Latest / Colorado Sun / Colorado Sun Wednesday 10/21/2026

Transcript

Colorado Sun Wednesday 10/21/2026 · Colorado Sun

• 0:03
  Hello, this is the Colorado Sun for Wednesday, October 21st, 2026.
• 0:11
  My name is Candace Einbeck.
• 0:13
  Thank you for joining us.
• 0:16
  Today we will read the following main articles.
• 0:18
  Crucial San Luis Valley Aquifer drops to record low.
• 0:24
  Also
• 0:28
  Rejection rates jumped in states that began requiring ID numbers on ballots, and Colorado utility regulators to decide whether Excel's data center tariff proposal protects
• 0:41
  customers.
• 0:43
  We'll follow up with miscellaneous articles.
• 0:47
  Okay, now for our first story.
• 0:49
  Crucial San Luis Valley aquifer drops to record low as Water Court ponders competing solutions.
• 0:57
  Latest well tests show nearly 72,000 acre-foot decline in unconfined aquifer, pointing to dire consequences for the potato industry.
• 1:08
  This is reported by Michael Booth.
• 1:18
  Drought-challenged potato farms in the San Luis Valley drained another 72,000 acre feet of water from the crucial unconfined aquifer this year, the latest results show.
• 1:31
  Losing more ground on a mandated restoration goal and putting more pressure on a state water court to mediate a solution.
• 1:40
  The local water conservation district has cut 100,000 acre feet of groundwater pumping in recent years.
• 1:47
  But any progress has been overwhelmed by the ongoing drought and demands from the valley's vital potato economy.
• 1:56
  The conservation plan currently in force calls for water use cuts to replenish the unconfined aquifer to within 200,000 to 400,000 acre feet below a nineteen seventy-six
• 2:10
  benchmark by twenty twenty-three excuse me by twenty thirty-one.
• 2:17
  Correction, but the September well tests show the pool at 1.425 million acre feet below that mark and dropping.
• 2:28
  An Alamos based water court judge presided over a jury trial with different farming factions arguing over the best update for the conservation plan.
• 2:40
  The Rio Grande Water Conservation District, Subdistrict 1 proposal, approved by the state water engineer.
• 2:47
  Would seek faster restoration by charging farmers who pump groundwater without a surface water replacement as much as $500 an acre foot, up from the current $150.
• 3:01
  Competing factions of potato farmers in the northern part of the valley, which ships massive amounts of potatoes to front range and regional grocery stores, says $500 for
• 3:13
  pumped water would likely put many of them out of business.
• 3:17
  An acre foot of water covers an acre of agricultural land in twelve inches of water or serves two to four city households for a year.
• 3:29
  The San Luis Valley can count on only six or seven inches of precipitation a year, local farmers say, compared with twelve to fifteen inches in farming areas of the eastern
• 3:41
  plains.
• 3:42
  Only two to three inches come to the valley during the growing season.
• 3:46
  Potatoes need about twenty inches of water by harvest time.
• 3:50
  The gap must be made up by irrigation from surface water canals drawing from the upper Rio Grande or its tributaries.
• 3:58
  or by groundwater pumping.
• 4:00
  Cleve Simpson, a Republican state senator and general manager of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, said the bad news from the latest well test was expected, and
• 4:11
  underlines the need for the district's proposal in water court.
• 4:16
  Quote, I'm not surprised at the September reading, given the lack of winter snowfall, stream runoff, and lack of summer monsoons this year, Simpson said.
• 4:26
  It's frustrating that after fourteen years of active aquifer management and reducing our dependence on pumping groundwater by one third, we are at a new aquifer record low level.
• 4:38
  The sense of urgency just continues to grow exponentially.
• 4:43
  Under the current approval plan for recovery, Simpson noted, quote, the state engineer would be well within his authority to shut down all groundwater withdrawals for Sub
• 4:53
  District 1 wells.
• 4:55
  That lack a court-approved augmentation plan as early as the 2027 irrigation season, end quote.
• 5:02
  The next amended plan that the judge has under consideration, quote, will be a more aggressive approach and provide a path forward to aquifer recovery if he approves it,
• 5:12
  Simpson said.
• 5:13
  These are extremely challenging conditions for our farmers and ranchers and the broader community here in the San Luis Valley, end quote.
• 5:23
  State engineer Jason Ullman said via email Tuesday he couldn't comment in depth about the new measurement since an amended plan is now in the hands of the water court judge.
• 5:34
  Quote, however, Ullman said, I believe it is safe to say that the continued decline in the aquifer, as reported by the Davis Engineering Study, confirms that the current plan in
• 5:45
  subdistrict number one is not working to achieve a sustainable water supply, end quote.
• 5:52
  The September readings show the unconfined aquifer, which is closer to the surface than the deeper confined aquifer.
• 6:02
  Lost seventy one thousand nine hundred and twenty one acre feet since september twenty twenty five.
• 6:09
  That followed a drop of just under thirty one thousand acre feet last year.
• 6:14
  The aquifer has gained water in only three of the past ten years, according to the district's latest report, and those gains have been more than wiped out by the drought
• 6:23
  years.
• 6:25
  The confined aquifer, much deeper underground throughout the valley, has its own set of rules and regulations.
• 6:32
  The confined aquifer is artesian, under great pressure that brings water to the surface without pumping, and state rules are meant to protect the unique resource.
• 6:43
  The valley's unconfined aquifer has never recovered from a steep plummet in the 2002 statewide drought and now sits at about 1,125,000 acre feet below that 2002 departure
• 6:58
  point.
• 7:01
  There are some pictures here.
• 7:03
  One of them is a chart showing the change in unconfined aquifer storage of the west central San Luis Valley.
• 7:12
  And it shows the monthly change since January of nineteen seventy six.
• 7:19
  That was at the zero mark since we're uh dealing with change.
• 7:25
  And only three times in uh
• 7:30
  That year seventy six, in eighty eight to ninety, and very briefly in ninety seven six did that go up that the actually gained water, but it has gone down steadily ever since ninety
• 7:54
  six and is now down at this one hundred and
• 7:59
  um 1,250,000 uh acre feet difference in the negative.
• 8:09
  There are some fluctuations, but the downward trend is irrefutable.
• 8:15
  And that was prepared by Davis Engineering Services for the Rio Grande Water Conservation District.
• 8:22
  That data goes through September seventeenth, twenty twenty-six.
• 8:27
  And there's a picture here
• 8:29
  Of a center pivot irrigator watering a field in the San Luis Valley between the Sangra de Cristo and the San Juan mountain ranges.
• 8:37
  That's in August of twenty twenty six.
• 8:40
  That picture is courtesy Michael Booth of the Colorado Sun.
• 8:46
  Our next story rejection rates jumped in states that began requiring ID numbers on ballots.
• 8:52
  Colorado could be next.
• 8:55
  As Colorado voters weigh Amendment 84, data from Texas, Georgia, and Virginia show an initial increase in ballots thrown out after new ID requirements.
• 9:07
  This is reported by Colleen Slevin.
• 9:12
  Other states that passed identification requirements similar to what Colorado voters are being asked to approve this November led to an initial spike in rejected mail ballots.
• 9:24
  Colorado voters are deciding whether to pass Amendment 84, which would require them to provide the last digits of their Social Security, driver's license, or state
• 9:33
  identification cards, in addition to their signatures when returning their mail ballots.
• 9:40
  Three states that have passed laws requiring more identification to vote by mail in recent years saw an increase in the number of ballots that were rejected.
• 9:49
  Rejection rates in Georgia, Texas, and Virginia eventually decreased, but only Virginia saw its rejection rate return to where it had been before the ID requirement was added,
• 10:01
  according to data from the Voting Rights Lab, a nonpartisan nonprofit.
• 10:07
  Texas provides the best, though in perfect comparison, to what Colorado is considering despite big differences in the state's mail voting systems.
• 10:17
  The mail and ballot system is Colorado's primary method of voting, while mail ballots in Texas are mainly limited to people who are over age 65 or disabled.
• 10:29
  But the identification requirements to vote by mail in Texas are similar to what Amendment 84 is proposing in Colorado.
• 10:37
  Since twenty twenty two, Texas male voters have had to include identification numbers from their driver's license, personal state identification card, election identification
• 10:49
  certificate, or the last four digits of their Social Security number on their ballot envelope.
• 10:55
  Texas also kept a requirement for voters to sign the envelope and for that signature to be checked by election officials.
• 11:03
  Colorado has the same requirement, and it would not change.
• 11:06
  If Amendment 84 passes, Virginia and Georgia got rid of previous signature requirements and now require voters to provide ID numbers.
• 11:16
  After Texas adopted its ID requirements, the rejection rate for male ballots surged to 11.6% in the 2022 primary election, up from 0.9% in the 2020 election, the Voting Rights
• 11:33
  Lab said.
• 11:34
  After the ballot envelope was redesigned to better highlight boxes requiring ID numbers and signatures, the rejection rate dropped to three point four percent in the twenty
• 11:45
  twenty two general election.
• 11:47
  The rejection rate in the twenty twenty four general election was three point five percent.
• 11:53
  In the twenty twenty four election in Colorado, one point four percent of male ballots, nearly thirty nine thousand were rejected and not counted.
• 12:03
  Former El Paso County Clerk Chuck Burman, who proposed Amendment eighty four along with Susan Taheri, a former Colorado Deputy Secretary of State who now works as a lawyer at
• 12:14
  West Group, a Colorado law firm that works for conservative candidates and causes, said Colorado can't be prepar compared to Georgia, Texas, or Virginia because mail voting is so
• 12:26
  different there.
• 12:29
  In Texas, for example, voters have only three days to fix any problems flagged with their ballot, Berman said.
• 12:36
  Colorado voters who need to follow up not only have more time, but would have multiple ways to provide their ID information, including by text message, he said.
• 12:47
  Quote Education is key in this matter, Berman, a Republican and current El Paso County treasurer, said of the proposed change.
• 12:55
  I do not see an impediment to voting with this addition.
• 12:59
  Proponents of Amendment 84 estimate between 10% to 50% of Colorado male ballots could be set aside for curing if the measure passes.
• 13:10
  Currently, voters whose ballots are flagged by election workers for missing signatures or signature discrepancies can resolve those issues with their county clerk within eight days
• 13:20
  of the election.
• 13:22
  If Amendment 84 passes, voters would have the same length of time to cure their ballots of any flagged issues.
• 13:29
  Involving missing ID numbers or discrepancies.
• 13:32
  If they don't, their ballots will not be counted.
• 13:35
  Opponents of Amendment 84 questioned whether many people would resolve ID issues if their ballots got flagged.
• 13:43
  Scott Martinez, Denver's former city attorney and election lawyer working with Defend Our Ballots, the committee opposing Amendment 84, said the figure is based on conversations
• 13:53
  with county clerks and election officials across the state.
• 13:58
  Even if the number is 10%, that would be a lot of voters, Martinez said, given that 92% of Colorado voters used mail ballots in the 2024 election.
• 14:08
  Quote, it's inviting a chance to half our votes rejected if we don't need to have this new process in place, he said.
• 14:17
  Defend our ballots said people may not want to include a partial ID number because they will be worried about the risk of identity theft.
• 14:25
  Denver clerk Paul Lopez thinks the rejection rate could be high because people would be hesitant to include their identification numbers.
• 14:34
  Quote, this would unduly harm voters' confidence in election security, he said.
• 14:39
  Berman dismissed such concerns, saying banks and doctors' offices already use the same partial ID numbers to verify people's identity without meaningful risk.
• 14:49
  The Colorado County Clerks Association has not taken a position on Amendment eighty four.
• 14:55
  However, the association's executive director, Matt Crane, a Republican who served as Arapahoe's County Clerk, said the estimate of 50% rejection rate was ridiculous.
• 15:06
  He declined to provide a figure or projection of his own.
• 15:11
  If the measure passes, Crane said voters would have to be educated about the change, just like they were in 2018 when Colorado began mailing both Republican and Democratic ballots
• 15:22
  to unaffiliated voters so they could vote in the primary.
• 15:25
  Voters were only allowed to cast one of the ballots to have their vote counted.
• 15:30
  If Amendment 84 passes, Crane said he would encourage clerks to tell voters to check their voter registration records and make sure both their driver's license and social security
• 15:40
  number are listed in the state's registration database.
• 15:44
  About ninety-nine percent of voters already have a number listed in the system now, he said.
• 15:50
  There's another more gradual approach to requiring ID information on mail ballots that's being used in Utah, one of the eight states like Colorado that mainly relies on mail
• 16:00
  voting to conduct its elections.
• 16:03
  Utah already required mail ballot voters to sign their ballot envelopes like Colorado, but under legislation approved by the Republican controlled legislature, Utah also began
• 16:14
  asking voters to provide the last four digits of their driver's license state ID.
• 16:19
  or social security number on the mail ballot envelopes starting in this past June's primary election.
• 16:26
  Ballots without ID information can still be counted on for now, but starting in 2029, voters must provide both the signature and an ID number for their ballot to be counted.
• 16:38
  Quote, we made it more secure without making it more difficult, Utah State Senator Michael McHell, a Republican, said.
• 16:45
  He doesn't think anyone will be disenfranchised because of the change
• 16:49
  But he said there will be time to make adjustments before 2029 if problems arise.
• 16:56
  Colorado's proposed change would be added to the state constitution, so any modifications would require another constitutional amendment.
• 17:05
  However, election officials can decide how to implement the measure, such as changing the envelope design like Texas did, Brewerman said.
• 17:13
  However, she said there's no automated way to check ID information like signatures.
• 17:18
  Which slowed down the verification process.
• 17:21
  Both ID and signatures were manually checked at the same time, which took about twelve seconds per ballot, rather than about two seconds when a machine was able to verify just
• 17:32
  the signatures, she said.
• 17:34
  Over the course of an election, that can add hours to the processing time, she said.
• 17:39
  Requiring ID numbers for mail ballots has become more common since the 2020 election when mail voting surged during the pandemic.
• 17:48
  It also became a partisan issue.
• 17:50
  Kyle Saunders, a political science professor at Colorado State University, with Donald Trump attacking mail voting during the 2020 campaign.
• 18:00
  Last year, Trump said on Truth Social that elections quote, can never be honest with mail ballots, even though he has voted by mail himself.
• 18:09
  Before 2020, O'Neill, Alaska, Minnesota, and Ohio required them, according to the Voting Rights Lab.
• 18:16
  Since 2020,
• 18:17
  Seven states have changed their laws to require either ID numbers or ID copies for mail voting.
• 18:24
  ID requirements for voting in person and by mail are also on the ballot in five states besides Colorado this year Arizona, California, Nevada, North Carolina, and Ohio.
• 18:41
  And there are some pictures here.
• 18:42
  Here's one of election workers sorting ballots inside the Arapaho County Elections Facility um on October 14th of this year in Littleton.
• 18:54
  And there is also a picture of a ballot envelope.
• 18:59
  Deputy Director of Elections for Arapahoe County, Peg Pearl, holding an unused mail ballot envelope during a media tour at the county's elections facility on June 9th, 2022, in
• 19:10
  Littleton.
• 19:12
  this picture is by Hugh Carey of Colorado Sun.
• 19:16
  And I urge anybody that has questions about the elections to sign up for a tour of your local election facilities.
• 19:24
  Um Boulder County is offering tours, and I suspect that almost all counties will be offering tours to their voters.
• 19:33
  And it's a great way to see how the votes are handled.
• 19:37
  uh
• 19:40
  mail in primary election ballots at the Belmar Library in Lakewood, Colorado on june ninth, twenty ninth, twenty twenty six.
• 19:49
  That was from the primary election, and that picture was by Jesse Paul of the Colorado Sun.
• 20:00
  Our next story Colorado utility regulators to decide whether Excel's data center tariff proposal protects customers.
• 20:08
  This is reported by Mark Jaffe.
• 20:12
  A battle over protecting the electric bills of Excel Energy residential and small business customers from the cost of burgeoning data centers is set to begin Wednesday before the
• 20:22
  Colorado Public Utilities Commission.
• 20:25
  The PUC required Excel Energy, the state's largest electricity provider with 1.6 million customers, to develop a large load tariff, a set of requirements designed to protect
• 20:37
  retail customers from the cost of data centers and other high demand electricity customers.
• 20:46
  Excel Energy filed its proposed tariff in April, and since then it has been the focus of a debate between environmental and consumer advocates.
• 20:55
  Who want even tougher protections and business and data center groups seeking to trim requirements.
• 21:02
  Hearings on the proposed tariff are scheduled to run for several days beginning Wednesday afternoon.
• 21:08
  Quote, it's a big deal, said Eric Frankowski, Executive Director of the Western Clean Energy Campaign, a consumer and environment advocacy group.
• 21:18
  This determines how data centers are brought into the mix and what it means to every other customer in the Excel system.
• 21:25
  If they get it right, then data centers can join the state's economy and contribute to it, and it doesn't affect customers' rates, he added.
• 21:33
  If wrong, we're all kind of screwed.
• 21:36
  Rates will soar and the grid will be stressed.
• 21:39
  One controversial element in the proposed tariff is a quote speed to market pathway which would enable Excel Energy and a developer to negotiate a confidential contract that would
• 21:50
  not necessarily have the tariff safeguards.
• 21:53
  And would require rapid PUC approval.
• 21:56
  Quote, the concept is necessary to provide an option for large load customers who require greater commercial flexibility, Jack Ely, the company's vice president for data centers
• 22:07
  and large loads, said in PUC testimony.
• 22:11
  But Frankowski said speed to market could, quote, potentially undermine the tariff.
• 22:17
  Environmental groups are also worried data centers' bidding electricity demands will jeopardize the state's goal.
• 22:23
  Of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80% over 2005 levels by 2030, and result in data centers relying on natural gas and cold-fired generation.
• 22:36
  Quote: Load growth stands to raise system costs, increase cumulative greenhouse gas emissions, risk delays of approved retirements of fossil fuel generation units, Claire
• 22:48
  Valentine.
• 22:49
  A senior policy advisor with environmental law nonprofit Western Resource Advocates said in a filing.
• 22:56
  WRA is urging the Commission to expand renewable energy options in the tariff.
• 23:02
  The PUC hearings on data center rates are taking place against the backdrop of a pushback on rapid data center development across Colorado.
• 23:11
  Eight municipalities and counties have enacted or are considering moratorium or caps on data centers.
• 23:20
  Proposed projects have sparked community opposition in Colorado Springs, Brighton, and Weld Counties.
• 23:26
  A Oh excuse me.
• 23:30
  Correction in Colorado Springs, Brighton, and Weld County.
• 23:35
  A coalition of environmental and community groups delivered a petition with 5,000 signatures to the PUC urging it to protect customers.
• 23:45
  Quote
• 23:45
  On the PUC side, we're moving full steam ahead to accommodate this, said Joe Pereira, director of the Colorado Office of Utility Consumer Advocate.
• 23:54
  On the flip side, the general population has not determined what the public interest around these entities looks like, end quote.
• 24:02
  Still, large scale data centers and their interconnection to the electric grid, quote, represent a foundational platform for a national prosperity.
• 24:10
  August Ancom, a consultant for the Data Center Coalition,
• 24:13
  And industry group said in PUC testimony.
• 24:17
  Quote, in the short room, Ankun conceded, the introduction of large low data centers into the system may cause network augmentations that are costly.
• 24:27
  Ratepayers need to be protected against those costs.
• 24:31
  With business groups arguing from the tariff to do less, and consumers and environmental advocates calling for it to do more.
• 24:41
  Excel Energy says its approach is a compromise.
• 24:44
  The company's proposals reflect a reasonable and balanced middle ground between approaches that would impose commercially impractical obligations and approaches that would reduce
• 24:57
  customer responsibility in ways that could unreasonably shift costs and risks to existing consumers.
• 25:03
  Elay of Excel said in a filing.
• 25:05
  As an example of the difference in approach,
• 25:08
  While Excel is calling for 15-year contracts, the PUC recommended 20 years, and the Data Center Coalition proposed a 10-year term.
• 25:17
  The large loan tariff would apply to new customers needing 50 megawatts of power or more, and each would have to pay a $120,000 application fee to cover Excel Energy's costs in
• 25:31
  handling the request and doing the necessary studies.
• 25:35
  Excel Energy would do a study to determine the cost to the grid the project would create and allocate those costs for new generation and transmission to the data center.
• 25:46
  Excel Energy estimates it will need two gigawatts of generating capacity just for data centers by 2030.
• 25:54
  Current total capacity is just over 7 gigawatts.
• 25:58
  A gigawatt can power about 700,000 households per year.
• 26:03
  A data center would have to sign Interconnect and Electric Service Agreements and a 15-year contract for electricity.
• 26:11
  It would have to commit to paying for at least 80% of the projected electricity.
• 26:16
  Data centers would be subject to minimum monthly bills.
• 26:19
  As an example, Excel Energy said in a filing that the monthly bill from a 500 megawatt data center could be $22 million.
• 26:29
  The center would often provide a credit guarantee such as 60 months of minimum bills if it wanted to get out of its contract, it would have to pay an exit fee equal to the sum of
• 26:39
  the remaining monthly bills on the contract.
• 26:42
  A big question is how many of these requirements and numerous others in the tariff end up in the confidential speed to market agreements.
• 26:50
  The customers charge the name of the agreements to the more anodyne custom contracts.
• 26:55
  Excuse me.
• 26:56
  Correction.
• 26:57
  The company has changed the name of the agreements to the more anodyne, quote, custom contracts, end quote.
• 27:05
  Michael Pasucci, Excel Energy's Director for Regulatory Policy, said in a PUC testimony that a custom contract would still be, quote, consistent with the company's core
• 27:17
  commercial terms, including cost responsibility, minimum commitments, and appropriate risk protections, end quote.
• 27:25
  One concern raised by some environmental and governmental groups is that the custom contracts will rely heavily on natural gas generation.
• 27:34
  The Colorado Energy Office, for example, proposed that a contract not be permitted to use gas fire generation unless it has a zero emissions pathway, such as carbon capture.
• 27:46
  But, Pashuki said, the company expressed that advancing a scenario that relies solely or primarily on new gas generation.
• 27:53
  will be extremely unlikely.
• 27:56
  Excel Energy, he said, will ensure that any custom contract has sufficient clean energy resources so the company can meet the 80% carbon emissions reduction goal in 2030 and
• 28:08
  beyond.
• 28:09
  Under Excel Energy's proposal, the PUC and other parties would have 120 days to review the custom contract, quote, due to the unique nature of the marketplace and speed,
• 28:20
  At which today's large load customers seek interconnections.
• 28:23
  End quote.
• 28:24
  Reviews of the contract by outside parties would be limited by the tight time frame and so much of the detail being confidential, the utility customer consumer advocate Pereira
• 28:35
  said.
• 28:35
  But the company said the commission's usual process, which allows for extensive review and reconsideration, does not acknowledge commercial realities.
• 28:47
  the pictures here are picture uh here of demonstrators rallying outside the Colorado Capitol against data center proliferation on March 14th of this year.
• 28:58
  Uh that is by Jesse Paul of the Colorado Sun.
• 29:03
  And there is also a picture of Sarah Kunz, an environmental advocate holding a petition before delivering it to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission on October 15th in
• 29:15
  Denver.
• 29:16
  This was signed by nearly five thousand Colorado residents.
• 29:21
  And the petition urged regulators to adopt stronger protections for utility cons customers as Excel Energy expands infrastructure to serve data centers.
• 29:34
  That picture is by Cheney Orr, the Colorado Sun via report for America.
• 29:42
  And finally we have a picture of construction continuum on the Denver-based Core Site 3 Building Data Center and Technology Campus at 5050 North Race Street, just north of
• 29:55
  downtown Denver, near the National Western Complex.
• 29:58
  That was taken on uh August 7th, 2025, by Katherine Scott.
• 30:09
  And given to the Colorado or special to the Colorado sun.
• 30:20
  Latino voters help Trump return to the White House.
• 30:23
  What's their next move in Colorado and other states?
• 30:29
  This is reported by the Associated Press.
• 30:41
  The path to a US House majority runs through heavily Latino districts in states such as Arizona, Colorado, and Texas, where Democrats are counting on disaffected Trump supporters
• 30:52
  to swing back their way.
• 31:00
  And this is reported as said by the rec associated press, in particular Jonathan J.
• 31:06
  Cooper, Nicholas Ricardi, and Valeria Gonzalez.
• 31:11
  Chris Martinez feels like Donald Trump has made a fool of him.
• 31:15
  The 28-year-old maintenance technician from Casa Grande, Arizona voted for the Republican president, respecting to get a thriving economy and no wars.
• 31:24
  Instead, gas prices are so high that Martinez returned one of his vehicles to the lender.
• 31:29
  He shifted his food shopping to a discount grocer and has watched as the United States has spent months in conflict with Iran.
• 31:38
  Quote, he's doing nothing for us to benefit us, Martinez said, and it kind of sucks because I got duped and I feel like a dummy, end quote.
• 31:46
  As a group, Latinos shifted toward Trump two years ago, helping return him to the White House with a Republican-controlled Congress.
• 31:54
  Now, many like Martinez are souring on the president and his party.
• 31:58
  Which could upend the balance of power in Washington in the November 3rd elections.
• 32:03
  Quote, I went right for a while, but I'm back to the middle, Martinez said.
• 32:08
  The path to a U.S.
• 32:09
  House majority runs through heavily Latino districts in states such as Arizona, Colorado, and Texas, where Democrats are counting on disaffected Trump supporters to swing back
• 32:19
  their way.
• 32:21
  It is unclear, however, whether the Democrats have sealed the deal with voters who lack a strong allegiance to either party.
• 32:28
  Martinez, for one, is not sure if he's going to vote at all in the midterms.
• 32:33
  Casa Grande, the town of 770,000 people where Martinez lives, sits at a crossroads between Phoenix and Tucson, an hour's drive from each.
• 32:43
  This is a quaint downtown surrounded by master plan developments offering affordable housing for people priced out of larger cities.
• 32:50
  Gated golf course communities attract retirees.
• 32:54
  Much of the town sits at the northern tip of Arizona's sixth congressional district, historically one of the most closely matched in the country.
• 33:02
  Republican Juan Siscomani is seeking a third term.
• 33:07
  Two years ago, Ciscomani won by two point five percentage points, and Trump won by less than one point.
• 33:14
  This time Ciscomani is subtly creating distance from Trump without directly criticizing Trump or his policies.
• 33:22
  The congressman talks up his immigrant story.
• 33:25
  He was born in Mexico and moved to the US as a kid, and frames himself as an independent and bipartisan.
• 33:31
  Quote, I'm not a rubber stamp for anyone, he says in one advertisement.
• 33:36
  If Ciscomani retains its seat, it will be thanks to people like Chris Durant, age sixty one, who has been voting for Republicans in recent elections, and will probably do so
• 33:45
  again next month.
• 33:46
  Quote, we really don't worry about gas and prices and whatnot, Durant said, as he and his wife loaded their pickup truck with groceries for his mother-in-law.
• 33:55
  Ciscomani's Democratic opponent is Johanna Mendoza.
• 33:59
  The former Marine emphasizes her own hard-scrabble upbringing as the daughter of immigrant farm workers who worked in the fields close to Casa Grande.
• 34:08
  Quote, people trust you if they know you came from the community and understand their way of life, Mendoza said in an interview earlier this year.
• 34:17
  Trump made broad gains among Hispanics during the 2024 campaign that returned him to the White House.
• 34:24
  Back then,
• 34:25
  About seven in ten Hispanic voters were quote very concerned about the cost of food and groceries, slightly more than about two thirds of voters overall, according to AP Votes
• 34:36
  Cast, a survey of more than one hundred and twenty thousand voters nationwide.
• 34:41
  And Trump had a clear advantage among those voters.
• 34:44
  Now about six in ten Hispanic voters disapprove of Trump's handling of the presidency, according to an associated press, Norwich Center for Public Affairs Research poll.
• 34:54
  From October.
• 34:56
  More than seven in ten disapprove of his performance on the economy.
• 35:00
  An AP NORC poll conducted in September showed Hispanic voters are more concerned than voters overall about the cost of groceries and housing, and about 70% blame Trump's
• 35:11
  policies more than factors outside his control for higher prices.
• 35:16
  The potential shift away from Republicans this year would be driven by anti-Trump sentiment, not a love of Democrats.
• 35:23
  said Mike Madrid, a political consultant who wrote The Latino Century, a book about Latino voters, and co-hosts the Latino Vote Podcast.
• 35:33
  Latinos are in the midst of a dealignment, rejecting strong associations with both parties because neither is speaking effectively to working class economic concerns, he said.
• 35:43
  Quote, the Latino electorate is moving from a racial and ethnic voting bloc to an economic pocketbook class based voter, Madrid said.
• 35:52
  And the party that figures that out first is the party that will probably dominate for the next generation.
• 35:58
  End quote.
• 35:59
  Hispanics are about evenly split on their view of the Democratic Party, according to the October AP NORC poll.
• 36:06
  Their views on the Republican Party are more negative, with 55% having an unfavorable view and 38% having a favorable one.
• 36:16
  On a recent morning in Denver,
• 36:18
  Democratic state lawmaker Manny Rutinel stood before a crowd of Union carpenters and rolled up his sleeve to show off a scar, the market from where he sold his blood more than
• 36:27
  a hundred times to make ends meet.
• 36:29
  Quote, I'm the son of a single mom.
• 36:32
  She came to America to give me the American dream.
• 36:35
  We worked hard for this country, Routinel told the boisterous crowd that fanned out to canvas for him in one of the country's most watched races.
• 36:43
  Rutinel is challenging Republican.
• 36:46
  Gabe Evans in Colorado's 8th Congressional District, which stretches from blue-collar Denver suburbs to energy-rich farm and ranch land in the northern stretch of the state.
• 36:56
  Latinos are the district's single largest ethnic group, and both the incumbent and challenger are Hispanic.
• 37:03
  Evans won by less than one percentage point, while Trump won by two points.
• 37:09
  Rutinal has focused relentlessly on the economy since winning the nomination.
• 37:13
  Quote,
• 37:14
  The folks around the district feel they've been lied to and betrayed, he said in an interview.
• 37:19
  Evans, a forty year old former police lieutenant, has portrayed Rutinell as having a record as a left wing activist and liberal lawmaker.
• 37:27
  Quote, Go ask any Hispanic in the district, do you think we would secure the border?
• 37:31
  Do you think we should get rid of the bad guys?
• 37:34
  Do you think we should help the good guys?
• 37:35
  They'll say yes, Evans, whose grandfather was a Mexican immigrant, said in an interview.
• 37:42
  Jose Montalvo, a 47-year-old trucker, voted for Evans even though he supported Democrat Kamala Harris for president in 2024.
• 37:51
  He likes to split his ticket between the parties, but does not think he will do that this year, after he needed to change insurers and cell phone providers to save money.
• 38:02
  Montalvo is frustrated by Trump's handling of gas prices, saying, quote, I blame him for the fuel side of things.
• 38:09
  That is a criticism so he extends to all Republicans.
• 38:14
  Maria Del Carmen Rojas, a naturalized citizen who has lived in the United States for thirty six years, said she's shocked that any Latinos could back Trump and a modern
• 38:23
  Republican Party that she thinks regularly denigrates immigrants.
• 38:28
  She has four children who are US citizens, including a son who served in the war in Afghanistan.
• 38:34
  She spent her life working in factories and serving as a nanny to raise her children.
• 38:38
  Now she struggles to buy groceries.
• 38:41
  We Latinos contribute very much to this country, the taxes we pay, the service we provide, she said.
• 38:48
  A wooden sign that said Need Prayer sat on a table with three Bibles along a busy suburban walkway in Edinburgh, Texas on a hot October evening.
• 38:57
  The town is part of the state's fifteenth congressional district, which Trump carried by eighteen percentage points, but is now viewed as a top election day battleground.
• 39:08
  Standing beside the table, Thomas Centrella, age 42, said he has grown disillusioned with politics and finds himself fast forwarding through campaign advertisements.
• 39:18
  Even though he tends to vote Republican, he might not in the future.
• 39:23
  During Trump's first term, Centrella said, I feel like he was going in a good direction, but I think now he's just gotten weird.
• 39:30
  He doubts he would ever vote for a Democrat, but said he might skip elections or turn independent in the future.
• 39:36
  Maria Elisa Gonzalez, who is retired, said she will again support the district's Republican congresswoman, Monica de la Cruz, instead of Democrat Bobbi Pulido, a Teyano
• 39:49
  music star.
• 39:50
  Speaking in Spanish, Gonzalez said Pulido doesn't have any preparation other than a pretty face and a fame of singing pretty.
• 39:59
  Priscilla Olivares, age 46, a public education teacher who was walking the trail.
• 40:05
  is undecided in the midterms.
• 40:07
  She grew up as a Democrat and voted Republican in the last presidential election.
• 40:11
  Today she is disappointed with an economy where costs seem to be growing faster than wages, and she often digs into her own pocket to help pay for things in the classroom.
• 40:21
  Quote, I stand independent right now because I don't agree with either side right now, she said.
• 40:29
  A Ricardi reported from Denver and Gonzalez from Edinburgh, Texas.
• 41:40
  Note from yesterday: the Colorado Sun hosted live issue interviews with the District 8 candidates.
• 41:48
  The Colorado Sun partnered with Noticias Univision Colorado to host a live issue interview between the Democratic and Republican candidates for Colorado Congressional District 8
• 41:59
  this year.
• 42:00
  um You can find that on the Colorado Sun website, I believe.
• 42:10
  The event took place at 6 30 PM Tuesday, october twentieth at the University of Northern Colorado in Campus Commons.
• 42:18
  Colorado Sun Elections editor Jesse Paul and Univision News Anchor and Executive Producer Rafael Contreras asked candidates questions ahead of the november third elections.
• 42:31
  Candidates who participated included Gabe Evans, U.S.
• 42:35
  Representative, the incumbent, and
• 42:37
  and Manny Rutinel, the former state representative from Commerce City.
• 42:41
  Each candidate took questions on stage separately after Rutinel declined to participate in a sun debate with Evans.
• 42:54
  And you can find that, I believe, on the Colorado Sun website.
• 42:59
  I am hoping so.
• 43:01
  Thank you.
• 43:05
  Well that's the the news for today.
• 43:08
  You've been listening to the Colorado Sun for Wednesday, October twenty second.
• 43:17
  No, twenty-first.
• 43:18
  Sorry.
• 43:20
  my name is Candace Einbeck.
• 43:24
  And remember to vote.