What happened in Colorado this week is the first major setback in a decade-long strategy to remake the state’s politics into the Rocky Mountain version of California.

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For all of the Democratic Party’s success in turning Colorado into a swing state, the recall of two pro-gun control state senators offers an instructive lesson about what happens when liberals overreach. 

On Tuesday night, State Senate President John Morse and his colleague Angela Giron, both Democrats, became the first elected officials to be recalled since Colorado adopted the procedure in 1912.

The issue that led to their downfall was a sweeping gun control law passed in March. The measure included limits on ammunition magazines and expanded background checks.

Supporters of the law cited shootings last year in a Colorado movie theater and a Connecticut elementary school as evidence that greater restrictions on sales of guns and ammunition are needed to prevent future tragedies.

But opponents, led by grassroots activists and funded in part by the National Rifle Association, countered that the legislation is really an anti-gun statute rather than an attempt to improve safety.

The success of the recall, in which two Republicans replaced the ousted Democrats, falls just shy of giving control of the state senate to the GOP. Prior to the election, Democrats held 20 of the chamber’s 35 seats. Now their majority rests on a slim 18-17 margin.

Commentators are buzzing that while the immediate impact of the recall is largely symbolic since the law was not repealed and Democrats still control both legislative chambers and the governor’s office, office holders in other states will be hesitant to pass Colorado-like restrictions for fear of a similar fate.

While the impact of the ejection elections will undoubtedly reverberate across the country, it’s not necessarily the case that the liberal establishment in Colorado is immune from the fallout.

What happened in Colorado this week is the first major setback in a decade-long strategy to remake the state’s politics into the Rocky Mountain version of California.

Over the last ten years, a wealthy group of secretive liberal donors have employed leading-edge campaign tactics and millions of dollars to bring about a rapid switch in state politics. In 2002, the Republican Party dominated state and federal elected offices. By 2008, Democrats did.

Details of the strategy are told in The Blueprint: How the Democrats Won Colorado (and Why Republicans Everywhere Should Care), by Rob Witner and Adam Schrager.

One of the keys to flipping the state blue was the selection of moderate sounding candidates who promised not to implement liberal fantasies like gun-control if elected. But with power often comes hubris. The electoral waves that flooded the state capital with liberals eventually convinced Democrats they had enough clout to pass laws truer to their own ideology than the one espoused by their constituents. 

The recalls of State Senators Morse and Giron are prime examples.

Morse is a former county sheriff elected from a suburb of Colorado Springs – a conservative bastion that is the home of the Air Force Academy and Focus on the Family. Though a Democrat, Morse’s appeal to voters was as a former law enforcement officer who could be trusted to protect their rights. Imagine their surprise when during debate on the gun-control law Morse said that passage would be like “cleansing a sickness from our souls.”

For her part, Giron represented a blue collar district in southern Colorado that heavily favors Democrats. That is, unless the Democrat serving it votes in favor of her liberal ideology instead deferring to her constituents’ beliefs.

The proof is in the spending. Pro-gun control groups from around the country put down an estimated $3 million to defend Morse and Giron. Opponents gathered far less, with the NRA’s $300,000 contribution considered the largest.

Still, despite the huge disparity in financial resources, voters in two Colorado districts saw through the posturing, and sent a message to Colorado’s newly entrenched liberal establishment: Money can elect a promise, but it won’t buy a lie.

We’ll know soon enough if anyone is listening.