Why El Paso County, Texas, Is Different Politically from El Paso County, Colorado

El Paso County, Texas, is one of the many plaintiffs in the ongoing litigation against Donald Trump’s emergency declaration, which is nothing but a political stunt (https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/2019/02/15/el-paso-community-leaders-sue-over-state-emergency-declaration/2883895002/)

 

Beto O’Rourke, a likely Dem presidential candidate, represented El Paso County in Congress for three terms in Congress.

 

El Paso is short for "El Paso del Norte", which is Spanish for "The Pass of the North." It is named for the pass which the Rio Grande creates through the mountains on either side of the river. 

 

El Paso County, Colorado is different from El Paso County, Texas. It’s the home of the US Air Force Academy, Peterson Air Force Base, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, Fort Carson, and Focus on the Family, a right-wing anti-gay organization.

 

Though the City and County of Denver is solidly blue, El Paso County, Colorado, is solidly red; it is represented in Congress by Doug Lamborn, an enthusiastic Trump supporter.

 

El Paso County, Colorado, is governed by its Board of County Commissioners, so we sent associate solitary reporter Lewis Thompson to interview County Commissioner Mark Waller, a Republican. Waller was a State Representative before becoming a County Commissioner. He had the good sense to defeat, in a Republican primary, Douglas Bruce, the miscreant who brought the Taxpayer Bill of Rights to Colorado in 1992.

 

“Commissioner Waller,” ASR Thompson began, “I rarely venture south from Denver to El Paso County, but the solitary reporter insisted that I do this. I hope you don’t mind.”

 

“Lewis, I do mind, but since you’re here, I would like to tell you that the El Paso County Commissioners here in Colorado would never even think of suing Mr. Trump. El Paso County Texas’ lawsuit against Mr. Trump will fail.”

 

Thompson politely told Waller that he is greatly mistaken. Thompson is happily back home in Denver.