Colorado at a Glance State Profile - Gov. Owens (R) - Sen. Campbell (R) - Sen. Allard (R) Presidential Politics Congressional Districting - 01 - DeGette (D) - 02 - Udall (D) - 03 - McInnis (R) - 04 - Musgrave (R) - 05 - Hefley (R) - 06 - Tancredo (R) - 07 - Beauprez (R) Almanac 2004 Home - States & Districts - Elected Officials - Committees - Election Cycles - Guide To Usage Almanac 2002 Almanac 2000 Almanac 1998 For district profiles and additional information on the elected officials of Colorado, please use the pull-down menu above.

108th Lineup: 5 R, 2 D
107th Lineup: 4 R, 2 D
District Map: Click here

Colorado gained a House seat from the 2000 Census, just as it did from the Censuses of 1970 and 1980. Republicans would have controlled the redistricting process, except that they lost control of the state Senate in 2000. When the legislature proved unable to reach a compromise, a state court judge selected a Democrat-designed plan. The judge did not make major changes in the existing districts, but Republicans still responded angrily--they wanted the new district drawn in the fast-growing Republican counties on the south side of Denver. Instead, the newly-created 7th District was anchored in the inner Denver suburbs to the north of the city--making it highly competitive for both parties.

But the Republicans' one-seat takeover of the Senate in 2002 gave them another opportunity to take a crack at the congressional map. They prepared a new map, then introduced and passed it in late May 2003, in the final days of the legislative session. The new Republican map significantly strengthened their control of the 7th District, which Republican Bob Beauprez won in 2002 with the closest margin of any House contest in the nation. They also increased the Republican base of the 3d District to thwart a possible Democratic challenge in the event of an open seat. In exchange, small numbers of Democratic voters were added to the 1st and 2d Districts, which Democrats already held, and to the heavily Republican 5th and 6th Districts south of Denver. With encouragement from national party leaders, Democrats prepared a federal-court challenge that claimed the state lacked authority to redraw its lines after the federal judge had implemented the initial plan for the 2002 election.

Update: June 15, 2004
On December 1, 2003, the Colorado Supreme Court rejected the new congressional map scheduled to take effect in 2004. The court ruled that the state constitution allowed only one round of congressional redistricting after each census, and that the legislature exceeded its authority in passing a second map.

After a federal circuit court refused to hear their appeal in January 2004, Colorado Republicans turned to the U.S. Supreme Court and filed a motion to use the 2003 General Assembly-passed map in November 2004 while the appeal was pending; that motion was denied.

On June 6, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the GOP appeal. A separate lawsuit, brought by three Republican state legislators and one Democrat, is still pending in the state Supreme Court.