“I have lived in the Denver metro for 54 years. u til about 10 - 15 years ago we were a deeply conservative state.”
Uh, can you say “Pat Schroeder?” Or “Gary Hart?” Colorado has been politically iffy since the 1980s. I have a cousin who lives in Denver, and he moved there from Texas in the 1970s because of a job opportunity, and he was shocked to find that Denver was not the conservative place he had thought it was.
the city and county of denver has always been liberal but there were enough conservatives in the burbs to keep them in the looney minority. In statewide and national races Colorado was reliably conservative until 10-15 years ago. Even the deepest red states have their pockets or loons. As long as they remain in the minority they can do little harm