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Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat and a professional geologist, sat down with energy giant Halliburton two years ago and famously guzzled down a glass of fracking fluid to demonstrate the oil and gas industry is safely creating energy and jobs in his state.

Leaving aside his friendliness to fracking, Hickenlooper is a conventional liberal Democrat on other matters, yet survived a tough reelection during the red Republican wave that washed over the nation earlier this month. Mark Udall, Colorados Democratic U.S. Senator, faced the same voters yet wasnt so fortunate. Like Michigan, Colorado is a purple state, fiercely competitive between Democrats and Republicans, and the outcomes of these two statewide races provide important lessons for both parties regarding the electoral damage culture wars can cause.

Gov. Hickenlooper had been considered among the nations most endangered incumbent Democratic governors, in large measure because last year he signed a highly controversial gun control bill banning certain types of ammunition magazines. The law was so hostile to Colorado gun owners that two Democratic state senators were successfully recalled and replaced by Republicans after voting for it, and a third resigned so as to avoid facing a removal vote.

Hickenlooper carved out a three percentage point reelection victory this month over Republican challenger Bob Beauprez. One lesson for Democrats: Had Hickenlooper not created a rational, pro-growth reputation regarding energy production, its likely Colorados jobs-focused independent voters would have fired him. Another: Had he not waged a culture war on Colorados firearms owners, its likely he would have been re-elected in a landslide.

Colorado Republicans learned a similar lesson in the 2010 U.S. Senate race and applied it in 2014. Republican Ken Buck was supposed to win Colorados other U.S. Senate seat as part of the big GOP victories across the nation in 2010. But despite leading in the polls, Buck ended up losing by less than one percent on Election Day.

A former prosecutor, Buck built his reputation on leading raids against undocumented workers. In a state where one of ten voters is Hispanic, and where nearly two-thirds of them report personally knowing an undocumented immigrant, Bucks prosecutorial excess cost him dearly. Just 19 percent of Colorados Latino voters supported Buck, a critical failing in a close race.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Cory Gardner went a different way this year, even going so far as to say he supports creating a path to legal residency for currently illegal immigrants. As a result, exit polling shows the Republican won about half of Colorados Hispanic vote, on his way to soundly defeating Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Udall.

When he first won the seat back in 2008, Udall took 63 percent of the Latino vote.

But where Colorado Republicans had learned to cool down the culture war rhetoric regarding immigration, Democrats decided to turn up the temperature when talking about the War on Women. Thinking it the path to racking up big margins in the womens vote, Udall adopted such an obsessive focus on reproductive issues that a Denver newspaper columnist called him Mark Uterus.

It failed. Udall snagged a meager 52 percent majority of the female vote, at the cost of ceding 61 percent of the men to Gardner. Thats a certain formula for a landslide.

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Ken Braun: Colorado's failed culture wars provide Election Day lessons for both parties