Giron Recall Was Less About Guns, More About...Giron

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by: Colorado Pols

Angela Giron

We've written many times in this space that the Sept. 10 recall elections for Sen. John Morse and Sen. Angela Giron were two very different elections with very different rationales. Whatever the reasons, Democrats just didn't really like Giron, which had more to do with the massive margin in her recall election than anything about gun control. And as Fox 31's Eli Stokols reports, results from a recent focus group indicate exactly what we have said here before:

But a recently conducted focus group, paid for by a coalition of pro-gun control groups, gives greater clarity to what happened in Pueblo, where former Sen. Angela Giron lost a solidly Democratic district by a 20-point margin.

The report, which FOX31 Denver has obtained, confirms what many political observers have surmised already: that it wasn’t the gun laws alone that cost Giron her seat, but a deep-seated dislike for and mistrust of the lawmaker herself among many Democrats in her hometown…

…People in the two focus groups — men and women, all Democrats (the party holds roughly a 15-point advantage in Senate District 3) — explained that they believed that Giron “went Denver” and lost touch with her constituents, taking orders instead from party bosses around the Capitol.

Moreover, some women surveyed said they took additional umbrage at Giron’s explanation that she voted for certain bills, despite serious opposition from parts of her district, because she’s “a strong Latina.”

Giron certainly has a vocal group of supporters, but not enough to change the perception she created about herself in her short time in the state senate. The good news for Democrats — and the sobering news for gun advocates who celebrated the Giron recall — is that Democrats will almost certainly retake SD-3 in 2014:

The focus group voters said they hardly know anything about Republican George Rivera, who was the only successor candidate on the recall ballot and will face a reelection challenge from Democratic state Rep. Leroy Garcia, who opposed the gun control bills, next year.

The recall wasn’t about Rivera, voters said. It was about Giron.

“There’s not always someone you want to vote for,” one respondent said. “But there’s always someone you want to vote against.”

12 thoughts on “Giron Recall Was Less About Guns, More About…Giron”

Diogenesdemar says:

December 12, 2013 at 10:57 am

Although I don't know much about the particulars of the Giron episode other than what I read here and elsewhere, I do almost always cringe whenever I hear someone self-describing as "a strong [whatever]."

Not that I don't believe that there aren't, or that I don't don't admire, "strong [whatevers]' . . . but, that kind of self-description almost seems to me to presuppose the opposite — that [whatevers] as a group are seen or perceived as generally being not strong, or not smart, or not industrious, or not well-spoken, or not educated, or whatever. I guess I find it very off-putting, a bit of a back-handed reinforcement to some unfair slur, that causes me to recoil.

Work hard, do good, emulate the best in others . . . and let others notice and supply the accolades and awards as appropriate.

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BlueCat says:

December 12, 2013 at 11:48 am

To those of us who live nowhere near this district, this makes sense of what happened. We knew such a large loss couldn't be entirely chalked up to voting difficulties. That kind of thing can only push close ones one way or the other. Mama, however, isn't going to like this explanation. Prepare to be bombarded by ticked off supporters.

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dwyer says:

December 12, 2013 at 2:36 pm

There is a very interesting observation about George Rivera, who defeated Giron, in the following article:

http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/2013/12/06/colorado-governors-race/103271/

BTW, BC, you are getting tiresome.

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1. DaftPunk says:
  
  December 12, 2013 at 3:25 pm
  
  You're one to talk.
  
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2. BlueCat says:
  
  December 12, 2013 at 5:21 pm
  
  Not criticizing mama. Does anyone think she's going to like this? We've aready argued about this until we agreed to disagree.
  
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dwyer says:

December 12, 2013 at 4:41 pm

Analyzing what happened to Giron in the Pueblo recall, is in IMHO, critically important, if Democrats are to win in 2014. This report on "focus groups" paid for by a coalition of pro-gun control groups,

may or may not provide a clue. It may well be a focus group that was organized way before the recal began in order to decide how to "frame" the campaign for the recall. That is a legitimate use of focus groups…..

mj55 has consistently said that the lack of mail -in ballots was not the only factor in Giron's lost. The link I posted is to an article that discusses the republicans who are supporting Gessler and George Rivera, winner in Pueblo, is one. The article gives the reporter's very favorable impression of Rivera.

I wonder, out loud, if the Democrats were responding to the "out of towners" and the "push pull poll." Telling Democrats that their elected officials are out of touch works….because in many cases, they are, IMHO.

I hope that there can be a good discussion of what this report means. It is important.

I left the 7th grade 60 years ago and so I am not up on the verbal food fight techniques, so pardon me if I don't purse that line of commenting.

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JeffcoBlue says:

December 12, 2013 at 4:54 pm

The reason I've been saying this all along is because it's true. I have no ill will against Giron and I'm sorry she got recalled. But the huge difference between her recall and Morse requires a better explanation than the one Giron supporters are willing to accept.

It is time to move on.

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1. BlueCat says:
  
  December 12, 2013 at 5:17 pm
  
  Exactly.
  
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dwyer says:

December 12, 2013 at 5:08 pm

JB,

Before we move on, let's make sure we have a better idea of what happened.

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nota33 says:

December 12, 2013 at 7:52 pm

There are numerous reasons why Giron didn't win her recall. Mail in ballots not being used and Giron supporters being too lazy to come out were probably in my opinion the two biggest reasons why she lost. You had many people in her district that did support what she did on guns. it's time to move on though. We need to take back that seat in 2014 and we will.

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dwyer says:

December 13, 2013 at 8:26 am

"We need to take back that seat in 2014 and we will.

– See more at: http://coloradopols.com/diary/52468/giron-recall-was-less-about-guns-more-about-giron#comments

The question is how are 'we" going to take back the seat? I don't know, nota33, if you were a constituent of Giron or not. If so, tell us how you are going to take back the seat. If not, then what suggestions do you have?

There was a poll right befoe the election that showed Giron losing by the 11 points. Evidently the pollster did not trust his own data and so did not release the poll. If the poll had been released, would that have given Giron a "heads up"? The poll was highlighted here, but I can't find it, right now. I don't know if there was a demographic breakout or not. I wonder how women voted? I would have liked to have seen a post-election poll commissioned by Democrats. It might have helped the Hudak effort. I have no idea what dems are doing.

I also need to say that calling her supporters "lazy" is not the way to win hearts and minds.

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dwyer says:

December 13, 2013 at 8:26 am

…let alone votes.

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