Data: AP, New York Times; Map: Jared Whalen/Axios Visuals
The depth of support for Gov. Jared Polis in Tuesday's midterm is most evident when you look at the map.
State of play: The Democrat held the advantage in conservative Douglas County south of Denver — home to Republican rival Heidi Ganahl — and lost deep-red El Paso County by 2 percentage points.
He also took Pueblo County and areas of southern Colorado where former President Trump did well in 2016 and 2020.
What he's saying: "I've been focused on talking about how I want to protect the freedom of Coloradans, reduce costs and save people money. We delivered on that …and the people rewarded that," Polis told Axios Denver in an interview Wednesday.
The intrigue: Polis held 58% of the vote to 40% for Ganahl as counting continued Wednesday — a margin that more than doubled his 2018 historic win.
His ability to flip Republican turf is even clearer when you compare the 2022 results to 2018's map.