The congressman from the 6th District is Mike Coffman, a Republican first elected in 2008 to succeed retiring five-term Republican Tom Tancredo, who ran a long-shot race for president that year. The son of an Army doctor, Coffman enlisted in the Army before he finished high school and completed his diploma in the military. He went to the University of Colorado on the G.I. Bill, and then officers’ school in the Marine Corps. After his active duty service ended, he started several Denver-area property management firms, which he sold in 2000. In 1988, Coffman was elected to the Colorado House. Two years later, he was called back to active duty with the Marines to serve in the first Gulf War. His colleagues draped his desk with a Marine Corps flag and yellow ribbons, and read his letters from the front lines on the House floor. After his service, Coffman returned to public life, first as a state senator and then as Colorado treasurer. But military duty called again in 2005. Coffman resigned as treasurer to go to Iraq on a six-month deployment, during which he helped facilitate elections in the Al Anbar Province and establish local governments in the Western Euphrates River Valley. When he got home, he was elected secretary of state, touting his experience with the Iraqi elections. Read More

The congressman from the 6th District is Mike Coffman, a Republican first elected in 2008 to succeed retiring five-term Republican Tom Tancredo, who ran a long-shot race for president that year. The son of an Army doctor, Coffman enlisted in the Army before he finished high school and completed his diploma in the military. He went to the University of Colorado on the G.I. Bill, and then officers’ school in the Marine Corps. After his active duty service ended, he started several Denver-area property management firms, which he sold in 2000. In 1988, Coffman was elected to the Colorado House. Two years later, he was called back to active duty with the Marines to serve in the first Gulf War. His colleagues draped his desk with a Marine Corps flag and yellow ribbons, and read his letters from the front lines on the House floor. After his service, Coffman returned to public life, first as a state senator and then as Colorado treasurer. But military duty called again in 2005. Coffman resigned as treasurer to go to Iraq on a six-month deployment, during which he helped facilitate elections in the Al Anbar Province and establish local governments in the Western Euphrates River Valley. When he got home, he was elected secretary of state, touting his experience with the Iraqi elections.

During his two-year tenure, Coffman drew criticism for taking several voting machines out of commission because of possible problems with them and not having replacement machines ready as the election approached. County clerks lobbied for an all-mail ballot voting system, but he strongly opposed it, instead supporting paper ballots at polling places. The August 2008 primary was plagued with errors, and many voters did not receive their absentee ballots.

In 2007, Coffman announced his candidacy for Congress. In the GOP primary, he first had to ward off a challenge from businessman Wil Armstrong, the son of former Republican Sen. Bill Armstrong. Also running were state senators Ted Harvey and Steve Ward. The four were nearly uniformly conservative. All supported the Iraq war and like Tancredo were staunch opponents of giving citizenship to illegal aliens. But Coffman had the highest name recognition, thanks to his statewide offices, and he also outraised his challengers. He won with 40% of the vote, with Armstrong coming in at 33%, a victory that all but assured Coffman the seat in this Republican district.

Amid his campaigning, Coffman had to balance his duty to carry out the election in a crucial swing state in the presidential race. He was criticized for the alleged purging of thousands of names from voter rolls shortly before the November election because they were suspected of being duplicate or erroneous registrations. He disputed the number of names purged and said their removal was valid. Still, the Advancement Project, a national voting-rights group, sued Coffman over the purged registrations, and a judge four days before the election ordered him to reinstate 146 voters. The controversy apparently had no effect on Coffman’s own election. In the general election, he cruised to victory against Democrat Hank Eng with 61% of the vote. Unlike in the primary, elections around the state proceeded relatively smoothly.

Once in Congress, Coffman opposed President Obama’s initiatives, telling the conservative publication Human Events in 2009 that “they are taking us down the road to a European-style social welfare state.” Given his military background, Coffman was a natural to be appointed to the House Armed Services Committee. He was named to a bipartisan panel of the committee in 2009 that reviewed Pentagon acquisition practices, and got a bill through the House in March 2010 to extend re-employment protections for National Guard members. He also pushed for action that year on safeguarding “rare earths,” mainly Chinese-produced mineral elements used in developing military technologies. He was also named to the House Natural Resources Committee, of special importance to his district. He criticized the Interior Department for what he called its persistent efforts to delay and prevent domestic energy production.

During the 112th Congress, Coffman tried to enact several government reforms. In January 2011, he introduced a bill that would implement a 10 percent salary reduction for all House and Senate members. He also sought to end traditional pensions for members of Congress. “These are extremely difficult economic times, and Congress needs to set an example and lead the way for the country,” said Coffman in a statement in August. Coffman got an amendment attached to the 2012 defense authorization bill requiring a study of government college tuition aid for military personnel. In June 2011, he told Army Times that his own tuition benefits covered only 75 percent of costs and 100 percent re-imbursement could be overly generous.

In 2010, he cruised to re-election with 66% of the vote. Due to 2012 redistricting, a new map drawn by Democrats made Coffman’s 6th District much more competitive. The GOP challenged the new district lines, but a district court judge upheld the map in November 2011. The additional Hispanic voters placed in the new district could spell trouble for Coffman. As recently as August 2011, Coffman introduced legislation to allow communities to use English-only campaign ballots, a bill that might save counties money but could anger independent and Democratic-leaning Hispanic voters.