You’d be forgiven if you thought magic mushrooms were decriminalized in Colorado prior to November. Colorado Republicans were emphatic that this was the year they could turn around the Centennial State and win the fast-growing pool of unaffiliated voters who were concerned about inflation, rising crime, and a faltering public-education system.

Were we all sampling the product a bit early?

It wasn’t for lack of trying to appeal to the middle. For the U.S. Senate, Republicans put forth pro-choice candidate Joe O’Dea, who made waves when he said he would “actively campaign against” Donald Trump should the former president run again. Our candidate for secretary of state, Pam Anderson, landed on the cover of Time magazine as a “Defender of Democracy,” in part for her efforts to defend Colorado’s election system against members of her own party. Up and down the ballot, voters rejected extremist candidates on the GOP primary ballot, giving hope for a competitive general election.

But once the dust settled, no statewide Republican candidate had taken more than 43.03 percent of the vote.

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