Colorado’s New Congressional District Map
In the 2020 census, Colorado was awarded one additional congressional representative. Like many states, that triggered a redistricting process to redraw the Congressional Delegation map of the state. Unlike many states, Colorado no longer allows the politicians to draw their own map. Instead, a bipartisan commission draws the map
The new Colorado Congressional District Map was just approved, as required, by the Colorado Supreme Court. Maybe showing the maturity of Colorado as a bipartisan state, the vote was unanimous among both conservative and liberal Justices.
The end result creates four Democratic districts and three Republican districts. The eighth district starts as a toss-up district.
District 1: District 1 is basically Denver. Denver, like all large cities in the country leans heavily Democratic. It has been the home of Representative Dianna DeGette since (checks the google) 1997.
District 2: If you weren’t too familiar with the state, District 2 might look like one of the Republican districts. Although you can see Ft. Collins on the map above (city = democrats) you can’t see Boulder (super liberal) between the two, District 2 is a sure Democrat district.
District 3: If you read the national news, you might get the idea that Colorado is some purple melting pot of political ideals distributed throughout the state. Nothing could be further from the truth. Outside of its cities, Colorado is basically just Western Kansas, or if you prefer Southern Wyoming. Our rural areas are as conservative as they come. Pueblo at 100,000+ residents is democratic, but Grand Junction out near the border of Utah is conservative with its 60,000 residents. Pretty much everyone else is conservative. Even with “land doesn’t vote” there’s enough Rs to overpower any Ds in District 3.
District 4: District 4 is the part of the state that threatens to succeed every now and then. There are no cities out here. The whole thing is rural from top to bottom. It’s a Republican as it comes. There is nothing “purple” about this part of the state.
District 5: District 5 is the “gotcha” district for non-Coloradoan political observers. It’s dominated by Colorado Springs, Colorado’s second largest city. If it followed the rest of the trend, it would be Democratic. Colorado Springs, though, is super-conservative. It’s so conservative they let their parks die rather than pay taxes to water them. The Air Force Academy is here, as are a couple of other military bases which might explain some of the conservatism.
District 6: District 6 and 7 give up the most area to the new District 8. District 6 gives up the top are over Denver. District 6 has been Democratic thanks to the heavy population area of Aurora where there is a pretty solid portion of not only city dwellers, but minorities as well. It will become even more Democratic after the removal of up and coming, but still conservative Brighton area.
District 7: District 7 started out as Colorado’s “toss-up district” after the 2010 redistricting, at about half-half Democrat-Republican. But, the western suburbs of Denver grew more Democratic and the rural area that marked the top portion of the district filled in with people. District 7 will be a Democratic district moving forward.
District 8: District 8 is the new district. Largely made up of portions from District 6 and 7, District 8 starts as a toss-up district. I say “starts” because, much like the previous District 7, District 8 contains the northeast Denver suburbs and Greeley, both of which lean Democrat. Pretty much everything in between the two is Conservative. Add them up, you get a tie, but… as is true throughout Colorado, cities are growing, the rural areas are not. By 2030, this will be a Democrat leaning district, just like 7 was, ironically, largely for the same reason, the growth of Greeley. As Greeley moves from farm town with a college into college town with farms around it, the entire makeup of District 8 drifts Democratic.
The future of Colorado politics looks a lot like the future of national politics, but split up into sections. Increasingly conservative Republicans in mostly rural areas, heavily Democrats in all the big cities except Colorado Springs. Most importantly, Colorado is still growing rapidly. Chances are we’ll all be back here in 10 years, drawing in District 9… and maybe even 10!
