Nov. 5, 2024, will go down in history as perhaps the single most historic election that we as a nation have experienced in our relatively short 248-year history.

Whether this is a good or terrible thing will, of course, be entirely dependent upon how you cast your ballot. But saying it was a good night for the national Republican party would be akin to saying the Broncos gave up a few points in last year’s 70-20 loss to the Dolphins.

However, these national results did not translate to the Republican Party in Summit County moving the needle any in its role as a distant second party, according to Summit Daily News’ article analyzing the results. Why not? For the first time since 2004, its candidate for president managed to win more than 50% of the national popular vote. Not in Colorado, though, as it, along with New Mexico, are blue states otherwise surrounded by a very red sea of real estate. But I think you’d be surprised at just how well former president and current president-elect Trump has done in Colorado. In 2016, he received about 43% of the vote. In 2020 and this year, his percentage did not materially change (42%-43%). Just this year more than 1.1 million Colorado voters colored in the oval next to his name.

The issue becomes clear when we break down the numbers to our community. In Summit County, the president elect received about 30% of the votes. This compares to 31% and 29% the previous two races. Very predictable, especially if you would predict that the Republican candidates for local office would receive somewhere around one-third of the vote. Why though, in a country leaning very clearly and noticeably right, has the local Republican party failed to make any real inroads in a county election? Perhaps the issue lies with its candidates and their positions mirroring the man at the top of the ticket?

 I very much wanted to vote for either of the two Republican candidates for the Summit Board of County Commissioners. While I was familiar with, and liked, the two Democratic candidates, I really knew little or nothing about their competitors. A quick search led me to the local GOP website, and while I wrote a column back in the Spring of 2022 about how poorly the website appeared and the need for relevance in a very web-based world, it somehow looks even worse today. Unlike a fine wine, this site did not start out strong and certainly has not aged well. Once more I will ask the student body of any school (elementary to high) in Summit County to contact the Republican Party and tell them that you will design a functional and visually appealing website as part of your class project. For free.

Yes, there are links to the candidates’ landing pages asking for donations and discussing the issues. One was running on a real estate platform that I had a hard time getting on board, while the other pledged to reduce the size of county government by 20% in the next four years. I don’t believe that Summit voters are interested in shrinking the government here but instead in stopping any real expansion (especially via tax increases). However, if I knew I could be there in person when this candidate informed our current sheriff of his plans to slash their budget by 20%, I would have paid to have a front-row seat! And not just law enforcement, but also our roads and bridges, early childhood learning, public health, and transportation departments, to name a few. No sir. Count me out if the result of your plans would be more deteriorating road conditions.

Instead, may I suggest to the current party that it begins to understand this is a liberal county and will stay liberal even as the country continues its love affair with the right. Instead, get rid of the old guard and bring in a candidate or three that conforms to the voter population in Summit County. Is it too difficult to imagine a future republican candidate in Summit County being “pro-choice” on all health matters (male and female alike)? And this opinion is about as strong as you get if you want to get elected, as about 75% of Summit’s voters recognized a woman’s right to make her own reproductive rights free of governmental interference and put it into our State Constitution.

The difference between these social “liberal” candidates of both parties would lie in fiscal restraint and responsibility. And while this candidate would not advocate for slashing property taxes, they also would not advocate for increasing taxes. Is it not possible to see small (at most) property tax increases while spending just enough to allow us funds as a community to stash for a rainy day? You may want to reconsider your position if you believe that Summit County is immune to some future crisis in which the tourists stay home, and the second-home owners challenge tax appraisers based upon a monumental lowering of the property values?

Finally, there’s a particularly good reason why Taryn Power ran unopposed this year. What an excellent job overseeing a smooth operation through a never-ending election cycle with its barrage of election news, polls, and advertisements (and often all three at once) that we no longer need to endure. In a time when government workers are so often and easily labelled as the “problem,” it is comforting for registered voters of all stripes that we have fair elections in Summit County. And for that, I am thankful.                                                                                                                                                                        

Scott M. Estill’s column “Challenges, Choices, Changes” publishes biweekly on Thursdays in the Summit Daily News. Estill is an attorney, author, and public speaker who lives in Dillon when not traveling or attending to legal matters in Denver. Contact him at scott@scottestill.com.