By Jennifer Turner
Amendment 70, which will raise the minimum wage in Colorado from $8.31 an hour to $12 by 2020, passed with 54.6 percent voter approval and 1,381,245 votes.
The measure received 173,150 more votes than Hillary Clinton and 138,910 more than Michael Bennet. Its convincing win and Clinton’s narrow victory here are something of a contradiction and may provide a ray of light for despondent Democrats.
Clinton garnered 1,208,095 votes in Colorado to Trump’s 1,136,354. She may have lost the state altogether if not for Libertarian Gary Johnson, who received 129,128 votes. Johnson has been credited by Colorado Republican party chair Steve House with siphoning votes away from Trump.
Colorado Clinton voters, including those in Denver County, do appear to have largely voted in favor of raising the minimum wage. However, so did some Trump voters, despite their candidate’s repeated flip-flops on the issue. Amendment 70 passed in a number of counties Trump carried, including Archuleta, Garfield, Grand and Montezuma.
How did the Amendment 70 campaign assemble a winning coalition for a core Democratic issue that included cross-over voters that team Clinton was unable to reach?
According to Timothy Markham, a lead proponent of Amendment 70, they did it through “intentional and deliberate organizing across a progressive movement.”
From the beginning, the Amendment 70 team made sure they included diverse voices, such as small community organizations and labor and faith-based groups. The campaign’s message of economic justice and basic fairness resonated across the state and socioeconomic divide.
The Amendment 70 campaign also wasn’t shy about battling corporate interests who aren’t typically viewed as friendly to workers and their families. There was stiff opposition from many businesses, including those in the hospitality and agricultural industries.
“It’s about being bold and proposing real solutions to real people’s problems,” Markham said. “It’s about being unabashed in taking on large corporate interests who are hurting Coloradans in every corner of the state. It’s time our leaders started listening, standing-up for real people and stop being intimidated by the business community and the local politicians they control. If you stand-up for people and fight for them, they will support you and you will win.”
When asked why he believes Trump won, Markham said he thinks when middle-class Americans began to feel real economic anxiety for themselves and their families, mixed with changing cultural demographics, they looked for someone who recognized their plight. Status quo politicians didn’t fit the bill, but the rhetoric and policies of people like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders resonated.