Denver Business Community Frets After Democratic Socialist Beats 15-Term Dem Incumbent in Primary

Colorado's increasing leftward tilt is something people have been watching and commenting on for years. I moved to Colorado in 1988, and even then, when Colorado was still, for the most part, South Wyoming, people were beginning to complain about the influx of leftists, mostly from California. That trend accelerated through the 1990s and early 2000s, transforming Colorado from South Wyoming to East California.

Now, though, the TURBO button has been hit. Colorado's First Congressional District was always a lefty haven, being in that it encompasses most of the Denver area, but now long-term Democrat Representative Diana DeGette has lost a primary election to a "democratic socialist," or, to put it bluntly, communist, Melat Kiros. Now the Denver business community is rightly worried about this trend towards the nutbar commie left in the Mile High City.

Affordability was a top concern for voters who helped launch democratic socialist candidate Melat Kiros to victory in Denver's Democratic primary in June, defeating 15-term incumbent Diana DeGette. But as democratic socialists gain momentum in Colorado, business owners are grappling with how their progressive policies may collide with the actual costs of running a business in Denver.

"With DSA specifically, I think that too many times, the rhetoric sounds great until it meets the economic realities," J.J. Ament, president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, told Fox News Digital. "And by the way, the basic laws of economics, they still apply even at altitude."

Ament runs the oldest and largest chamber of commerce in Colorado, representing the business community. The chamber is nonpartisan and has members from both sides of the political spectrum, he said.

In Denver, having members from across the board is certainly no surprise; more of an inevitability, since Colorado is mostly a blue state because of the deep-blue, heavily populated areas of what I have long called the Denver-Boulder Axis. 

Here's the onion:

While the chamber does not endorse individual candidates, Ament noted that it does participate at the member level to promote pragmatic, pro-business candidates, and promote free enterprise and free-market policies.

"I tell people sort of as a joke, but not really, that I want pro-business. I'll settle for not crazy," he said.

That is going to be the sentiment of a lot of business people under the new regimes of the commie left, as New Yorkers are already finding out to their regret. Mr. Ament notes that the Chamber he runs is non-partisan, but here's the problem: Among the ranks of the new Left, there is nobody promoting pro-business candidates. They not only do not promote free enterprise and free-market policies; they campaign vigorously against those things. There is not one of them that is, as Mr. Ament puts it, "not crazy." They are crazy, by definition, or they wouldn't be commies.

Denver is long past the point where it can settle for not crazy. The city has, with the primary victory of Melat Kiros, officially joined the ranks of the loony Left, and the best thing any responsible business owners can do now is to look to the exits.

It's a shame. We lived in Colorado for 30 years before coming to Alaska (and that's been the best move we ever made.) There's a lot of wonderful things about that state, even now. But the Great Sorting will not be denied, and the ascent of the loony Left in places like Denver will only accelerate it.

Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and bold policies, America’s economy is back on track.

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