The trajectory of either major political party in Colorado should matter to all voters, regardless of party affiliation. All have to live under whichever party is in power, so all have a stake.

If either party drifts off course, all Coloradans stand to lose. If it’s the party in power, all voters suffer; if it’s the party in the opposition, all voters have no choice. 

And, frankly, both parties have been heading for the cliff’s edge, in one sense or another, over the past few elections. 

Colorado’s Democrats — who have managed to maintain statewide power at the Capitol only by winning enough moderate, independent voters — have been embracing ever more radical policies that mystify our state’s vast political middle and alienate our job creators.

Colorado’s GOP, meanwhile, has spent too much of its time out of power mired in infighting and providing a platform for fringe conspiracy theories about “stolen” elections and other nonsense. That not only has turned off the same political middle and business community but also has left even a lot of loyal Republicans shaking their heads.

So, it was encouraging to see the state’s Republicans decisively elect a new party chairman last weekend who promises to get his party back on track. All Coloradans will benefit.

Craig Steiner, a former chair of the influential Douglas County GOP, is no firebrand, podium pounder or conspiracy buff. On the contrary, he’s what his party really needs — a level head who can make needed repairs and get the party out of its rut and back on the road. 

The software engineer — he designed apps the state GOP uses to manage voter turnout and delegate selection — is roundly respected. He is by all indicators a unifier who can close ranks in a party that has been riven with factionalism for all too long.

His selection by the the state party’s central committee illustrates that potential. He was endorsed by a broad range of Republicans, including House Speaker Frank McNulty, former Secretary of State Scott Gessler, former House Minority Leader Patrick Neville and former state Sen. Ted Harvey of Douglas County.

“These are people that reflect both sides of the divided party that we have, and they all endorse me. And I think that’s what we need to do. We need more of that,” Steiner said.

GOP officeholders and office seekers expressed new hope.

“The election of Craig Steiner marks a meaningful transition for the Colorado state party,” State Sen. Mark Baisley, R-Woodland Park, told our news affiliate Colorado Politics. “We now move from wrangling over philosophical differences to making sure that the trains run on time.”

Baisley, who is seeking the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate in the June 30 primary, was among many Republicans calling for a restoration of party unity. Steiner made that clear.

“Colorado Republicans will win when we love defeating Democrats more than we hate each other, and I think we can do that,” Steiner told the central committee.

That makes all the more sense when considering the alignment of the state’s voters. 

More than 50% of Colorado’s electorate is now registered as unaffiliated. There are twice as many unaffiliated voters as there are either Republicans or Democrats.

That means neither party can win next November’s general election without substantial unaffiliated support. And with no political infrastructure of their own, unaffiliateds wind up defaulting to Democratic or Republican candidates on the ballot. 

Unaffiliated voters also may cast a ballot in either party’s primary. Steiner’s election as GOP chair likely will give them a real choice, for a change, when their mail ballots arrive next week.