By Democracy just exists to validate liberal points of view. When the public disagrees, Democrats simply ignore the vote and demand a new election. The latest example of this trend happened in Colorado, where voters gave Democrat Phil Weiser the governor’s office by nearly 28 points. On the very same ballots, they approved separate measures reserving girls’ sports for female athletes and prohibiting certain sex-change surgeries on minors. Weiser had little trouble understanding what Coloradans meant when they voted for him. On the other two questions, he thinks their answer could use some work.
“We’re going to have to take a look at these anti-trans measures and what adjustments are necessary and appropriate.”
What makes an adjustment necessary, exactly? Colorado voters had the chance to reject both proposals. Roughly 52 percent voted for each. Proposition 134 requires schools and colleges to designate sports teams by biological sex, with an exception for co-ed teams. Proposition 135 prohibits certain surgeries on minors and restricts public funding for them. Coloradans could read those proposals, understand them and still want a Democrat in the governor’s office. Judging by the returns, plenty did.
The same electorate also approved tougher felony penalties for fentanyl possession and distribution. About 62 percent voted to require life without parole for child sex trafficking. All four measures are statutes, which Colorado lawmakers can amend or repeal by a simple majority. With Democrats projected to hold supermajorities in the legislature, opponents who lost at the ballot box knew where to go next. Legislative Democrats have already discussed possible changes with them.
In Washington, the margin was wider and the response more direct. By approximately 56 percent to 44 percent, voters approved Initiative 638, reversing a longstanding athletic association policy that allowed students to compete according to their gender identity. The initiative reserves K-12 girls’ sports for biological females and requires medical verification of sex for participants. The Seattle school board voted unanimously to retain lawyers and authorized a legal challenge if warranted. The ACLU of Washington and other civil rights groups have already filed suit.
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson put the weight of her office behind the board. “I support the Seattle Public Schools Board’s decision to challenge Initiative 638, because every young person in Seattle deserves to thrive as their authentic self.” The board cited student privacy, equal protection and the practical burden of enforcing the measure. Unless a court intervenes, it is scheduled to take effect December 3.
I support the Seattle Public Schools Board's decision to challenge Initiative 638, because every young person in Seattle deserves to thrive as their authentic self. pic.twitter.com/QBQbNRsBnR
— Mayor Katie Wilson (@MayorofSeattle) November 10, 2026
Colorado lawmakers have the authority to rewrite a statute. Washington courts have the authority to hear a challenge. The revealing part is how quickly liberal officials reached for those powers. Nobody had to explain to Weiser that a 28-point win entitled him to govern. Yet the voters who gave him that authority had scarcely finished counting their own victories before he began talking about adjustments. In Seattle, a 12-point verdict against the policy favored by the city’s political leadership earned voters a date in court.
For liberals who cast themselves as democracy’s defenders, the people seem to serve one principal function. They get to ratify what the people in charge already believe. When they elect a Democratic governor, their judgment is a mandate. When they decide who should play on a girls’ team, the governor wants another look and the mayor wants a lawyer.
[READ MORE: Democrats Look To Rig Presidential Elections Now]
