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It feels like were living in the upside-down world, she said. Ocker feels that RINOs betrayed the president and wrongly blamed him for the riots, and she added that it was impossible that any Trump supporter could have committed violence that day.

Weve all been living a lie and been told a lie, she said.

She hasnt spoken with her parents, who are Biden supporters, since the election. They see her as a QAnon conspiracy theorist, she said, but she thinks of herself as a skeptic who does her own research. Now, she fears a civil war or, at the least, a generation-long rebuilding of conservative politics.

A partys got to implode, she said. I think thats whats happening to the Republican Party, a little bit.

Others are taking a pragmatic approach: Where will they be able to influence politics the most as Colorado stays blue?

Ive gotta tell you, the vast majority of my friends are laughing at me, that I switched over to Democrat. They think Im crazy, said Martin Lee Hussman, 45.

A well-connected resident of Alamosa, he was previously a registered Libertarian but voted for Trump in the most recent election. And as he watched the fallout of the riots, he decided that Democrats would hold power for the foreseeable future.

Honestly, I think the Republican Party is dead. I dont think theres going to be a Republican Party in the next couple years, said Hussman, a plumber.

Hussman figured that being registered as a Democrat would help him moderate the partys candidates. He plans to support people like Don Valdez, the Democrat who represents the area in the state House and has broken with his party on gun restrictions. But Hussman didnt feel very different after filling out the form.

Aw, hell, Hussman said. Its easy to switch back to something else if I dont like the way this ones going.

Denverite's Kevin J. Beaty performed the data analysis for this story.

Editor's Note: This story was updated to reflect the correct number of former Republicans who became unaffiliated.

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4600 Colorado Republicans Quit The Party After The US Capitol Insurrection - Colorado Public Radio