Democrats have a shot at gaining control of the University of Colorado Board of Regents.

Don’t be surprised if there’s a major upset in Colorado on Election Day in November 2020.

Republicans have controlled the CU Board of Regents for over a whopping 40 years, starting in 1979. Democrats have been frustrated time and again, unable to advance their agendas.

But read the tea leaves: The pieces are moving into place for the Democrats to win a 5-4 majority on the nine-person board in 2020. Right now in Colorado, U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner and atlarge Regent Heidi Ganahl are the only Republicans elected on a statewide basis.

Why should you care? I suspect that only a low percentage of Coloradans could explain what the Board of Regents does and how it operates.

Here’s what to expect if the Democrats take control:

Republicans and their board chairs have tightly controlled the board’s agenda, avoiding discussing such hot-button topics as climate change and management of CU’s financial portfolio — specifically to stop investing in fossil fuels. Democrats will welcome such discussions, and hopefully be kinder and more open to their opponents than the Republicans have been.

Republicans have refused to even discuss Proposition CC, which would ease TABOR’s draconian restrictions to increase education funding. Democrats would have chosen to discuss Prop CC and welcome a robust discussion of its pros and cons.

Democrats would emphasize ethnicity diversity with the same vigor with which Republicans push intellectual diversity, the latter being code for hiring more conservative faculty members.

If Democrats take control, that could fundamentally change the direction of the university leadership. For example, President Mark Kennedy will have fewer than two years remaining on his contract at a time when the board is under the control of Democrats — who will have a lot to say on whether or not they’ll extend his contract.

The Board of Regents is the governing board of the University of Colorado system. It has nine voting members. One regent is elected to represent each of Colorado’s seven congressional districts, plus there are two at-large board members elected by the entire state.

They serve six-year terms, which are staggered, which means no more than three board members run for open seats in each election.

The regents’ top responsibilities are to approve the university’s budget and tuition rates, and hiring/firing/retaining of the university president.

So what’s behind this potential change in board leadership?

One factor is that none of the three incumbents whose terms are ending plan to run again. They are Democrat Irene Griego of the 7th Congressional District; Republican John Carson, 6th CD; and Democrat Linda Shoemaker, 2nd CD.

Wondering why they’re leaving office? Off the record, some board members have cited the lack of civility and the board’s internecine warfare that have become part of almost every major university decision.

The Carson seat could be the one that swings board control to the Democrats. Ilana Spiegel, a Democrat, announced she would run, citing the lack of civility and the political divide in the 5-4 presidential vote to explain why she is running.

The regents say they may run as a member of one political party, but that they take a neutral stance once they’re elected and serving on the board. But that’s balderdash; they are as political as any dyed-in-the-wool Democrat or Republican the moment they take their board seat.

When I ran for the Board of Regents for the first time in 1992, it still was a political board. But it didn’t nearly match the contentious nature of today.

The head wind of Colorado’s anti-Trump movement probably will give the Democrats a good shot at winning Carson’s seat.

The 2nd CD seat is in a Democratic-controlled territory and the 7th CD has become a Democratic stronghold. These factors would give the Democrats a 5-4 vote and control of the board.

One-party rule for too long — say, 40 years — is not healthy for any publicly elected board.