jobs? Got plenty, want more. And somehow she hasn’t connected the dots that the West is growing because people are moving from elsewhere. They bring their politics with them. So the new suburban voters in Colorado who came as the tech economy grew are shifting the state left. Every state-wide race in 2018 went blue. The only way the GOP gets Colorado back is my manipulating the election. They’ve tipped their hand that they want the state, so we all need to be vigilant about their tactics.
8
If you look beyond presidential election races, obsessed as they are with the same handful of Midwestern swing states (plus Florida!)--and to voting power rather than State of the Union blather--representation of Mountain West states doesn't look so bad.
Take the US Senate: 16 senators represent eight Mountain West states comprising less than 8% of the US population. Just two senators represent us coastal elites in California, with 12% of the US population.
As population grows in the Mountain West, its outsized representation in the US Senate will diminish. Enjoy it while it lasts.
3
Wow, one more weak, enfeebled effort to claim mountain territory.
Honestly, I don't mind the outside invaders when they get it right. But, oh, it is painful to read yet again sweeping generalizations conflating all the yahoo/wahoo nonsense from bits and pieces of mostly wishful thinking, e.g. "We ourselves are, or are often descended from, pioneers. So we don’t like restrictions on trade or mobility..." Oh good grief, talk about making something out of whole cloth.
If this is "Republican strategizing," then here go: puffs and whoops primarily hurt when the ignorant fall for the gaseous. I don't think that is going to work in the emphatically independent Mountain West.
And by the way, Arizona is about a different from New Mexico as Vermont is from Virginia. Wyoming (unmentioned) is it own world. Colorado is not "like" Utah. One of the most outlander things that Mair does is lump unlike things (often states) together and say: see, it proves my point. She does that east and west.
What disappoints me is that the estimable NYTimes didn't hold the author to a genuine high standard of reporting and observation. How did this USA Today flak-flap get in the Times?
How about some real investigation about the Mountain West?
12
Who speaks for the voters in the Rockies ? That depends. Are they interested in banning abortions and gay marriage while favoring the 1% with tax breaks and deregulation ?
3
I would never hire Liz Mair to do any kind of strategizing considering she was so negligent in her research that she anchored her thesis to what she assumed was a cowboy song that every third commenter has pointed out its actual origin. The article is its own paradox revealing Mair's regional bias and assumptions about the Mountain West.
3
Perhaps Liz Mair can speak to republican complicity and why today’s elected republicans are willing to discard our constitution in favor of a
Serial grifter, adulterous lying fraud. Why are republicans not doing their job and why are so many “good” republicans silent?
6
You might be wondering why you just read an article written by someone born in Seattle and who identifies as British that claims to know the mindset of western mountain Americans.
Simply put, Liz Mair is a republican strategist whose job it is do whatever it takes to get you to believe that republicans are good for the whole country. Sometimes that involves lying to you.
11
Who speaks for the Mountain West? We’ll, certainly not a Seattle born, British educated, Washington dwelling political consultant for minor and very far Right pols from the East Coast and Rust Belt.
9
Considering her participation in the political campaigns of Scott Walker and Rick Perry among other slightly less odious republicans, I'm pretty sure Liz Mair doesn't speak for anyone in the Mountain West that I know.
I think it's noteworthy that Colorado just elected a gay man as governor and Arizona elected a gay woman as senator, not because orientation itself matters, but because many of us in the West have moved beyond the culture wars to wanting real solutions to real problems and we want the best people we can find, whoever they are, to lead the way.
88
@Purple Patriot...If you were truly past the culture wars, you wouldn't have to mention the sexual orientation or gender of elected officials. Dog whistles? Orientation itself does matter in blue mountain states.
@Purple Patriot
Next is the possibility that benefits would be expanded.
@Albert Edmud
Sexual orientation is mentioned here in passing, because it's significance itself is passing.
The culture war remains very real, however - just ask any member of Focus on the Family, the racist Southern hate group that found a new (hopefully temporary) home in Colorado.
2
Westerners like to talk about their independence and libertarianism, and many have convinced themselves that they don’t need government. They are oblivious to the fact that they are possibly more dependent on the federal government than people in any other part of the country. The settlement of the was a massive public works project that never would have happened without massive government subsidies (to railroads and extractive industries such as timber and mining), and even today large areas of the inter mountain region would be virtually uninhabitable desert (or at least have a much smaller carrying capacity) without federal irrigation and water management projects. Conservative rural westerners take all that for granted, and then object to government doing anything to address the problems of urban and coastal areas. It may not be fair to call it hypocrisy—perhaps they’re just deep in denial. It is easy to not notice government intervention when there are few big buildings around to embody it. Of course, they’re also very pro-growth, which inevitably means their cities will get bigger and attract urban types, and inevitably be taken over by liberals who are aware of the fact that you can’t actually run a 21st-century society with a 19th-century government.
8
"If Mr. Trump gets re-elected in 2020, 2024 could get very interesting..."
You of course assume that if trump gets elected in 2020 the country we have known with its historic democratic practices and norms actually survives until 2024. And that a free election actually happens in 2024.
I'm not so sure.
2
Geez, these mountain states already have out sized influence due to their gross over-representation in the Senate and the Electoral College. They already stymie rational environmental regulation and rational medical reform, etc. What needs to happen is to combine several of these states so they have at least some recognizable population compared to the other states. Wyoming - 600,000 people, 2 senators. California 35 million: two senators. There's more people In San Francisco than in all of Wyoming.
5
A beautiful piece, elegantly laid out and wonderfully open for bipartisan assessment. I can easily relate as a child of the Rust Belt and a first generation Western pioneer.
This doesn't surprise me. As a liberal, I have always found Liz Mair extremely thoughtful and balanced in her commentary. In fact, it made my day seeing her byline first thing this morning. I gleefully dove right in. I
I would love to see more of her essays in the Times. She adds a lot of depth to all she brings, and what she brings is always clear and concise.
Of course, none of my comments have anything to do with a fanboy crush on Ms. Mair.
Never.
My own sense from decades traveling in the Mountain Time Zone is that its essential conservatism is very different from coastal conservatism. It is strongly libertarian, not ideological. Politicians are trying (with some success) to make it ideological for primarily self-serving political reasons, but most folks, especially in the more rural, less "blue" areas, are of the "let me do what I want and you can do what you want" persuasion. The pre-internet belief in privacy still largely holds sway.
Along with that comes a sense of what I might describe as "we're all in this together individualism." As in, "I might not agree with you on many things, but if you need a hand, just let me know."
A few observations:
Liz Mair writes, "Who speaks for voters living in and around the Rockies — or those of us who think like them?" 'Those of us who think like them' essentially means she isn't one of them. While that doesn't necessarily negate the validity of what she says, I do think it is telling the Times couldn't find some long-time resident of the region to write about it.
I note that none of the currently top three most recommended commenters is from west of New Jersey.
"Gun owners" and "values voters" have become more-or-less derisive terms on the (coastal?) Left. As with many other things they are simplistic, politically useful but factually confused stereotypes. Rural gun ownership and use and urban gun ownership and use are very different. And not all values are the same.
5
It's like two different worlds existing in one country which makes it difficult to reconcile. I mean, if you live in a rural and/or sparsely populated area why would you want big government? The biggest buildings in most rural communities are the fire stations because that's the biggest threat to safety. However, if you live in New York City do you really want small government or fewer laws? Most of the Mountain West hasn't voted Dem in decades to the point where The Party doesn't even try in fear of wasting resources. Of course they're going to gravitate toward the coasts and industrial Mid-West. It doesn't seem like the current way of doing business accommodates either area.
As a fourth generation native Nevadan, the Republican party is going to have a very hard time changing my mind after their disastrous tax plan left me paying way more than last year, not to mention their total obfuscation of Russian influence on our election. Couple that with the fact Donald Trump lies incessently, seems to pay zero income tax, is attacking our system of checks and balances, and seems to love Putin so much he needed to call him last week to fill him in, I'm not inclined to even consider him in 2020. In fact, as a registered Independent, (one of those everyone is trying to influence), I will vote for anyone NOT affiliated with the Republican party, and that goes for local elections as well.
10
Many comments challenge the lumping of these mountain west states, but more valid to my mind is challenging the urban -rural divide.
What is common to these states includes the high level of education, and the independent, outdoor, nature loving inclinations - whether one immigrated here during the homestead act days, John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High" days (when I arrived), or as part of the newest tech and outdoor recreation boom.
Many in the rural areas are still focused on beef production and extractive industries. This hasn't been kind to many rural economies. Outsiders take the money and run.
Colorado is moving to renewables (lots of sun and wind here!), and we always have attracted the outdoor rec crowd. This accounts for the nature loving business community. We like our politicians independent and thoughtful. And protective of our natural resources and outdoors space. And we are sick of gun violence. Support hunting, but reject automatic weapons!
7
In answer to Ms. Mair’s question (who speaks for the Mountain West?), I would say, not Ms. Mair.
I am a fourth generation urban Mountain Westerner.
I am concerned about the environment – we are already feeling the effects of climate change (persistent drought and frequent wildfires).
I cherish our abundant public lands – specifically for Wilderness, which does sustainably contribute to the generation of income.
I am not “skeptical of government.”
And most certainly I do not, and never have identified as libertarian or Republican. My family (with the exception of a black sheep here and there) has always voted Democratic.
My family includes union members and government employees, not farmers or ranchers. I do buy into the myth of the cowboy. The Mountain West has always had more people living in urban areas than rural – from its earliest settlement (one historian said “more clerks than cowboys”).
6
"We also tend to be a little disdainful of other parts of America with their pet regional concerns that didn’t and don’t translate perfectly for us. We ourselves are, or are often descended from, pioneers."
Gee, sounds like everywhere else in the country. Once that Appalachian frontier was crossed, it was westward ho.
Regarding regional concerns, climate change must sure be a big one - even if you look at it very commercially and consider the risks to skiiing, cold-water fishing, and the general increase in aridity expected in most of the region. Demand for water resources in the southern part of the Mountain states will get ugly as the drying trend continues, too.
4
I live in Arizona. I don't agree with your assessment. What you fail to recognize is a lot of those coastal elites, as you call them, are moving to Colorado, Arizona, and other western states. The migration from California traffic and fires increases every day. They bring their moderate/liberal philosophies with them.
6
Remember Frank Church, creator of the FISA courts? Remember Secretary of the Interior Cecil Andrus? Great Idaho Democrats. But the Democrats abandoned Idaho to pursue the money of urban areas, and abandoned their efforts to help places like Idaho, where Federal program employ a disproportionate number of workers. We have so little support now there are few if no Democrats at all on our local ballots, for State representative, for Coroner, etc. The Democratic party was dismantled in Idaho from the roots up beginning in the 1990's, when Democrats "moved to the center"; i.e.; became Republican Lite. We no longer have a functioning two party system, and have not for 25 years. We need more funding for the BLM, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Forest Service (gotta rake the floors!), and Federal education and infrastructure dollars. And believe me, there is nothing of less interest to us Westerners than useless and unaccessable Wall Street and stock market fluctuations.
5
Mountain West states are the most urban states in the country, look it up. The size of the state doesn't matter, the size of their cities do. People in Utah live on the Wasatch Front, Provo to SLC. Colorado the Front Range, Colorado Springs, including Denver, to Ft. Collins. Arizona is Phoenix to Tucson.
People are moving to these areas because of jobs, the cost of living as well as the recreational opportunities on public lands. Moving from CA, the mid-west and northeast. They are not pioneers but they like the myths, to some degree anyway.
They're driving these states into the blue column to stay. Even here in AZ Trump had trouble setting up a rally recently in Phoenix because no-one wanted to rent him a hall. They don't want the trouble that accompanies his rallies and the jerks that attend them.
So in January, 2021 Trump will be sitting with amigo Joe Arpaio wondering what just happened. He'll carry WY and UT, but that's it.
12
@Lou Good I'll bet you a potato that Trump wins Idaho, sadly.
@Frank Knarf
True.
@Lou Good
Sadly, I am sure your are right about Utah. With all of our "saints."
1
If the Rust Belt gets all the attention
why is it still the "Rust Belt" instead of the "Restored Jewel of the Midwest"
Ms. Mair might see the world through Republican partisan glasses, accounting for her love of blood red rocky mountain politics.
Unfortunately, not many Americans live there, and only the Electoral College affords them significant political power beyond their numbers.
So it will still be the population centers on our coasts who dominate US political matters, what ever Ms. Mair's partisan expectations.
2
Who speaks for the Mountain West? Definitely not this author. It made sense when I finished the article and saw in the credit that she is a Republican / conservative. That is fine, but it biases her depiction. Bernie Sanders is much more popular here than she lets on. In my experience, progressives have much higher popularity among the left-leaning population here than do moderate Dems. See Bernie’s performance in the 2016 primaries/caucuses here overall compared to Hillary. I agree that the Mt. West is relatively more libertarian-oriented, whether capitalist or socialist or somewhere in between, but capitalism does not have an ideological monopoly on libertarian theory, and progressive ideology, including democratic socialism, has a solid and growing base of support here in the Mt. West. ~ Adam in Salt Lake City, Utah
3
The author of the article has this wrong. Perhaps as a Republican strategist she suffers from "wishful thinking syndrome."
I would like to ask Ms. Mair if she knows which areas of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Idaho, etc. are growing fastest? I am happy to supply that information. The areas are known as "Denver and the Front Range", "The Greater Salt Lake City Area" "Phoenix" "Boise" "Las Vegas" and "Albuquerque."
The Mountain West that the author refers to is the past not the future. Yes, ranchers live in parts of Montana and Wyoming and the other states. But a rancher with 10,000 acres still has only one vote, while 10,000 Denver city dwellers living on 10 acres have something like 6000 votes in a presidential election - given recent turnout figures. The call the Mountain West the "third coast.'
Parts of the Mountain West - particularly Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada - are now out of reach for the Trump - Republican party. Arizona is next to go. These 4 states currently have 31 electoral votes - expected to grow to 33 after the 2020 census.
By contrast the 4 solid Republican states - Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming - have just 16 electoral votes - growing to just 17 after 2020.
Arizona is the key. If Democrats flip Arizona in 2020 they win the Mountain West 31 to 16 or nearly 2:1.
And Republicans please forget about winning Colorado, New Mexico or Nevada. These states remained blue even in 2016 which was a bad year for Dems.
10
It's not about coastal city dwellers, it's about city dwellers, period. It is the rare American city that does not vote blue. As population increases in the mountain states, they will become more urbanized and, most likely, more liberal. Oh, and that great cowboy song "Don't Fence Me In" was written for Hollywood by Cole Porter (albeit inspired by and taking its title line from a poem by Iowa-native-turned-Montana-transplant Robert Fletcher).
4
"Even if we’re liberal, we tend to be less averse to gun rights than the big stars of the Democratic Party." And, look where it's gotten us--10 mass shooting incidents since 1993. Speak for yourself, Ms. Mair, you certainly don't speak for me as a 48-year Colorado resident.
4
I am with you,and like you in a lot of ways, except for your sanctification of the pioneers. Yes, they were admirable in many ways; but they were the foot soldiers in America’s federally-financed extermination of the natives. This heritage persists in the attitudes of some who feel entitled without question to every bit of land and all available resources.
3
Yes, Arizona will once again be a Democratic state, as it was up until the 1960s. Anyone could and will tell you that. But only the Raving Looney Party could suggest that la tierra encantada, Nuevo Mexico would go Republican. In Nuevo Mexico, the Republicans are viewed as part and parcel of the invasion that resulted in the Pueblo Uprising - of 1680. The party of Tejanos. Of New York real estate developers.... All I can say is don't hold your breath.
6
Climate Change doesn’t care whether you call yourself Rust Belt, Mountain West, or Coastal Elite- it’s coming for everyone -including Republican strategists like Liz Mair.
5
And please vote Blue for our children, grandchildren and our Earth!
4
Who is "we" in this article? The author was born in Seattle, maintains a British affectation that she somehow developed as an adult living abroad, and is now based in Arlington, VA. On what basis does she speak for the Mountain west?
The Times is to be commended for seeking a diversity of viewpoints, but surely the paper of record could draw them from more erudite sources than this.
10
Why should anyone listen to a strategist for some of the dimmest men ever to run for office? Scott Sqwalker? Rick (I have no idea what the Dept of Energy does) Perry? With friends like her, who in the Mountain West needs enemies?
4
Liz Mair, wow....really? The West is complicated, your op-Ed is simplistic. The West, especially the mountain west is a very diverse area of both liberal college towns, and the vast areas of fundamentalist Mormons who believe in a myriad of conspiracy theories! Then there are the Mormons in suburbia who need the ACA, who suffer from lack of good dental and medical help but who continue to vote for the corrupt GOP!
Thankfully, the demographics are slowly changing, and many former LDS are now voting Democrats into office but the Latter Day Saints leadership still controls Idaho and Utah, even parts of Colorado and Nevada, it’s a theocracy.
6
Let’s see:
The word “stereotype“ or “stereotypical” used three times in a short article.
2
The "libertarianish" character of the mountain state voter will likely be diluted by new residents coming in.
2
Why am I seeing republican propaganda in the nyt?
4
Liz Mair,
You take up a position of support for an individual with an agenda harmful to the planet.
If you are certain that this is your path no judgement from me
May you find kindness along your path.
1
The problem with speaking in broad generalities is that you are often wrong or miss crucial details. As someone born and raised in Montana, I assert that the Mountain West is not a monolithic entity that fits even remotely in the author's vision of political cliche's and ideological assertions. Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, etc. have extremely different personalities and, within those states, individuals break down into far more complex groups. The real issue of regions not having much power in federal politics at the presidential level has far more to do with the inequities and inequalities of the electoral college and the dilution of the power of individual voters. The winner take all couple with state rights is a formula for failure as we are currently seeing.
Of course, the representative power in the Senate of people in many of these states is also distorted and magnified, itself an issue. To answer the article's headline, no one is speaking for the Mountain West, its people are speaking for themselves as best they can in the context and structure they find themselves. That is also true for the rest of the country.
3
"Arizona, which as John McCain used to observe is about the only state where mothers cannot in good faith tell their kids they can grow up to be president, will move into the Democratic column next year."
That is because we take in too many people from Illinois and California. They all like barely any property taxes, live-and-let-live attitude, and a drivers license that lasts till youre 65, but bring their voting habits here. Soon, small state government, no gun laws will be replaced by a nanny state and Arizona will just be like Colorado. Our governor isn't doing us any favors by recognizing any out-of-state license as valid for work here.
No one wants an LA or Chicago resident to move here, but we can't stop them.
"Still, it’s hardly different for Democrats. Overall, the party is strongly geared toward ... environmental concerns, social justice matters ..."
Yeah I'm sure nobody in Nevada worries about environmental or social justice concerns. Good luck with Yucca Mountain, by the way.
6
The person writing this article speaks for herself. Not for a large number of Democrats in Colorado who are vitally interested in addressing Climate Change destroying the planet, poor health care destroying our citizens, and the income inequality destroying the country. Same as people all along the coasts, and in the heartland. As with everything, it’s more complicated. Stop with the divisive editorials. It’s not helping.
8
My great-grandfather emigrated to Colorado in 1885 and my family has been here continuously ever since. Therefore, I can say with some confidence that the blanket statements made here about how residents of the Mountain West think and feel are presumptuous and do not speak for me.
10
The last thing we need is another faction in the identity politics war, but it's true that the mountain west is very different from the rust belt, or the west coast, or the south, and I claim my stake. I love the mountains and appreciate the generally sceptical and libertarian political atmosphere of Montana. For example, I own a rifle and hunt in national forests and eat elk and venison because I hate the Cliven Bundy-style perversion of public land resource extraction. I also think it's obvious that we need stronger and more rational gun control policy.
The general common sense and utilitarian ethics of many westerners have provided a bit of immunity to the Murdock/Rove/Ailes toxicity that permeates most of the country. Still, there are parallels between the struggling communities in the rural west and those in the rust belt. I hope the political debates now gathering momentum towards 2020 include rational discussion to find solutions to problems like climate change and economic displacement instead of condescension and fatalism.
4
Small flaw in the logic here -- Ms. Sinema is hardly a Democrat except for being identified as one on paper. She votes with Trump policies and, worst of all, is in favor of a wall on the southern border of Arizona, a decision that is wildly out of favor and out of touch with most S. AZ residents for economic and ecological reasons. Hopefully she will not be re-elected.
4
It is interesting that Ms. Mair doesn't think that the Mountain West voter is all that in touch with the environmental and climate change messages of Democratic candidates, since Senator Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican, has only differentiated himself from Trump in two areas--on Trump's rhetoric and as a push back against Trump's anti-environment agenda. If Gardner knows that Colorado voters don't want to see their public lands exploited unnecessarily, then there are plenty of Mountain West voters across the political spectrum who agree with him and fear the complete plundering of this country's most beautiful public lands.
5
Well, here on the western slope of Colorado the suicides have come into the open.
It's been an ugly secret around here, the sheer numbers of otherwise healthy, vigorous men over 50 who fall to a mysterious succession of agricultural mishaps, homemade electrical repairs, and gun cleaning.
Fact is, we've had an economy out here that only seems healthy if you're counting the number of new fast food joints that pay minimum wage. But many of the traditional industries faded years ago. Add to that all of the social dislocation of the drug epidemic, family disruption, poor education -- this state is fifth highest in the country for high school dropouts -- and a lot of older men feel they have no purpose in an emerging world of recreation and wine-making. If doesn't help that the area is crawling with quite well-to-do guys who made it all on the coasts and bid up the prices facing people here who did not.
And then there are the guns. Place is crawling with them. Not too much crazy blasting about. But when a dark mood settles in they are always around, and guys here know how to use them right.
8
I’m a Brooklyn transplant from Albuquerque NM. At 5,000 feet it certainly qualifies as a mountain state capital.
I think the mountain west could be a leader for the gun issue.
“Don’t bring your guns into town”
It a seems to be a simple enough centrist slogan that could usher in an agreement for meaningful progress on an issue that is a national shame. Let columbine be the signing place.
10
Thank you for your comment, you are correct. I lived in Utah for 25 years, same thing happens there. Very tragic.
3
We moved from central New York to northern Utah 2 years ago. It is a university town, which may make a difference politically, generally comprised of liberals and conservatives who coexist in friendly fashion--give or take some don''t-tread-on-me right-wingers
"Friendly" is the operative word in UT, compared to wary, self-concerned New Yorkers.
As the movers unloaded our furniture, friendly neighbors introduced themselves. 3 sets of neighbors told us: "Please don't judge us by our politicians; they are out of touch with the people." This has proved to be very true.
1. Despite Utahans voting for medical marijuana & Medicaid expansion in 2018, the state legislature, after checking with the LDS elders, is dragging its feet and modifying the voters' "suggestions." Getting the LDS church's blessing on political issues is standard.
2. Love of the environment is popular here, but there continual divisiveness & fights between citizens versus developers and fossil fuel interests. Trump's Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante land giveaways and the battle over a pipeline in our region are examples.
Most of our neighbors are LDS, community-oriented, & don't like Trump. Their values are much more reflective of Democratic values (helping people), but some have even said they just can't vote for a Democrat because they are LDS and conservative.
However, more people moving in to UT are registering Dem. than Rep. A Dem. won the Salt Lake house seat in 2018. Change is coming
9
Well said! When we moved to Utah in 1993, things were very different than they are today. So there is progress, slow but sure! We lived in the little Blue dot that is SLC, also a university town. Loved it! The LDS church has way too much power in Utah, but I live in hope that as “others” continue to move into that change will continue! Enjoy Utah’s beauty! We are back home in the PNW. Still miss Utah’s gorgeous mountains.
4
"[The Republican party] is also concerned about the social safety net..."
This line is positively Orwellian. Donald Trump may have paid lip service to preserving the social safety net, but his actions and those of his enablers have been uniformly directed toward weakening it or dismantling it altogether.
9
@Eric B. - well, you have to admit that the party leadership at the federal level IS concerned - that the safety net's still there.
Just because Paul Ryan's finally gone doesn't mean the rest of them aren't going to use their tax plan's built-in deficits to go after our safety net programs.
There does seem to be a bit of a risk to them on attacking health care - maybe some of their rural and suburban base are starting to realize their addiction treatments needed to help them get back to work wouldn't be available if it weren't for Obamacare.
Families devastated by addictions and overdose are realizing that it's not just something they can say is due to poor life choices in "those" people in the inner cities anymore.
2
You failed to mention that you have your share of cowboy wannabe's and new arrivals from the west coast and other cosmopolitan areas. We shouldn't over-romanticize a region dominated by gold prospecting and the extraction of other natural resources, as well as ranching and other environmentally exploitative practices on federal lands and using federal aquifers. The west is no model for sustainable rural life. It would actually be terrible for the country if these western states, for example, lead the primary process, like Iowa does. (Which is also terrible since its geography and economy are perfectly suited for large-scale agribusiness.)
6
I'll give credence to the argument that many people in the Mountain West are the descendants of pioneers, but you would have to be at least 130 years old to claim you are a pioneer. I've seen how Mountain West towns like to romanticize their history, which is where the libertarian streak comes in, but in this modern age, we are all dependent on health care, transportation, and communication, areas where Democrats want to invest. Further, the Mountain West dwellers should appreciate a clean environment, another priority of the Democratic party.
14
Liz, I think this is pretty obvious honestly. None of the Mountain West states had a direct impact on Trump winning the election the way the Rust Belt states of Ohio and Michigan did. Therefore, who are the Democrats going to appeal to this time around? Had they won 50K-100K more votes across a few states around the Great Lakes, we would have a different President. So, the answer is in the numbers of the electoral college and the demographics of the Rust Belt. Not too difficult to understand. Also your resume for campaigns you've worked for is a list of the most abhorrently ideologically driven right wing GOP candidates from around the country. Shouldn't you be writing about how you use abortion as a wedge issue to get people to vote against their own economic self interest? I think that's more in your wheelhouse Liz.
26
Bravo! Excellent!
1
Brilliant dissection, such control of the knife. Also, BRAVO!
Strategist, the new Propagandist. As for “ who speaks “, that means Nothing. The only thing that Matters : Voting.
2020: VOTE like you mean it.
Seriously.
16
Really, you can say what you've said about any region of the country. We have a fantastically corrupt administration destroying, as we sit by, every bit of environmental, medical, and consumer protections that legislators (sometimes even from both sides of the aisle) have fought long and hard to implement. Now, with the Republican party turned into the Party of Trump, there is no bipartisan effort to accomplish anything. And all of us are left out. Rural communities still don't have reliable broadband. My relatively small-town hospital has fewer and fewer doctors, and my primary care provider is a nurse; no, I'm not disparaging nurses, but I really would like my PCP provide to be a physician. Farmers are being decimated by this administration's policies, and those in farm communities are convinced, thanks to Fox News propaganda, that we on the left hold them in contempt. As this article notes, the Mountain States believe the Rust Belt commands the attention of politicians. And so it goes. Meanwhile, millions of dollars pour into Kentucky thanks the Mitch McConnell's close ties to a Russian oligarch. How can any one of us believe there is any sanity or decency or compassion remaining.
15
And we hate bombastic bullies as well as live close enough to nature to see the real time real effects of climate change and air pollution.
11
@D Gayle - a friend of mine in Jackson, Wyoming told me how the area got very sick of "outdoorsman" Dick Cheney scaring fish and game every time he'd helicopter in for a weekend shooting game and close friends.
Poor Colorado seems to be the epicenter of school and other mass shootings. Is the air just too darned thin up there?
(BTW, that 'old cowboy song' Don't Fence Me In was written by that noted denizen of the Mountain West Cole Porter, born and raised in Peru, Indiana, and by preference a 'coastal elite' during his adult life.)
8
Liz,
What did Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ever do to you? Why don't you invite her over. She certainly feels friendly enough. You two might get on famously.
14
@Robert Roth, AOC is not the "biggest rock star in the party" as this column claims and you seem to think is deserved. Solid democrat here, and most of us wish she would pipe down. In a time of trump, we do not need another brash and loud new yorker attempting to speak for us (and that includes bernie).
2
@Robert Roth - stop trying to make an intelligent, ambitious young politician seem scary.
Liz is a GOP strategist who has backed the Koch roster. A likable politician making it likely we speed up the inevitable energy transition is Ms. Mair's worst nightmare.
1
@b fagan
I realized that after I sent comment.
1
I live in one of these mountain states and, I don't think Ms. Mair gets it.
In my little town, which until about 7-8 years ago was solid red, is now a nice light to medium blue when it comes to politics.
There has been a very (very) distinct shift to the left in this part of the country. Far more than Ms. Mair (whose consulting firm lists several far right and amoral politicians) would lead you to believe.
The chances of a Trump flip in Colorado are zero.
The Democrats elected the countries first gay Governor. It led in legalizing cannabis. Denver is voting on de-criminalizing mushrooms (yes, those mushrooms) this month. The entire government is Democrat-led.
No, Ms. Mair. We aren't 'a little bit libertarian'. We're blue headed to bright blue, and we get that you don't like it.
But don't represent the majority of us as a little like you. You're part of the Trump problem and you know it.
24
Exactly!
The photograph atop this article reveals the horror that voters in Colorado have no paper record of their votes. Accordingly, until they correct that omission, it will be an open question, a tactical Republican secret, who speaks for the Mountain West.
8
@MAX L SPENCER Interesting that you picked up on the photo in the article showing Colorado voters voting on computers. If indeed there is no paper record associated with this system, that is certainly troubling.
Fortunately however, a most Coloradoans vote by the paper ballots which are mailed to addresses of all registered voters. These ballots can be conveniently mailed back or dropped off to polling places in the weeks preceding elections or dropped off on election days. Citizens can also register up through election day.
I would assume those pictured here were not registered in time to receive ballots in the mail, or they find it more convenient/rewarding to vote in person. This accessibility to voting is probably one of the main reasons Colorado had the second highest turnout in the 2018 midterms (63%, second only to Minnesota). And it was a blue sweep.
3
We object to a right-wing operator trying to tell everyone what our region is about.
She represented Scott Walker, Roy Blunt, Rand Paul, Carly Fiorina and Rick Perry.
None of these hateful politicians speak for us and neither does Liz Mair.
Ken Buck--an anti-abortion, anti-environment, gun advocate is a disgrace to Colorado. Wrong to link this odious clown to Bill Richardson. We support his voters' desire to secede from Colorado---go away, stop tainting our state.
18
Well, I just hope the Mountain West realizes that we currently have a sociopath and malignant liar in the White House and does their part to remove him and those who aid and abet a level of criminality in our federal elected offices that has exceeded anything in our history. Let's worry about that first.
17
As long as it doesn't move South!
If the Mountain West continues to vote for a New York con artist who's never gotten a speck of dirt under his fingernails, it won't have political relevance any time soon.
7
Idaho gal here. Please don't presume to speak for me. You clearly have no idea what goes on in North Idaho. Thanks!
9
True!
I also think that the environment is a very big concern out here. There is a tension between energy producers and those who are concerned about the environment and public health. Our recent state elections swung towards the latter voters.
9
I guess I played the mugs game. Just sold my house in the LV area. Understand the buyer emptied the pool. Golf course it was built into closed. So no reason to hold. The mountain west is far superior to the east and/or the rust belt. Moving to north Texas. Oh give me a home.
1
One word that should be front and center for any candidate for any political office in Colorado: water.
10
True of Utah, also.
2
Yes the mountain states are "flippable." Trouble for Trump and the GOP is they've already flipped and gone blue. As a former mountain dweller in Colorado at 9,100 feet above sea leavel, I can tell you that Coloradans are very conscious of climate change, concerned about the environment and very protective of their open spaces. Same goes for Alaska, which is why putting a mine in the headwaters of Alaska's biggest sockeye salmon run is driving many Alaskans purple -- purple with rage.
127
@Christy, if every Alaskan does not vote against trump in 2020 for this ridiculous effort to kill off one of their cadillac fish, then I have no hope for any voters, anywhere. Thanks for mentioning this-- part of the cancer of trump is how the cocktail of pure evil and incompetence holds many of us in a trance-- and meanwhile, truly awful things like the mines near the fish are happening. Just yesterday virtually declaring war against Canada; Monday overturning the Deep Horizon standards. The coverage any of this truly bad stuff gets is fleeting at best, below the fold on page 9.
14
Ms. Mair might be interested to note that the "old cowboy song Don't Fence Me In" was written by Cole Porter, who might best be described as a coastal elite.
15
Just to say...On a majority of map projections, the west is on the left.
8
Beto O’Rourke is also a candidate from the Mountain West.
3
The only way the Republicans can flip these mountain states is to suppress the vote.
11
Sadly, your comprehension of the urban point of view is as uninformed as my understanding of 'Rockies' mentality. Utah may be the fastest growing but Salt Lake City has a horrendous air pollution problem. One that rivals Beijing on an inversion day. Education lags the rest of the country. And water is going to become a critical issue very shortly. You might want to rethink the 'go-it-alone' and forget the urbanites attitude because you might need us sooner than later.
9
Just FYI Phoenix, Denver, and Las Vegas are in the region you're talking about, Ms. Mair. Booming "new economy" cities are not coastal liberal phenomena.
10
Bernie seems to be very popular in Colorado, where he beat Clinton in the 2016 caucus by over 18 points.
And the grandparents you mention have good taste if they sing Don’t Fence Me In—a Cole Porter tune!
7
I don't know about the numbers, but it's always hilarious when people in the middle of the country complain about being stereotyped as rubes by people who they stereotype as coastal elites.
16
@Diego that is so ironic, thanks for pointing it out
Interesting thoughts. But what you miss is that the fast growth in Utah, for example, is not from childbirth like Mike Lee would want. It’s from people moving in from elsewhere like Silicon Valley, California or, in my case, Vermont. We moved for the jobs and are bringing our values to Utah and not the other way around. So, appealing to libertarian cowboys won’t necessarily be the strategy in the new political landscape.
12
@Peter Coombs and many of us" Utah Pioneer Stock" share our values with people transplanted from Vermont. The mormon stranglehold in Utah (I was mormon for 40 years) is loosening, even among the natives.
7
@Anna
The irony is, of course, that Joseph Smith was born in Sharon, VT!
2
I've lived in several states in the inter-mountain west and found the column interesting. I've always appreciated the ways in which various political operatives have taken this region for granted - especially Ms. Mair and the GOP. In contrast, the intermountain West has long been a stronghold of Progressive sentiment (in the mode of George Norris, Joseph O'Mahoney, Bob Lafollette and TR). BTW, "Don't Fence Me IN" was written by that great CW song writer Cole Porter.
9
@cdd
The lyrics for "Don't Fence Me In" were actually written by a guy from Montana, Robert Fletcher. An example of East/West co-operation?
Maybe yes and maybe no. From her short bio, she clearly has worked for the brightest and the best. Ahem.
5
The author would have better off choosing one state because as it stands this is a puff piece devoid of facts and is of little value to those attempting to understand the emerging political power of the Mountain time zone. Flowery platitudes about pioneers only serves to minimize the complexity of Colorado’s political divide. In an overwrought image of the Mountain West, the author lumps together states which are demographically and politically disparate into a cowboy theme song. Colorado is not a conglomeration of the descendants of white cow pokes. This state is in a demographic flux with newcomers changing the face of the state as well as liberalizing the urban and suburban populations against that of the more conservative voters outside of the cities.
Colorado is only looks blue because of those new residents. Look at the 2016 voting map. Not blue overall. It’s hugely red with blue focused in the Denver Metro area. Liberal voters are densely concentrated and are now overriding red areas.
Had a bit more research been completed, the author would know that there is a VERY stark divide between the Western Slope of Colorado Grand Junction, etc), the Southern metro area (Colorado Springs, aka the home of Focus on the Family), and the Denver metropolitan area. Cory Gardener might be the imperiled U.S. senator in 2020, but that overlooks his constituency which is primarily a rural swatch that is markedly pro trump.
Poor execution and research on significant issue for 2020.
197
@AW Liberal voters in Colorado's cities are not "overriding" the red areas. That word implies something nefarious. We call it democracy as those with the most votes win.
21
@AW I think you accidentally got to the point about the mountain west at the end. For the sake of presidential elections, Denver is Colorado. As, Salt Lake is becoming Utah, Boise becoming Idaho, Phoenix becoming Arizona, Seattle is Washington, Portland is Oregon and Albuquerque is New Mexico. The mountain west is becoming urban and those urban voters will "override" the will of rural ones as they have done for a long time in New York or California.
Even as we urbanize in the mountain west, looking more and more like our eastern brethren, one difference is likely to persist for some time. We tend to be a bit environmentalist and libertarian. Up to this point, neither party is willing to embrace both those things. Perhaps, a Hickenlooper or a Bennet or a Sinema could make a difference. However, I don't see them ever winning in the primaries so long as New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina get the privilege of voting first.
10
@AW Empty acres do not vote; people vote. That's why CO is bluer than ever. NM turned out some troglodytic Republicans in 2018, and is reliably blue. If Trump thinks there are Southwest inroads, he should stay out of CO and NM and try to retain AZ.
I have found that, if I begin in Gallup, NM or Needles, CA, and pack a lunch and fill the car with gas, I can cross AZ without spending a nickel in that state.
13
I like your analysis, Ms. Mair. National politicians seem to be either from the “extremes”—both coasts or from more quickly identifiable geographical place names.
The West (the Rocky Mountain spine, I mean) has long been an area that ceded political fortunes to other areas where the teeming, clamoring millions seemed, by default, to Bogart the nation’s attention.
But your area is also the home to various groups—some organized, some not—that hew to the hard right and appear to be a nesting place for fanatics of the David Koresh anti-government type. Idaho, for example, is a state that attracts racists and militia-type communities that branch out into land-grabbing families who defy federal grazing laws (see: Cliven Bundy, e.g.) And the area’s fascination with firearms is enough to give one pause; Aurora; Tucson; Columbine; Las Vegas are all Rocky Mountain cities or towns now famous for mass shootings. A school in Colorado was the scene of a recent mass shooting. It just seems like folks out there, when there’s a problem, grab a gun to settle things up.
But, all told, I’m for new visions and new faces and new ideas. Welcome the Rockies. At least it’s not the South, a region unredeemable for progress and mired in its 1620’s to 1860’s set pieces. There, faces (and some names) change, but little else. The South doesn’t want to listen; just play the victim.
So join up, hitch up, or do whatever it is that you do out there and join the rest of us. We would love to have you.
5
So my many friends in the Mountain West are not really concerned with the environment and land management? Not true.
9
I’m a little skeptical of this writers claims.
Of the top twenty states by population, 10 are from the northeast and the rust belt.
Arizona, at #14, is the only so-called mountain state to crack the top twenty. Even tiny New Jersey comes in at #11.
4
Ok, um, so like right. First you have to understand that there are two parts to the west. The rural west and the city/suburban/sprawl west. The rural west, is calm, collected, and very skeptical. While the urban/suburban/sprawl west is about as generic as the Iowa, pushy like the east coast, and desperately keeping up with the Joneses.
The rural west in most places has their hand in your wallet, taking your money, smiling, asking you to have a good time, while your escaping and being a tourist. The reality is most of us don't care if you have a good time, we want your money, we know politicians lie, and as long as you respect our boundaries we will respect yours.
As a life long mountain dweller, I will lie to your face too, smile, making sure you heard what you want to hear. Just make sure to leave me alone at the end of the day.
3
I'm from the northeast but have always vacationed in Wyoming. I find the people to be very honest and straightforward which I believe is exactly what they are looking for in their government. Because of this I find no reason why Trump would appeal to anyone in Wyoming since he is neither honest nor straightforward about anything.
6
This is wishful thinking. Did you not notice that the Democrats had a complete sweep of last November's election? All statewide offices on the ballot are now blue; even Republican sheriffs and clerks lost in the Denver suburbs. Cory Gardner is considered the most vulnerable Republican Senator in the country. And parts of Colorado may be more open to gun rights arguments, but the metro area, where the population is, is tired of mass shootings and loose gun laws.
71
@JaneF In NM, both senators and all three House representatives are Democrats. All seven statewide offices are held by Democrats: Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, Auditor, and Commissioner of Public Lands. Both State Senate President Pro Tem and State House Speaker are Democrats. Of these 14, seven are women.
7
@JaneF...yes, and the metro area, where the population is, is the scene of those mass shootings. Columbine, Aurora and now Highlands Ranch. The Metro Area needs to put its own house in order.
@Albert Edmud which is why we want stricter gun laws. BTW, Both Littleton, where Columbine is, and Highlands Ranch are predominantly Republican. There have not been any shootings in bluer Denver.
8
This is another opportunity to discuss the absurdity of the Electoral College and the primary process in this modern era. Early-voting primary states, "swing-states", and the swingy Rust Belt have enormous influence compared with other states and regions. This leads to bad policies and the promotion of local and regional interests over natural interests. Take ethanol subsidies, for example. It is an abysmal example of unnecessary corporate welfare promoting ethanol for fuel, when in fact, ethanol production and use as fuel is worse than traditional oil-based gasoline (which is bad enough for the environment). Thanks to Iowa being the first primary state each cycle and a swing-state, this bad policy continues. The promotion of coal and steel are other examples. Thanks to the Rust Belt being the region that decides presidential elections due to the Electoral College, coal and steel production (which are horrific for the environment and obsolete) continue to be promoted at the expense of the new economy and the environment. The answer is to get rid of the Electoral College and revamp the primary system to rotate which states are at the beginning of the primary season, not to fight Rust Belt-centric regionalism with Mountain West or Southern or Northeastern regionalism.
7
My wife (Japanese-American) and I (a frothy brew of fermented ingredients imported from across western Europe) both descend from folks who came to the West/Mountain West well over a century ago. We love AOC and support strong gun control measures. I don't have a single liberal friend here who doesn't share these attitudes. Salt Lake City and Denver are all examples of two Mountain West cities that are nearly as progressive as any locale in the country.
From reading this, I'm not convinced that Ms. Mair has even visited the Mountain West.
99
@The Mountain West is my favorite part of of our great country and I know it first hand as I've lived and worked several years out there, specifically in Denver, CO & in Boise, ID.
The thing is I have to take exception about the authors definition of Mountain West as I don't think of Arizona as being a mountain state as it's more desert Southwest.
@ToddTsch I also question the research invested in this story by the author: I dunno maybe take a trip or two out that way and get to know the people ?
3
@ToddTsch That was my reaction too! Only an East-coaster characterizes all westerners as cowboys who love guns.
8
@ToddTsch
It honestly reads like a New Yorker's fantasy of what the west is like. It's like assuming San Francisco is still full of hippies.
7
The West side is tilting the center and warrants attention. The new flyover country is a vista away from the rust belt.
1
I hope you are wrong. The idea of putting up with 24/7 continuous ads to vote Republican or Democrat, for he next 18 or so months is repugnant. By teh way, you left out one important thing; at leats in Colorado, we consider ourselves "purple". We vote, not like blind lambs going to slaughter; we vote for those who will do the job. Trump lost here twice. The Colorado GOP did not support him in the primaries. The state voted for Clinton. But, well over 200000 votes went to Johnson, because people could not stomach Trump. Also, in the 2018 election, Colorado voted the GOP out of state government, because of Trump.
And finally, the Mountain West is come and visit or stay a while, but leave your politics back east, in Texas or in California.
4
Climate change and the environment will become THE issue for voters--as the GOP continues to operate like 19th century robber barons. You can dangle phony 2nd amendment hysteria and hatred of immigrants as a "platform" for only so long. Game over for the Republican party in it's current odious incarnation.
8
Climate change won’t become THE issue for most voters unless water from rising sea levels is gushing through their front door. Even then, some number of them will attribute it to something else. As with gun control and abortion, this is an issue where more people roughly agree with Democrats but those who disagree are deeply passionate. People got on board for the Clean Air Act because they could see dark air in Pittsburgh. Climate change is mostly invisible. Melting glaciers are only apparent in time-lapse photography. More-frequent flooding, desertification, and high-temperature records are also only apparent using comparative data and by relying on scientists to tell us the cause. And even thought it’ll get worse, it will get worse gradually. Noticing it will be like watching a tree grow.
1
@Russell Scanlon The downside is that ,in the sanctuary West the benefits to protect law breakers come directly from taxpayers and the taxes are going nowhere but up. and who suffer are ,while law enforcement in the west are busy protecting many criminal undocumented they allow young shooters to enter schools unabated to kill and injure children. The west lives ,now in some alternate fantasy where firearm confiscation from lawful citizens becomes reality , while who are left with protecting their own lives as a last resort is a true reality. The myth of the rust belt continues as a denigration of a region which in reality has rebounded enormously with not only industrial high tech ,steel production and energy production on an historical level .Do not allow the media propaganda to fool you .
1
You aren't the only one voting for the least offensive candidate. Like you, I am royally tired of doing so. Unfortunately for me, I am a moderate and both parties are leaning to their extremes. Consequently, I am stuck with the Democrats because I cannot, in good conscience, vote for the party that wages war on women, the poor, and anyone who is not a white male.
5
It's still flyover country, and I'm in Salt Lake City.
1
So the author of this article worked for some very hard right politicians. She is hardly the one to speak for the mountain west .
8
Get real, the New West is urban not some folksy cattle ranch. The flood of new comers are bring their politics with them. The divide between urban and rural and young and old are the same here as Back East. The Mountain West turned Blue because of urban growth, with a few exceptions the Red counties have lost population. The tumbleweed days are over.
9
The "old Arizona joke" is not McCain's. I believe Larry King said it first, although it was popularized by Mo Udall long before McCain.. Bruce Babbitt quoted it in 1998, with attribution to Udall, before launching his own, unsuccessful campaign, according to a NYT article that year.
Too bad McCain doesn't seem to have done likewise -- and that the national press that fawned over him didn't bother to check. As Utah Phillips like to say, in America, a long memory is the most radical act.
3
I don’t know what part of the Mountain West the author is describing but it’s not the Colorado my family has called home for 100 years. Half the people I know have drunk the Fox News/Koch brothers/NRA/Cory Gardner kool aid. They fear some delusional vision of the government taking their guns, forcing them to pay taxes to support all those lazy and illegal brown people and infringing on their god-given right to exploit the planet and other human beings for their own financial benefit (climate change is a hoax!). The rest of us either care deeply about things like social justice and protecting our precious environment (necessary to support human life! science is a real thing!) or are libertarian (leave us educated white people alone!). Most days lately I struggle to find hope that we will ever be able to bridge these differences.
The current national, statewide and local political rhetoric is primarily serving to divide us and stands in the way of solving the acute problems facing our state. Many rural areas desperately need help with basic services like infrastructure, education, mental health and substance abuse services, health care, etc. Urban areas are exploding with new people and we are unprepared to address the environmental and infrastructure problems and the extremely high housing costs that arrived with the influx of people. We rank bottom in the US for education funding. The brown cloud is back. Who can bring us together to solve these problems?
18
@Trying To Be A Decent Human Being
You have given the best and truest response. We in the West are tired of east coast presumed dominance in just about all national perceptions.
The USA was formed as much by the Spanish Catholic culture, the Mormons, and the Texans as it was by the Puritans in New England. Innovation and creativity are more alive in California than in New York. Our universities are the equal of the Ivies. Prejudice is not just black/white; it is red and brown, as well. We have our history, foods, culture, and two major languages: Spanish and English. "Illegals" are the descendants of the indigenous people of the West. And the West includes the Pacific Coast states and Texas.
So, get used to us. We are the freest spot on the planet and know a thing or two.
62
@HLR
You are certainly perpetuating the national divide by making incorrect assumptions about "east coast presumed dominance". If education is a factor here, the North East (and coastal California) exceeds the rest of the nation and their critical thinking should be well-honed in the best interest of the greater good. They fail with the Republican financially "privileged" hubris-laden egocentric entitled and Trump wannabes.
Good people (really good ones, not the "good people on both sides" of Trumpian fiction) exist all over our nation. We ALL want stability, health, and a secure future for our children. If you will note the vast majority of environmental, legal, educational and even agricultural bills that have been proposed you will see that they are Democratic in origin. These Democrats come from all states. Trumplicans - those whom I see as the great American problem - have stopped EVERY significant House bill under McConnell; and the Dems have only been in a House majority for 4 months.
Kudos to good people everywhere. Now they must think nationally and not as tribal political partisans and cult followers.
4
@HLR
Read the book "American Nations." Northern California, Portland and Seattle (as well as the Upper Midwest and Upstate New York) was settled by those New Englanders you dismiss.
In fact you can trace the migration of New Englander influence across the map. Anywhere that you find love of learning and innovation was dominated by New Englanders when that area was getting started,
Ohio is particularly fun. You can see the Yankee influence in the Universities and farms in the Northern half of the state compared to the very different Ohio that is south of Columbus.
1
The author mentions declining population in several states. I , obviously, live in PA. y We do have a large cohort of aging boomers. I am one, so I should know. And we have had some snowbird flight to the South.
However, Philly and its surrounding suburban counties are booming right now Young folks are moving here in great numbers. Entire nabes in Philly have been transformed- so far primarily what had been badly rundown white working class nabes like Fishtown.
So, we may lose in relative terms nationalyl but the State itself is becoming more Blue. Of course, that presupposes a reasonably fair redistricting after the 2020 Census, unlike the scandalous sham in 2010. We do have a Democratic Governor, however, so something reasonably balanced ought t result, no matter what the R dominated State Legislature wants.
5
My sister teaches in Colorado, and her school was closed while law enforcement was looking for the wannabe Columbine copycat. She's lived in Colorado for 20 years. She's seen worsening droughts, and also worsening flooding because of the extremes of climate change. She looks at GOP policies and is aghast at how little they do for her students and her fellow Coloradans. And she votes.
11
Interesting that the author feels that she can speak for all the people who live in the West.
Also ignoring the fact that Colorado became blue because of the influence of new residents from California and the East. These people aren’t likely to flip into MAGA voters. Good luck in flipping those blue states.
5
All these thoughts about the country being too big to govern from DC forget that the country was designed that way in the beginning. It's only the futile effort to bend, ban, and blackmail 50 states into toeing the party line from DC that is the problem.
1
The Republican Party is not geared toward the interests of the typical rest belt resident, it is marketed as being geared toward their interests; big difference.
As for the fact that the mountain states are gaining in population, this is largely due to two factors: Latino immigration & birthrate and migration of people out of California. Neither of these bode well for the Republican Party.
5
'We’re the ones who didn’t get Mr. Trump’s State of the Union line about fences and love (maybe we all grew up hearing our parents or grandparents singing the old cowboy song “Don’t Fence Me In” too much).'
The above 'cowboy' song being a Cole Porter tune. Cole Porter is about as NYC elite as you can get. Even the music is just a part of the cowboy myth.
4
@Tracy: I wonder about that, though. I spent some young years in Texas, and it seems to me that those old "cowboy" songs were popular, even though they were the product of the music business, not of cowboys sitting around in their bunkhouses. On the other hand, there was sort of an elegiac feel to the way people liked them. "I'm going to leave old Texas now, they've got no use for the long-horned cow..." I guess that one never caught on as much as "Don't Fence Me In." Myths are complicated.
Whether Ms Mair is at all correct about the real attitudes of westerners is another question. She is very quick to generalize.
This overall a thoughtful and cogent analysis, but lumping AOC and Trump together as both being "brash" is just plain goofy. AOC has backbone and doesn't back down, but she doesn't fire off senseless, insulting tweets multiple times per hour and she argues the facts as she sees them and does not instead stoop to ad hominem attacks.
10
"It’s happy news for the region, which has become tired of being an afterthought for presidential campaigns thanks to its lower population levels."
I don't know how to say this nicely, but areas with lower population levels *should* be of less importance, because they are less important, because they have fewer people. One person, one vote.
13
@Susan: Right. And, it's not just because of the low population levels, it's because its politics are taken for granted. Campaigns will go after those electoral votes, to the extent that they're in play.
@Susan And the Mountain West frankly doesn't have that many people despite its enormous size.
There were 24 million people. in the Census' 'Mountain Division' in 2017. That's roughly comparable to the 19 million in the Census' far smaller 'East South Central' division -- and when was the last time you read a NYT piece talking about the rising political power of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama?
From my perspective when it comes to government you are too negative and the low taxes (like the South) are hurting your educational system (teacher salaries are poor, security of buildings minimal, etc). Maybe you need to try a Rust Belt idea - unions!
9
Above all, the West's credo is one of decency. That several small population western states voted for Trump demonstrates clearly that the people who voted there either set aside their own morality or didn't know Trump is and always has been the antithesis of decency.
The US cannot be 'great' while following an ethos that is not decent. If you are not decent, you are nothing.
12
So caring about the impending collapse of human civilization due to climate change is an "elitist" concern?
8
Well, this column was all over the place, wasn’t it? Not a surprise seeing whose campaigns the author has strategized for. (Rick Perry? Really?)
And nice try, trying to tell us that Republicans give a whit about the social safety net. They don’t.
17
I can assure the Trump campaign and Republicans that Colorado is not "flippable," and is inexorably heading toward being solidly blue.
11
Trump’s re-election campaign will never flip Colorado and New Mexico ....those states are practically all Democratic now. Nevada is a remote possibility. If that happens the Democrats are in big trouble.
5
Forgive me, but isn't the mountain west also the place where movements to privatize public lands is taking place? Take Cliven Bundy for example. Take President Trump's reduction of the size of the Bear's Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante for another example. Take the Republican led "Sagebrush Revolution" for even another example. Take Wyoming's death grip hold on the opposition to coal production also as an example. Finally, take the "libertarian" ranchers who whine about all the "free stuff" welfare recipients get, but whose hands are the first ones out for basically free grazing rights. Contrary to Ms. Mair's comments, the Mountain West already has an outsized political footprint based on the constitutional guaranty of "equal protection" in the Senate.
7
The Mountain West has kept its head down for good reason. The Mountain West has also grown more and has performed better than any other region for good reason. The Mountain West is about as functionally purple as can be, and that's our appeal. I'd rather the mountain states become an example of where the rest of the US needs to be rather than territory for either party to conquer.
6
I'm not sure who this "we" here in the Mountain States is. Do the politics and culture of New Mexico really have all that much in common with Idaho? It sure doesn't feel like it. And Colorado has many of the same divisions (generational and topographical) that afflict the rest of the country. The Front Range's population growth has flipped the state from red to blue, much to the dismay of less populated counties in eastern Colorado and the Western Slope. We're not all cowboys, nor do many of us even subscribe to that fantasy anymore.
Yes, the politics here (in Colorado) feel different - but there's more to that than bromides about some fantasy of a communal "we." Colorado's relatively small population, its part-time legislature, its ballot initiative process - all these have a significant impact on the state's political culture. It is probably true that our Democratic politicians tend to be more centrist than Senator Warren or Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, but young Coloradoans seem to be moving left along with the rest of their generation. "Social" issues matter very much to them.
As for gun rights and gun control: on the morning after yet another Colorado school shooting, I just don't know what to say to this.
Finally, the real horror in this op-ed (marketing) piece is this: who wants Trump here? Who wants the marketing poison of super-Pacs? Sometimes being overlooked is a blessing.
32
Ms Mair doesn’t speak for me, as someone who has lived their entire life in the Rocky Mountain West. But then I would say that of any Washington DC based lobbyist. Give me someone who attended a state school (Universities of Utah, Colorado,New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, Idaho Montana) in the region. Or give me someone who has lived here for at least a decade.We are a land of immigrants in the west, but it does take time to learn the land to represent it.
This isn’t Ms Mair.
Further, we are a diverse bunch that includes both liberal and conservative areas with the entire range in between. To be reduced as Ms Mair does, is a fiction.
A carpetbagger trying to turn us into something she can use. We of the west, most certainly, regardless of our political persuasions, are more than fodder for a DC lobbyist.
21
@Edward Brennan, I am a California liberal. But I want to endorse your comment about "state schools." You have great schools in CO, and much excellence in the other states you named. We in CA share that pride, and REALITY, with you. I for one am tired of a right wing Federalist Society attempting to pack the federal courts at every level with so-called ivy league lawyers. Give me a UCLA grad, or U of A, or UNM, etc-- to provide us with the diversity of views our courts AND our country really needs.
3
"are simultaneously concerned about preservation of wilderness and the ability to use land to generate income"
In our region, large tracts of government land are largely state-owned, run as State Parks or protected regions.
In the West, the land is largely Federal, and it is a much larger percentage of all the land. They deal with distant DC bureaucrats, while we deal with the State Legislature.
Those differences are real, but government owned land managed properly is an issue in common. It could be built on, if recognized.
We have much potential for common interests.
4
I grew up in Salt Lake and have family in Denver. The notion of a blue and red political coloring book has always been a gross oversimplification. Colorado is distinctly purple and (as the author mentions) Utah has a strong and stubborn streak of Libertarianism running through the population.
Our closed primaries tend to force polarization in both parties, making it more difficult for “purple” candidates to be successful. I don’t have a solution for it, but appreciate the efforts of this author to get us talking about it.
4
The blue-red line is no longer Coast vs Inland or North vs South. It’s more urban vs rural with the swing vote being the suburban areas. The lower mtn states (AZ, CO) have large urban areas and are swinging blue. The upper ones (WY, ID, and to a slightly lesser extent MT) are still mostly rural with economies that are driven by extraction, farming and tourism.
Demographic change is inevitable. Old people eventually die. Both parties need to give young people a reason to vote. Trump feeds them fear, anger and hate, which are powerful emotions. Democrats need to create their own positive emotions (which is much more difficult).
15
This GOP strategist conveniently fails to mention the Trump effort to insert the citizenship question into the 2020 census. This obviously will not add any electoral power to the western states. In fact it is designed to undercount the population. That’s the GOP strategy. So much for representing the west and supporting representative democracy.
21
I grew up in Utah and return there several times a year. Utah is growing fast in part because the dominant LDS religion supports big families. What a lot of people don’t realize that Utah was not unfriendly to Democrats in past decades. We routinely had Democratic governors, Representatives and mayors of Salt Lake City, and still do to a lesser degree. And the state’s conservatives are not necessarily Trumpistas, witness Mitt Romney’s palpable disdain for Trump.
But in some ways, Utah politics is a microcosm of our nation, with urban Salt Lake County being far more liberal than the rural areas. And Utah’s state legislature reflects those divides. One of the reasons that Utah has a national reputation for political conservatism is that the state legislature created Congressional districts using a classic gerrymandering techniques, cracking, to split Salt Lake County and submerge its voters in a conservative sea. They call their version the pizza pie districting plan, with SL County the tip of each slice. When asked how such a districting plan could be considered fair, one Utah legislator said something like “Of course it’s fair. Each Congressional district represents the statewide mix of voters.” When it was pointed out that no, Senators reflect Utahns statewide, but Representatives reflect only their districts, and that SL County is not fairly represented, the legislator was unapologetic.
And that, friends, is how the GOP wins in Utah, in the Mountain West and nationally.
24
"We or our families are people who ditched the rest of the country for the West, so we tend to be a little more sympathetic to immigrants (and hey, a lot of us are immigrants or descended from recent immigrants)."
That is also true of the Great Lake region. It is much more typical than political commentary mentions.
In my own family, my mother's family was born in London, England and her older sisters in Canada. My father's family moved up from Tennessee in the early 1930's. The couple across the street from them are also from Tennessee. Very few of our old neighborhood were born here. They moved to work here. My own wife is Filipina, and so our kids have the same sympathy.
That was also true of the Great Migration of black people to this area. They came for jobs too.
We have large Arabic communities that moved here more recently, whole suburbs full, and a Muslim-majority city council in a big one. The same is true in nearby states, hence the election of Ilhan Omar.
Now the jobs are gone, that jobs issue is the issue most talked about. But this other issue about origin elsewhere and sympathy for that should not be forgotten.
8
My focus is on the spirit of the Mountain West, a spirit that only the people who have lived there can comprehend. The wisest chess move in my life came when I left my home state of Ohio in 1976 and moved to Missoula, Montana. Thanks to the stunning landscape and the friendly and vibrant people, my soul was awakened and transformed. Those ten years were the most potent social and outdoors experience of my life. Add to that my twenty-two years in Placitas, New Mexico, the mountain and desert version of Mountain West magic, and you end up with a political progressive who is a one-issue voter: environmental protection.
13
The Intermountain West is a harbinger of the real political split in the country, the rural/urban divide. Utah, Colorado, even bright red Idaho are increasingly characterized by growing urban/suburban populations and and shrinking rural populations. Utah and Idaho and possibly Montana are poised to follow Colorado's transition towards the blue, both passed citizen initiatives to accept the full Obamacare Medicaid expansion, though Utah's traditionally red legislature rolled back both the expansion and the medical marijuana initiatives and is working on eroding the redistricting commission initiative as well. These initiatives passed on strong turnout from younger and urban voters. These states have strongly growing young populations who lean more left all the time, value outdoors, public lands, and wilderness values far more than they support fossil fuel extraction, and proved that the old GOP guard is losing its grip.
21
I am a Mountain West girl through and through. Born and raised in Utah , exiled to the midwest for 4 years, exiled to the East for 1 year, and now happily repatriated to the Mountain West. I can claim Utah, Nevada, and now New Mexico as home. By extension I have family ties to Arizona, and Colorado and Wyoming. I can say unequivocally that Mountain West people care A LOT about the environment and the land. Living in country that is breathtakingly beautiful makes one care very very deeply for the land. I think in the Mountain West, the biggest threat is climate change and development versus conservation, and it seems like the soul of this region is being violently assaulted by Republicans (Trump in particular feels like an existential threat). No matter the other issues (and I care about the other issues a lot), this Mountain West girl wants a candidate that understands how precious the red rock deserts of Utah are, how incredible the massive colonies of aspen's are, and how fragile and important this region is. Biden seems like another just another white dude from the East. I want a candidate who is going to be full throttle into renewable energy and understands that without our beautiful scenic public lands, we will lose what makes this country special. This is my number one issue. Protect the land from greedy exploitation (and in some cases this may even mean protect it from recreation). Whatever candidate champions this cause will win me over.
72
@Anna, one perfect day in March a few years ago, I sat on a balcony with a group of colleagues from all over the world, looking at bright blue skies, feeling the warmth of the sun, looking at a redwood grove (planted I will admit) teeming with birds, and at the winter green hills beyond-- we all breathed a collective sigh of contentment. I smiled at them all and said, "now you under stand why we are all tree huggers." I think I turned a few minds that day from the right wing exploitative philosophy of the company, to an understanding of the importance that sheer natural beauty has to many of us in the west, including CA. Lessening the influence of the old east, uncaring south, and stodgy midwest will be key if we are to EVER move forward. That said, ANY democrat president will be better than any GOP-- most especially trump-- and so if chosen, I will willingly vote for Biden, and I hope my western states brothers and sisters will as well. If we are NOT victorious in Congress and the Presidency, well, all may be lost.
3
Ms. Mair - thank-you for acknowledging the Mountain West. I am a transplant from the coast because of a job. The open spaces of Wyoming are tantalizing, as is the wildlife. The politics is not to tantalizing, but I see a real 'sheep mentality' here in the region. If the area received attention from candidates, something might happen - the sheep may leap out of their fences. I
There is an underlying libertarian nature here, but the environment, clean water, open spaces, along with a 'leave me alone' attitude are present. Beneath that attitude I feel people have a deep 'fear' of speaking out against the established politics of republicanism. The legislature of Wyoming is controlled by agriculture and oil interests - and diverse opinions are not welcomed. Yet a resistance movement began after Trump was elected president.
I think a few steps into the limelight by Hickenlooper, Bennet, and Bullock would do wonders to unleash the 'fears' within the peoples of the Mountain West.
16
@Jackie
Problem is... both Hickenlooper & Bullock are notably inarticulate; and Bennet cannot even raise his voice for the good folks of Colorado and rarely holds Town Halls. I cannot say that any of the three have a reliable "following".
4
Regional concerns, like the author’s, need to take a back seat to climate change. And addressing climate change, and a world of shrinking resources generally, demands a new mindset and a whole new set of priorities. Some of these changes will be uncomfortable for libertarians because they require us to work together for a common goal. They will also be a problem for rust belters and coastal “elites.” But if we do it right, there’s something in it for everyone: protection of our natural environment for the western mountain states and new jobs in alternative energy and infracture for our crumbling midwestern economies and our equally crumbling coastal cities. These goals also require a healthy, educated population. So universal healthcare and good public schools are a must. They benefit everyone, including the high-end taxpayers who will have to foot the bill and who are paying for it now anyway in increased healthcare bills and incompetent employees. No one will be entirely happy, but everyone will be better off.
9
@Jo Totally agree with you. Climate change is every region's number one threat and should be the MOST important issue in every single region in my opinion.
2
This author misses the main point in her region. The massive agricultural industries in California and Idaho depend on undocumented workers and nothing will change that. If you want an impervious barrier, you better brace for the aftershocks.
11
For whatever reason, and I'm sure they are myriad, the Democratic party just doesn't resonate with the Mid-West, as is evidenced from the pillars of red on the map. Sure we can talk about gerrymandering and Republican fear mongering, but the Democrats need to do a better job at laying out a plan and demonstrating a more noticeable concern for those "flyover states" in the minds of those living there before the Republican bias begins permanently including the states to the left of the "rust belt". It gets me annoyed as a New Yorker that the party touting labor rights, Social Security and Medicare protection, and clean air and water is eschewed for the party of pure plutocracy in these regions. However, the Democrats have a real problem with optics and need to do something now.
15
A few things wrong with this piece:
* The MW isn't just flyover country anymore; the residents of MW states are increasingly urban. The urban centers are gaining an increasing share of influence in the region's politics, and are pretty much pre-eminent in its economic life.
Ms. Mair ignores the heft of Albuquerque, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas-Reno, Boise, Denver, and the multiple smaller cities in Montana. Maybe her list of campaign jobs, none of which were in the MW, has skewed her perception.
* A large chunk of the population DOES care about "environmental" issues, precisely because they affect everyday human life, now, in the region. The cohort of climate deniers is shrinking as wildfires, forest epidemics, and alternating floods and droughts affect us at least in some way nearly every day of our lives.
Add in expensive, ancient, dirty coal plants that are leaving a legacy of billions in cleanup costs, and you've got the makings of an electorate that's increasingly sick of the cost of all the R denialism and greed.
* The "unsalable" tag applied to Sen. Sanders is off the mark. For someone with no name recognition at the start of the 2016 primaries, he did very well. (He won 5 of the 8 MW states.) It sounds like Ms. Mair is trolling for the most "centrist," neoliberal candidates from her opposition, realizing her candidate has little chance, and she wants to shill for a D who agrees with at least part of her agenda.
45
Public land is a key to the high quality of life in the mountain west. The Republican Party supports the return of public land to private use, denied us Bears Ears, and supports industrialization and county administration of public land. All of which are overwhelmingly unpopular in the western states. Other issues important to the mountain west, including the impact of global warming and health care, also render a Republican flip unlikely.
36
So let's see if I've got this straight: the good citizens of our mountain states have no poor or disabled, no aged or infirm, no one who relies for their financial well-being on the kinds of government programs and services that are considered necessities among the urban "elites" here on the coast? And we have no reason to worry about guns being imported from the mountain states to create havoc in New York and Chicago and L.A.? And civil liberties exist in opposition to social justice in what particular way? Sorry if your sense is that the Democratic Party is ignoring your local interests and lifestyles (Trump, of course, ignores and/or impugns anyone whose interests don't correlate exactly with his own). On the other hand, if your needs and interests are similar to those of the 99% of us who can't afford membership at Mar-a-Lago, we Democrats have got your backs. Certainly Biden does- literally.
21
While some of the western slope of Colorado is forward looking, capitalizing on outdoor recreation as an economic engine, aware of the environment and valuing diversity; there is still a militantly ignorant core holding on for the return of coal. Republicans seem to espouse letting the market decide until the market decides, for example, that gas, wind and solar are cheaper sources of energy. In Mesa County, both suicide rates and serious damage and death from alcohol and drug abuse are very high. The public education system is less than stellar. Crime rates are high. There is not a lot of diversity and retirees from California are greeted with scorn; even though they typically have money to spend locally. The front range is a completely different story politically but the entire state is growing. Colorado is a good state to watch as a microcosm of the divide in the country.
20
When I visit the Mountain West, I am struck by how the people are outdoorsy and calmly friendly. No place on Earth where there is a greater chance of someone stopping to help if the car breaks down in a remote area. Cannot imagine people who are more different than President Trump. I am looking to the women leaders in Nevada to provide more guidance on the national stage. People who live in beautiful mountains tend to care about the environment.
26
Ms. Mair's piece underscores a growing school of thought among historians, political scientists, sociologists and economists that regionalism is tearing the country apart and some kind of disunion might be better for all. Perhaps replaced by a loose confederation of independent regions with trade and security ties.
My profession requires me to travel around the country a lot. When on the west coast conversation centers around issues that are very similar to those on the east coast, especially New York and New England.
When I go to places like Ohio and Indiana commonalities fall apart pretty quickly. My interests are not theirs and vice-versa.
Traveling to the south is almost like entering a foreign country. The mountain west lies somewhere in between. Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada seem reasonable and centered. You move into Wyoming, Idaho, the Dakotas, and Montana and, well, let's just say they aren't all that big on ideas championed by progressives.
America has always been a big, unruly, noble experiment. It sort of worked for 250 years. It's not working anymore.
21
@History Guy The regionalism argument is an interesting one that has gained some traction of late, but I can't buy into it all that much. The Civil War period saw discord that was both more intense and widespread than what we are seeing today. The United States thrived after that.
Admittedly, part of that thriving was due to white supremacy at the expense of Native and African Americans. The division today is not so much regional as it is a division of those who want to and those who do not want to grapple with the legacies of the racism that held the country together during more divided times.
6
Thanks for enriching my morning with your reference to that old cowboy favorite "Don't Fence Me In". Some of us older Western voters still revere that flinty buckeroo and cocktail-puncher, Cole Porter, who wrote the song in '34. I can almost see him, hunkered down in his bedroll while the wind whipped around the Place Vendome.
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@CedarHermit Cole Porter wrote the music, not the words to "Don't Fence Me In". Robert H. "Bob" Fletcher, an Iowan who spent most of his life in Montana penned the poem Porter put to music.
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@senigma
You might want to read the Fletcher poem. Everything memorable (and singable) in "Don't Fence Me In" - including the title/refrain - is pure Cole Porter. He did ride horses, after all.
1
@CedarHermit: Yeah, well, what about "Drifting Along with the Tumbling Tumbleweed"? Hmmm? Hope you're not going to debunk that one!
1
A good extra article to read about the changes in the region is Richard Manning's "Political Climbers - Environmentalist momentum in the West"
It points out that the increasing population is essentially urban, but outdoorsy, so he suggests that the states are already in the process of shifting from emphasis on resource extraction and agricultural/ranching interests to a more diverse economy that prefers avoiding more damage to the land.
On the first page, one example is that in Colorado, the outdoor recreation industry produces far more revenue and more jobs than agriculture.
It was an interesting read.
https://harpers.org/archive/2017/08/political-climbers/
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Of course the parch belt, the green belt, and the elite belts get a lot of attention. All have many advocates for, or opponents against, doing things that benefit their areas and populations. There is no national news source getting out information about many other areas unless it is to criticize what those who live there, need or want.
1
The continuing influx of Californians into the Mountain West will keep these states red for some time to come. The great majority of those fleeing the Golden State are Republicans, many retired or semi-retired, however many younger ones are learning the hard way that what was taken for granted in liberal California in relation to working conditions, pay & benefits doesn't fly in Idaho. Precision & accuracy are sacrificed for speed & piece work production in the smaller niche industrial settings.
No wonder immigrants are heralded by Liz Mair. The distinctions between Democrats & Republicans are as blurred today as they were a hundred years ago. One thing never changes. The plutocrats & those taking advantage of others to feather their own nests never changes.
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Mighty strange that someone could write an essay on the "mountain west" without mentioning Wyoming. And there are more important factors than "growth" to consider. Before you write it off as little more than a low-population Republican stronghold remember that the state's extraordinary wildlife species is about all we have left of this country as it once was and that these animals need wild open spaces to continue to exist. It's beyond politics. If you value wildlife, and many Republicans do, you value Wyoming's low population.
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@dressmaker If you value wildlife, and many Republicans do, you should run screaming from the Republican Party. You need look only as far as the Republican administration's sabotage of the Sage Grouse multi-state accord, lots of collaboration between diverse stakeholders including energy extraction, wildlife conservation, mostly conservative state governments, ranchers, all thrown away to serve one interest, extractive industries.
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@dressmaker Based on the current trend of leasing every square inch of Wyoming for oil and gas development, I'm convinced that the Republicans would evict their own mothers to install a fracking rig on the land. The air quality at the base of the Wind River Mountains, a significant watershed for the western US, is regularly worse than Los Angeles due to oilfield flaring and related pollution.
You mention wildlife as if the GOP works toward saving it. Not true in the least. I spend much time outdoors in this state, and haven't heard frogs or seen a snake in years. Don't even get me started on the pending extinction of the sage grouse. About the only things this state is really good at producing is oil, coal, and thick black smoke from young men's diesel trucks.
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@John Griswold
Hmm. I am not a Republican but I know quite a few of them and believe it or not there are among them women and men who observe and care about the west's wildlife.
2
This country is too big (geographically speaking), Andy has too large a population and too many groups with different social and political interests for any particular area of the country to claim to be its political center.
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Prioritizing environmental concerns and addressing the challenges of booming cities are absolutely western issues. Much more so than Trump's anti-trade and anti-immigrant positions.
I'll grant the West does have a libertarian streak even among progressive circles. However, we aren't exactly talking about Rand Paul's libertarianism. More like: I don't care what your religion says. You do what you want but leave me well enough alone. It's not a problem until you make it my problem.
I think writing off Sanders as unsalable in the West is a mistake too. He dominated the Democratic primaries in 2016. It's one of those weird circumstances where the left is so far left it meets right. That's why guns and marijuana coexist in Colorado.
Utah is actually a weird example too. In a state with a two-thirds Republican majority, ballot initiatives voted to expand Medicaid, legalize medicinal marijuana, and end gerrymandering. The gerrymandered state legislature essentially blocked the initiatives. However, Republicans certainly didn't win any friends by rejecting a popular vote.
That's something else we should remember about Utah. Trump didn't win a majority here. Evan McMullin split the anti-Trump vote and Trump took the college in a minority. Utahns really don't like Trump. Even in a Republican state, Trump is rejected as a matter of course.
You're right to say his strategists are delusional if they're thinking about flipping the West. They obviously aren't from the West.
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@Andy
Yes, that's a subject that needs some news coverage: Republican state legislatures that immediately work to neutralize/reverse successful progressive ballot initiatives being passed by state voters, sometimes overwhelmingly. It is becoming the new whack-a-mole.
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@Andy
If the 2016 presidential election were left entirely to the residents of Salt Lake City, Hillary Clinton would be sitting in the Oval Office rather than What's His Name.
If the 2016 presidential election were left entirely to the student body of Utah State University, Evan McMullin (a good man whose politics I don't share) would the occupant in the White House rather than The Current Fraudster in Chief.
You are right, Andy. Utah and the Mountain West at larger are quirky in a way not well understood by either Ms. Mair or the rest of the nation.
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@Andy. I spent most of 2016 traveling through the mountain west. You would not know there was an election going on to judge by the bumper stickers and yard signs. No Hillary signs , no Trump signs but maybe a few bumper stickers but a Bernie’s signs and stickers were all over—even after he conceded and endorsed Clinton. Don’t count his brand of left wing populism out.
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In Colorado public lands and protection of the environment are both very strongly supported, regardless of political party. Beyond simply taking pleasure in spectacular landscapes, the outdoors is a major driver of the economy: rafting, hunting, fishing, bird watching, skiing, hiking, cycling, sightseeing, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, camping and many other activities dependent on protected wild lands, clean air and clean water.
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New Mexico was a swing state in 2008. Colorado and Nevada used to be reliably Republican. With at least national races, Arizona is becoming less Republican. Democratic candidates need to show up in all 50 states, especially the West, where the future of this country lies, both in land and in resources.
I don't understand why it is considered a waste to campaign in reliably blue or red states, especially early in the campaign. Press coverage will still occur. The Democratic nominee may have to convince many in the party that the environment is important. Well, here are a few places where the nominee could go right after the convention: Grand Canyon, Grand Staircase, Yellowstone, Glacier, Yellowstone, Great Basin, and finish it off by traveling a little further east to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The last would be so fitting, near the Bakken oil fields, Roughrider Country, and in a bright red state.
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Big expanses? I was recently in Denver. They’ve got apartments jammed up against railroad freight lines.
Everyone seems to want the big city hustle and bustle, and weed.
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@DavidJ
The edibles are delightful.
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@DavidJ Perhaps a day trip to the hinterlands would have educated you about the expanses.
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Many of the bitter battles I see in the Mountain West are over environmental concerns - fracking, open space, the change in snow pack impacting our crops and creating wildfires in this arid region.
People move to places that match their dreams - and in Colorado, Utah and Montana that means the great outdoors. I wish a Republican would finally acknowledge the importance of the environment stewardship and climate change - two things that Trump is definitely not interested in.
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Who's going to protect -- and expand -- the National Parks (yes, our "best idea"), which belong to ALL of us?
Their deferred maintenance now totals a billion dollars, while gated resorts for the 1% gobble up more Western land.
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@David in Toledo I also cannot imagine that these parks are not economically important to these regions.
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@Wanda Not to that many locals. For the real local perspective, see 'Bundy/ Cliven', & the CSPOA. Them mountains & canyons would be MORE economically important when the locals can sell off the timber, the grazing rights, the oil & mineral rights, & then carve up the land into private Mini-Estates, with no restrictions on development. Locals have a much better sense of how to manage the local territory, don't ya know.
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Seems to me that states like Colorado and Nevada and Arizona highlight the political fact that the new fault line in American politics is not by geographic region but by urban/suburban vs. rural. Voters in and around Denver, I suspect, care more about the environment than do residents in less sparsely populated parts of the state. The author's stereotyping of coastal and Rust Belt voters (of which I am one) may signal a flaw in her analysis.
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@Frank
I live in rural Colorado. Our economy depends on outdoor recreation. Mining, railroad repairs and ranching are gone or on their way out. We strongly support protection of the public lands that surround us, and the Clean Water Act and EPA that led to a restored river useful for rafting, fishing and irrigation. We'd dry up and blow away without protected public lands and a restored river that used to be a mine-polluted hazard.
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@Heart According to a Kaiser Family poll in October 2018, Democrats and Independents listed education and health care as their top issues in the Colorado gubernatorial. Republicans listed illegal immigration. No mention of the environment.
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@Heart so you share the so-called liberal coastal elites’ interest in the environment? Another blow against stereotyping.
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Colorado is a blue island in a sea of red states, but even here the problem has become the stagnant and declining rural populations in 80% of the state that is not adequately represented at Colorado's statehouse.
This phenomenon is repeated throughout the 'big flat' states, as urban areas are typically small blue dots surrounded by red counties.
These red areas are living in mortal fear that their communities will disappear in their shrinking populations, meth and opioid addiction, and the threat of new immigrant populations moving into their communities, competing for jobs and changing the social fabric of their lives.
Democrats need to look beyond MAGA to the underlying problems that these frightened rural and suburban Trump voters are facing, and add them to the so-called 'big tent' that Democrats so proudly proclaim to their urban constituents.
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@UTBGYour Colorado blue island forgot to acknowledge all blue New Mexico.
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@rf You're right! Hang in there, New Mexico, and try to help bring Arizona out of the their Neo-Confederate delusional phase.
Interesting. There is a problem in trying to describe a large population as if it was some one thing: "We are simultaneously concerned about the preservation of wilderness, and eager to use public land to generate income." It sounds like there are some conflicts going on, just like everywhere else. I'm sure the population of the Mountain West, like every other population, could be described in terms of demographic groups: old and young, urban and rural, old-timer and recent arrival... then each group could be discussed: is the group growing or shrinking, does it have characteristic political views, and so on.
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While it may be an illusion, it appears to me that Colorado in particular has one of the most gifted, humble and open-minded candidates I've seen so far. While he is soft spoken, perhaps a bit too much for the task of President, he is brilliant he also has an unsual wisdom and care in his heart that a true leader must have for our people. I refer to Senator Michael Bennet.
He has the right mix of intelligence, care, humility, honesty and integrity and most especially the open mindedness to work to help save our planet in the optimal and flexible framework of cooperative operations and that includes a focus on how to optimize the relation between human citizens and the capabilities of business to work together for the good of one another and the planet.
Because of the perilous global climate changes which we are all now facing, he and the DOD, know that climate change is the greatest threat to national and global security and it is going to require a leader with great intelligence, wisdom, courage and a comittment to future generations to lead us towards safety and security. The idea of a "Green New Deal" could benefit business and citizens alike. Bennet could implement it and sell it.
If Michael Bennet can gain traction, I will support him. I'd like to see he on a ticket with Elizabeth Warren or another young Senator from California. Bennet will stand up for Colorado and the region and he has the chops and Charisma to win.
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More population in these states translates to bigger cities, exurbs and suburbs in the mountain states, which translates to bigger voter turnout in these states by people who understand that taxes are the cost of civilization and that Guns-God-and-Greed are not great problem solvers.
It takes a lot of 24-hour Republican rigging by FOX News, Sinclair and hate radio to keep these states consistently voting rightward, but more population will change that dynamic.
The myth of the heroic American rugged individualist is a right-wing myth that Republicans have successfully exploited, but it's a fable.
We all know that Federal Farm Welfare props up the West, not to mention Social Security, Medicare, and federal infrastructure and that most red Republican states take more federal dollars than they pay in.
More people in the Mountain West will simply knock more common sense into the population of these states and make them purple or blue.
The problem for the modern Republican Party for decades now has been that they simply can't stand democracy and voter turnout.
That will become more and more apparent as democracy rears its head nationwide.
Good riddance, Republistan.
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@Socrates I wish more voters would spend a few more minutes thinking about a issue, looking pas the sound bite and to the actual 'day after tomorrow' effect of policies. To say that coastal voters care about climate change and being 'woke', and not about freedom is to buy into the soundbites. I'm afraid for our country, but as you say, more people may be the change that we need.
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@Socrates I work with a lot of under thirty-somethings in a working/middle class industry, and they don't watch ANY regular TV, or listen to ANY regular radio, let alone watch Fox News or listen to Rush Limbaugh. Most of them probably don't know who Rush Limbaugh is. Their concerns are how to pay rent, how to pay college or trade school loans, etc. Their pay and benefits are mediocre, so many of them without children don't even take the available high-deductible health insurance offered. If they vote in 2020 it will be related to issues like those.
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@Cowboy Marine
I agree. I know a lot of under thirty somethings here, too, who are disengaged with television and radio for the most part. They're often working two and three "gig" jobs, stretching to pay high rents, and often bent over by student debt. They're highly cynical about politics in general, care about the future of the planet, and like the notion of candidates who don't take corporate campaign money.
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Climate change isn't just a "coastal elite" issue, and we can see it clearly in the mountains. Between pine bark beetles and shorter winters, the summer fire seasons are going to keep getting worse. Throw in droughts, biomes shifting toward desert, and reduced air quality, and mountain states have a lot of reason to care.
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Ms. Mair is creating a demographic out of that clean mountain air. She is enough of a pro to know that what she says about the parties -- that voters are usually stuck with the less bad option -- would apply pretty much anywhere in the country. It certainly does for us left progressives here in Brooklyn. And folks I know in Maine, CA, MN, Texas, FL and elsewhere feel the same. We have two parties; they will always be mixtures that appeal fully to very few. As for silent cowboys, my recent trips to Denver and Colorado Springs suggested more like transplants from the coasts and rabid evangelicals. Very little laconic-ness there.
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Ms. Mair, born in Seattle, educated in Scotland and England, living in Washington, D.C. is telling me about the Mountain West?
Give me a break.
My wife and I, like hundreds of thousands of others, are part of the migration she describes. We are progressive, retired, and moved to CO to be with grandchildren. My neighbors are from Michigan and Connecticut, Pennsylvania and California. There are no soft-spoken cowboys or rugged old mountain men in our community. Google is a major and growing presence.
The increase in Mountain West population is shading ever more blue with each United Van Lines moving truck. The regional differences that once existed are fading, as Mountain States become just another place with the same shopping malls, the same Amazon Prime trucks and citizens linked by Facebook and their favorite cable channels.
I don't comment to judge one way or another, but the growth is not creating what Mair suggests. It is just turning growing Mountain West communities into places like Westchester County or the suburbs of Minneapolis. The "red" parts of Colorado are rural and unchanged, but will become increasingly irrelevant in statewide and national politics.
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@Barking Doggerel the author confuses the past with the present even if she makes some valid points. We aren’t gaining population solely by natural births so most of are not descendants of pioneers anymore. You’re right, we are from everywhere and we bring our beliefs with us while absorbing the culture of our new home too.
18
Never make the mistake of stereotyping or attempting to classify who we are in the Mountain States and Western portions of the country. Remember, Barry Goldwater was from the west. If you tried to label his conservatism today you would be amiss. Before his death he stated that he was for people living their own lives, and making individual decisions about lifestyle and health untouched by any governmental policy or law. The individual health and welfare of people marks the west unimpeded by government.
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@Josh Shafran "The individual health and welfare of people marks the west unimpeded by government." Ah, the pioneer spirit! Bravo! Next time Gov. Polis or another CO governor declares a state of emergency, would all Coloradans please rise up and insist that FEMA and whoever is president ignore it? Thank you. That would save the rest of the country a bunch of money and allow the people of the state to decide what to rebuild and how to rebuild it without federal taxpayer money. After all, there was no FEMA when Colorado became at state in 1876 and Colorado is still here 143 years later. Oh, and if that includes flood disasters, you certainly don't want the Army Corps of Engineers impeding all the individualists who want to build levees themselves, just like Coloradans in 1876 would have done. In terms of making one's own decisions about lifestyle and health without interference from the government representing the rest of us, fine. Just make sure that your decisions don't affect anyone else who wasn't allowed to be part of the decision-making process, for example, a co-worker who has to do double the work because a parent is home taking care of a sick child they refused to have vaccinated without first consulting the co-worker on the topic.
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@Gnirol Gee, when we had a 1000 year event in 2013 and I lost my access I went out and rented a skid steer and fixed it, no FEMA money here. And for the record I needed an Army Corp of Engineers permit to build my access in the first place, so I wouldn't goof up my neighbors. So I guess I can both be a rugged individualist, and respect the needs of my neighbors, so what was your point again?
2
As underrepresented in presidential politics as they may have been, these mountain states are certainly overrepresented in the United States Senate.
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The electoral college votes for the president. We need to get rid of it. The rust belt will remain rusty so long as these people chase yesterday’s rainbow (look to some glorified version of the past).
32
Interesting focus, but like much coverage, too inclined to generalize. The rocky mountain states may generally support gun rights, but given the Columbine and recent events, would likely support more gun control - background checks and bans on assault weapons. Hunters generally believe in responsible use of guns. The goal is to realize a supportive and sane government, not one bent on releasing terror in our country by urging sales of assault weapons and the rights of angry people to kill others.
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@Eero
Our legislature was Democratic majority a couple years ago, as it is right now, and a good piece of gun safety legislation was enacted regarding waiting periods, among other things. That cost a couple legislators their posts. Now they passed a red flag bill that is getting a lot of grief in the rural areas.
We are a rather schizophrenic people.
1
There are millions of voters who are not spoken to, among then the millions who live in New Jersey. We are a foregone conclusion. Our system ignores that majority of voters. Not an effective way to run a nation.
13
@Terry McKenna
When you clump up, you're thought of as a mass, not as individuals. That is the price you pay for living in the comfort of density on the coasts.
2
@Midway: Except that, of course, the people of a state like Montana are just as much of a foregone conclusion, politically, as the most urbanized coastal liberal. The campaign managers don't really care whether you're living in a fifth floor condo, or five miles from your neighbor, they just want to know if they can predict your vote. If you're in Montana, for their purposes, they can.
1
OK, the comments are great. But regarding the question of “who gets to speak”, the answer is the same as it’s been since the nation was founded: Those who VOTE get to speak. Those who WHINE get to protest. All those Midwestern, rural residents vote in large numbers in tiny, local county and state elections, while urban costal elites are too busy being cool. The rural folks get their representatives into state governments, who then have an outsized influence in regional and national politics. That’s the way the system works. HC forgot that in ‘16, and we’re now experiencing the consequences.
19
The mountain west philosophy is real and persists, however many of the people who are moving to these fast-growing mountain west states are shifting the state’s demographic trends and political leanings. Many individuals moving to these states are younger, urban city dwellers/young professionals drawn to a growing economy - many of whom are left-leaning. Colorado’s purple color is turning to blue. Utah is likely a long way from becoming a purple state, however the folks moving there are of increasing racial, ethnic, sexual, religious, and gender diversity. I look forward to voting in Utah, even though I know the state will go red on many issues and in many elections.
Sidenote: These states that are the fastest growing also have the highest suicide rates - they are collectively referred to as the “suicide belt.” Issues around mental health and gun safety in these states are paramount.
15
I lived in Denver for 7 years when I was in my 20s. I loved it there, still love it, caught the feel and attitude of the West, the connection to the mountains and the pioneering attitude. Lots of people I knew there were transplants from Chicago or the east coast, and I think that migration pattern is still true in Colorado, Arizona, Nevada and other states. Many of those folks are liberal or left-leaning, much more so than the native residents.
If political influence is moving out that way, I'm glad. I never understood why conservative farmers in Iowa were considered the bellwether for midwestern attitudes. Maybe that was true in the 1950s but it isn't now. I'd like to see the Western and Southwestern states lead, and I don't think they're going to be as reliably conservative as republicans think they are.
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@Tom J I agree I think Colorado would be a great place to kick off the primary season. A fascinating mix of urban and rural, really impressive growth and front and center on many, many national issues.
17
@Nancy
Good point. Colorado rivals Ohio in political diversity.
4
As one of those bogie man coastal big city dwellers I really don't see this big difference in our needs. We both need some sort of affordable health care, retirement income, affordable education, affordable housing, clean air and water, modern and working infrastructure, regulations to stop large corporation's from ripping us off as consumers and employees. I intend to vote for the person/party that will provide these things and I see no reason why that same party isn't good for you.
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@Thomas Renner The problems come with the social evolution that our cities have already experienced as they become multi-ethnic and religiously tolerant, but that frightens nearly every Trump voter in the Great Plains and the South.
I see Liberal Democrats continuously ignoring the Culture War that rural Republican Conservative voters are fighting. Democrats seem baffled that Trump has lost no support even as the tariffs are having a disastrous effect on farm crop prices.
The answer is that the Trump voters would rather lose their livelihoods, than surrender in the Culture War.
16
I agree, but the author is disengaged from reality when you focus on all of the federal subsidies that go to the Mountain West. Think electricity, dams, grazing rights on federal lands, etc. Reminds me of the line about how does an Iowa farmer make more money, put in a second mailbox for federal checks. @Thomas Renner
13
Liz Mair: "Democrats...[are] strongly geared toward the interests of stereotypical coastal city dwellers: prioritizing environmental concerns."
Dear Liz,
We have already begun to reap the whirlwind that is climate change -- and it will only get worse. Unless the "Mountain West" is on a different planet, environmental concerns ARE (or should be) everyone's concern.
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@Phil
I see you are from Ithaca. We are from NEPA but summer in the 1000 Islands. At home, the Susquehanna has been high, flood level or flooding for over a year. The St. Lawrence was higher in 2017 than the natives we talked to ever remember and it is running a foot or more higher this year. Montreal and Ottawa were experiencing flooding. We are just a few miles from Lake Ontario so when you realize the whole lake is that much higher also, that is a lot of water.
So glad climate change is not real, just a Chinese hoax.
8
Interesting piece from a Colorado Republican’s standpoint. Mair is quite right about the libertarian streak in many voters. This is particularly true of Arizona where I lived many years and continue to follow politics thru my friends and family.
The idea of Sinema heading a future Democratic Presidential ticket is laughable. She’s fits Arizona well but is too far to the right for the party as a whole.
The idea that the Democrats could add Arizona to the electoral column next year is not although that will not be easy. Nor is the prospect of picking up Senate seats in Arizona and Colorado, a point not addressed in this piece.
12
@John Collinge The last person I would like to see running the Democratic party is Sinema. She gave us both Barr and Zinke's replacement. We don't need Democrats like her. No thanks!
2
@John Collinge As a native New Yorker and Colorado-loving resident for 30 years, I'm going to push back on @LizMair. Is she not aware of the blue wave here in Colorado in 2018? Democrats swept all state-wide offices: Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General and State Treasurer. Both chambers of the State Assembly are firmly blue. Having just completed our legislative session, we are leaving decisions on oil and gas fracking up to municipalities, Gay conversion therapy for minors is outlawed. Comprehensive Sex Ed is on the books, including consent and LGBTQIA. These are just a few of the 30+bills that were passed. We are now a BLUE state. In 2016, Bernie Sanders won the caucus, and Clinton won the general. Time to wake up and take your Republican toys to another state.
4
@John Collinge until AZ gets rid of the Russell Pearce’s of the state flipping both senate seats will be difficult at best. And to rid the state of Paul Gosar would be a giant leap forward. Small steps to get back to a place where Morris udall used to make sense
1
I'm an east-coast liberal, but I'm also concerned about civil liberties and skeptical of the government. I'm keen on environmental and social justice matters, but I don't believe gun control is the best or only way to curb gun violence. Guess I'm a Mountain West/East Coast hybrid!
I think a lot of Americans have similar contradictions and mixed priorities that we're all trying to work out. Polls and aggregates, regionalism and party politics distort this and can be a little alienating to individuals. Certainly they are counterproductive to cooperation and problem solving.
47
The "Center of American Politics" isn't anywhere on the map, it is on a TV clicker and on the main shows, and if they cover Trump like they did in 2016, like a rock star, or reality tv star, anything can happen.
We live in a digital age, and voters increasingly are voting their digital tribes. It is the shift to Fox News that is the important thing.
I think the young voters need to really step up in the coming election, if indeed there is a 2020 election. Get the voices and needs of the normally voiceless out to the electorate, get them to talk about how they feel as Trump abolishes Obamacare and housing and cuts taxes for the rich and bankrupts America...
Hugh
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@Hugh
I don’t believe there’s anything like a “shift to Fox News.” There *was* years ago, when the trend of cable news opinion-driven tag team rant & chant (as well as the “Always Breaking News 24/7”) caught on. But Fox News viewership has got to be declining (due to larger trends) and also dying off. The way it has swung so radically far right—even for Fox News—is evidence also of an old star flaming out.
Absolutely no one should be getting their “news” from cable news channels, not a single one of them. They’re viciously opinionated, even more divisive, and they have lost all their journalistic credibility (of which they didn’t have a lot to start with).
I hope to see *real* journalism make a comeback. It’s in the app I’m happily paying to use right now, and there’s no way younger people want anything to do with the cable news catastrophes their parents were a part of. Vice News is an interesting predictor—but I’m afraid it’s predicting the worst of what will come.
Cable news is today’s tabloid newspaper. If you’re not reading your news you don’t have a chance. And if if you’re willing to read, you better make sure you know what it is, where it comes from, and who’s behind it (especially if it’s “free.”)
4
The mountain west is an example of the contradictions inherent in our country. The mountain west would not exist without the federal government. The feds have provided water to drink and electricity to turn on the lights. Just 40 years ago Reagan led the sagebrush rebellion against the feds, even as it was dependent on the feds. Now the mountain west is morphing to purple and blue.
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@Rich Pein:"The mountain west is an example of the contradictions inherent in our country. The mountain west would not exist without the federal government. "
The mountain west would also not exist without the genius of Manifest Destiny. Try getting someone in Boulder to admit that.
California would not exist without Manifest Destiny and the Mexican-American War.
That's a lot of gratitude that is owed.
3
@Rich Pein We really "love it" when we read about the "Mt West" in the NYT's. Especially when the writers often write prolifically after a short visit or trip. Santa Fe was "settled" (or invaded as some would say) in the early 1600's by the Spanish and it was not until the mid 1800's that much of the Rockies attracted much attention from the "gold rush". The split between Arizona and NM could have been "horizontal" instead of the current "vertical" boundaries. Moreover, the earliest migrants, the many tribes and pueblos, have lived in the region for thousands of years. This history has shaped the politics in many ways to a larger extent than any other factor, especially the ones mentioned in the op-ed or the comments. Of course, there are also stark contrasts across the region... making any generalizations flawed from the onset.
Another huge factor, not even mentioned, rules the region... the amount of "public land" owned or managed by various levels of government. Try to imagine one of the eastern states with 60+% of the whole state owned by a state or federal agency. Try to imagine the rest of the US without the energy and mineral resources that originate in this region.
So, to say "the Mt West would not exist without the Feds" seems naive at best ... But then, many of us avoid any sojourns east of the Mississippi River.
26
@Rich Pein
Anyone that doesn't beleive this please read Cadillac Desert.
The winner-take-all nature of the state electoral delegate system needs to go. A state that votes 51-49 should not treat its own citizens as a single monolithic voter. This causes anger and disenfranchisement in the substantial minority that feels it is being ignored. Trump has exacerbated this problem with a governance philosophy focused solely on his base, where citizens in states that voted for him get benefits and those blue states like New York and California get punished, as with the new tax law. He might care more about, for example, California voters if the electoral votes were split based on voting percentages.
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Two states--Maine and Nebraska--currently split electoral votes. More states should follow that practice instead of winner-take-all.
21