It was a good night for Democrats in Colorado Tuesday, as voters passed statewide and local ballot questions endorsed by the party, while rejecting Republican candidates in key municipal and school district elections.

While none of the choices in the state’s off-year election carried partisan labels, both major parties poured resources and attention into contests across Colorado in an election seen as a harbinger of next year’s midterms.

Colorado’s blue wave echoed results across the country, from high-profile governors’ races and statewide contests to down-ballot elections that saw Democrats claim bigger-than-expected wins in Virginia, New Jersey, New York City, California, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Maine and Mississippi.

In Colordo, Democrats and candidates and issues supported by the party nearly swept the table, from ousting incumbents to taking the majority on the Aurora City Council and the Douglas County School Board to winning mayoral races in Centennial and Westminster, according to the preliminary results. In suburban Jefferson County, candidates supported by the teachers union carried all the races.

On the same day the federal government shutdown reached its 35th day, tying for the longest on record, Colorado voters approved a pair of referenda to raise taxes on higher-income earners to bolster funding for free school lunches and augment the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

At 9 a.m. Wednesday, Proposition LL, which allows the state to spend all the money it raises for the meal program under an earlier, voter-passed measure, was winning by a nearly 20-point margin. Support for its companion question, Proposition MM, which hikes taxes on Coloradans making over $300,000 a year in adjusted gross income, held a 16-point lead.

Sent to the ballot earlier this year by the Democratic-controlled legislature, the two propositions were the only questions that appeared on every ballot in the state. They were also the only options that drew recommendations from both major political parties, with state Democrats in support and the state GOP opposed.

Proposition LL passed by wide margins even in Republican strongholds, with early results showing the measure winning by about 15 points in El Paso and Mesa counties and roughly 10 points in Douglas and Weld counties.

“Colorado voters sent a clear message tonight: no child should ever have to learn on an empty stomach,” Colorado Democratic Party Chair Shad Murib said in a statement.

“Voters chose compassion, common sense and Colorado values while saving families money,” he added. “Colorado Republicans who insist on shutting down the government to justify their billionaire tax giveaways must take note and be held accountable.”

Murib’s counterpart, Colorado Republican Party Chair Brita Horn, didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment on election night.

Denver voters passed a nearly $1 billion bond package by double-digit margins. At the same time, voters preserved the city’s ban on flavored tobacco sales in an expensive race that attracted millions in spending, including a $5 million donation in favor of upholding the ban from billionaire Michael Bloomberg.

In Aurora, the state’s third-largest city, Republicans Danielle Jurinsky and Amsalu Kassaw appeared to be losing their bids for reelection as at-large members of city council to Democrats Rob Andrews and Alli Jackson — just over a year after Jurinsky appeared with Donald Trump in a rally on the city’s outskirts.

Progressive, Democratic-backed candidates were also on track to win the city’s three ward seats up for election this cycle, with Gianina Horton, Amy Wiles and incumbent Ruben Medina leading Stephen Elkins, incumbent Steve Sundberg and Marsha Berzins, a former councilmember, respectively.

Douglas County’s school board has swung back and forth in recent years between conservative and progressive majorities, and, on Tuesday, the latter prevailed. All four candidates endorsed by the county’s Democratic Party — Kyrzia Parker, Tony Ryan, Clark Callahan and Kelly Denzler — held leads over Republicans Matthew Smith, Keaton Gambill, Deborah Kramer and Stephen Vail, respectively.

Tuesday night’s returns were a virtual mirror image of the results four years ago, in the first off-year election of the Biden administration, when Republicans and GOP-backed candidates swept the same Aurora and Douglas County races won by Democrats this year.

On the heels of their 2021 victories, Colorado Republicans touted the results as indicative of the GOP’s chances in the 2022 midterms, when the GOP hoped to make up ground it had lost in previous elections.

Additionally, the state GOP pointed four years ago to Republican Glenn Youngkin’s gubernatorial win in Virginia as a sign that the party could make Colorado’s statewide races competitive again after losing them all in 2018.

State Democrats, however, continued their dominance statewide in the next election. This year, Murib, the state party chair, suggested Tuesday’s results pointed in the same direction.

“Colorado voters once again proved that when we unify and focus on people’s real needs like slashing costs, growing paychecks, and supporting working families, Democrats win,” Murib said in a statement. “Tonight, voters chose economic prosperity, feeding kids, and rejecting Trump’s chaos and cruelty.”

Next year’s midterms feature open races for every statewide executive office, with incumbent Gov. Jared Polis, Attorney General Phil Weiser, Secretary of State Jena Griswold and State Treasurer Dave Young all facing term limits.

Weiser is facing off against three-term U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet for the gubernatorial nomination, while Griswold is in a crowded race for attorney general and Young is seeking the nod in the 8th Congressional District, where Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans is seeking reelection.