The mood was festive at Denver’s Mission Ballroom on Friday, where top Democrats from across the country gathered to celebrate their wave of midterm wins and talk about the party’s priorities.
Majority Democrats, a political action committee that bills itself as working to build lasting power for the party, put on the What’s Next conference.
For Colorado leaders, the conference was a chance to focus on where their home state fits into the party nationally.
U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse said he and others are “working very hard” to bring the 2028 Democratic National Convention to Denver. The city is one of three finalists, along with Boston and Philadelphia.
“Having been here for the 2008 convention as a young law student, and [I] remember very fondly sitting in the nosebleed seats at Mile High Stadium with my dad, watching Barack Obama accept the nomination to become our nation’s first Black president, I can think of no better place than Denver, Colorado,” he said.
Neguse just won another term representing the state’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes Boulder, Fort Collins and parts of the high country.
He said it’ll take concerted efforts from Democrats to retain the support of conservative voters who flipped blue in the midterms.
“While they are upset and frustrated by the economic exhaustion the Trump administration has created, that does not mean they have given Democrats a mandate,” he said.
Neguse said he’s focused on listening to constituents from the most rural and red pockets of his district. He also said voters want a more optimistic tone in national politics.
Gov.-elect Phil Weiser, speaking on a panel with other governors, hewed to a hopeful theme.
“We’re going to build something called Colorado Corps, calling young people to serve in law enforcement, firefighting, counseling, nurturing, teaching, and thinking about how we can use AI to do good things in nonprofits,” he said. “Because young people — they're looking for meaning, connection and purpose.”
Weiser also highlighted the lawsuits he’s brought against the Trump administration during his tenure as Colorado’s attorney general.
“If this administration wants to see me in court, that's fine,” he said.
Democrats swept Colorado’s major statewide races and won seven of the state’s eight congressional districts. Nationally, the party won back control of both the U.S. House and the Senate.
