6 MARCH 6-12, 2025 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | Measured Response CONSERVATIVELY SPEAKING, MICHAEL FIELDS IS THE REPUBLICAN “GOVERNOR” OF COLORADO BY HANNAH METZGER Only the governor of Colorado or a superma- jority of legislators have the power to con- vene a state law-making session. But last year, the order came from Michael Fields — at least, that’s how it felt to many politicians. Fields, president of the conservative ad- vocacy group Advance Colorado, led a pair of ballot measures in 2024 to dramatically cut property taxes and set strict growth limits. Fearing the impact on government budgets and operations, Governor Jared Polis called a special legislative session in August, during which lawmakers passed more modest prop- erty tax relief as a compromise. In exchange, Fields withdrew the measures. Legislators called themselves an after- thought and rubber stamp in backdoor ne- gotiations between the real decision-makers, Polis and Fields. They practically had “a gun to our heads,” one Democrat representative lamented. The show of political force earned Fields a nickname among lawmakers: Governor Fields. He’s not a fan of the title. “The power comes from the people,” Fields says. “I can’t do anything without grassroots support, without donor support, without polling. ...A large number of Colo- radans agree on these policies. Legislators either have to pay attention and do some- thing about it, or we’re going to.” The “Governor Fields” moniker is the closest any Republican has gotten to the Colorado governor’s offi ce in years. Colo- radans haven’t elected a Republican head of state since 2002, when Bill Owens won a second term. In fact, Democrats currently hold all statewide executive offi ces, both U.S. Senate seats and a majority in the state House and Senate. Despite minor Republican gains in November, Democrats have the strongest hold over Colorado since 1938. That hasn’t stopped Fields from fi nding political success. His star has been on the rise since he led the opposition against Proposi- tion HH in 2023, defeating the Democrat- backed property tax measure and forcing another special legislative session. That conservative victory came on the heels of the Colorado GOP’s “extinction- level” performance during the 2022 elec- tion. Fields rode the momentum of the win into the 2024 election, running fi ve ballot measures with Advance Colorado. Of them, two were passed by voters, two led to the legislative compromise, and one failed by less than six percentage points. While he doesn’t hold public offi ce, Fields’s recent statewide policy achieve- ments outweigh those of most Republican elected offi cials in Colorado. And the state’s politicos have taken notice. “Whether you agree with him or not, Michael Fields has become a con- servative counterweight in Colorado,” Polis says, adding that Fields “has worked effectively both as an outside advocate and as a deal maker.” Fields isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Advance Colorado has already filed seventeen statewide ballot measure proposals for the 2026 election; the measures primarily revolve around im- migration, crime, taxes and fees, setting the agenda for Colorado politics nearly two years out from Election Day. “There’s a disconnect,” Fields says. “Colo- radans support Democrats on the ballot, but they want a tax cut. Or, for example, we did a ballot measure to make sure violent criminals stay in jail longer. That lost on a party-line vote [in the legislature] last year, and then voters supported it more than any other citizens’ initiative. “There is a gap sometimes between what the people want and what legislators are willing to do,” he continues. “It’s about fi nd- ing those disconnects that can help make Colorado better.” RED IN A BLUE STATE Fields is used to being the only Repub- lican in a room. Today, the 37-year-old father of fi ve lives in Parker, but he grew up in Chicago in a conservative family. They were a rare, right- leaning household in a leftist neighborhood, and their political affi liation was uncommon among their relatives as well. Fields says his father, an Ivy League-educated seminary professor, was the lone conservative in a Democratic family. (His great-grandparents once even received an award from Hillary Clinton, he says.) Fields describes himself as a lifelong Republican. He fi rst became interested in politics after 9/11, exploring foreign policy as a thirteen-year-old. He restarted the College Republicans group as a student at Valparaiso University and, after earning a bachelor’s degree in political science, moved to Colorado to study law at the University of Colorado Boulder. In law school, Fields bumped shoulders with people who would become some of the most infl uential Democrats in the state. He got to know Senate President James Cole- man through his work with ACE Scholar- ships; became friends with Alec Garnett, former House speaker and gubernatorial chief of staff, through playing softball with his brother, Andrew; and met Polis when the governor was a congressman and Fields was an intern for U.S. Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming. His personal connections across the aisle helped infl uence Fields’s approach to politics. Polis even appointed Fields to his Behavioral Health Task Force in 2019. “I don’t like that politics has turned into, ‘If you’re part of another party or you dis- agree with me, you’re the enemy,’” Fields says. “I’m very conservative, but [Democrats] are not my enemies. They’re good people. If we can agree and get something done, let’s work together. If we can’t, we’ll settle it with voters and then we’ll get on the next issue.” Fields took a swing at public offi ce just once, in 2014. He ran for the Colorado House of Representatives in District 37, losing in the Republican primary. Fields, then 25 years old, was endorsed by the district’s outgo- ing representative and out-fundraised his opponent, Jack Tate, but Tate beat him with nearly double the votes. The loss taught Fields the importance of grassroots activism, he says, noting that his money and insider approval failed in the face of Tate’s army of passionate sup- porters knocking on doors and collecting signatures. Fields followed that philosophy to the Colorado chapter of Americans for Pros- perity, leading the conservative nonprofi t’s policy advocacy. He continued the work in 2018 as executive director of Colorado Ris- ing Action, another right-leaning advocacy group, and then as president of Advance Colorado in December 2021, after he helped found the group in 2020 with a commu- nity coalition including former Aurora City Councilmember Dustin Zvonek. “I would much rather be in the position I am than be in elected offi ce,” Fields says. “It’s as infl uential as you can be as a conservative in Colorado right now. ... There is no doubt that I’ve been able to be more infl uential doing the work that I do than if I was at the Capitol.” When he took the helm of Advance Colo- rado, Fields shifted the organization’s focus from training Republicans to run for offi ce, to pursuing ballot measures. Colorado is one of 24 states that allow citizen-initiated measures, letting residents bypass the legis- lature and petition to bring policy proposals directly to voters. Even rarer, it is among only eighteen states that permit citizens to bring forward ballot measures to amend the state constitution. In that, Fields discovered the key to achieving Republican success without need- ing to win Republican seats. TAKING PARTY OUT OF POLITICS The Republican Party has seen better days in Colorado. NEWS continued on page 8 KEEP UP ON DENVER NEWS AT WESTWORD.COM/NEWS “Being conservative in a state like Colorado right now, you have to have a long view,” says Michael Fields, president of Advance Colorado. COURTESY MICHAEL FIELDS
