Rep. Diana DeGette (D) Elected 1996, 5th term
Born:	July 29, 1957, Tachikawa, Japan
Home:	Denver
Education:	CO Col., B.A. 1979, N.Y.U., J.D. 1982
Religion:	Presbyterian
Marital Status:	married (Lino Lipinsky)
Elected  Office:	CO House of Reps., 1992-96, Asst. Min. Ldr., 1994-95.
Professional Career:	Practicing atty., 1982-96.
DC Office	1527 LHOB20515, 202-225-4431; Fax: 202-225-5657; Web site: www.house.gov/degette
State Offices	Denver, 303-844-4988.
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Denver is serious about being the mile high city: in 2003, to reflect more accurate surveying, the state moved three feet the 1909 plaque on the steps of the gold-domed Capitol that proclaims the elevation of 5,280 feet. Denver is situated a few miles from where the High Plains yield to the sharp peaks of the Front Range of the Rockies, on no historic trade route and with a fresh water supply adequate for a town one-tenth of its size. With 557,000 people, the city has been the economic and cultural capital for 100 years of the whole Rocky Mountain region. On top of its Old West heritage and early 20th century elegance, Denver has developed an exuberant postmodern style. The National Western Stock Show held here every year and the LoDo entertainment district redeveloped near the railyards along the South Platte evoke the Old West; the Capitol, the spacious parks, the aspens which line so many streets, give the city a lush, burnished air, in contrast to the dry high plains and the stark Rocky peaks. Amid its downtown grid, slanted on a 45-degree angle to align with the South Platte and the railroads, are the skyscrapers of the 1970s energy and 1990s high-tech booms, plus the new-old Coors Stadium, Elitch Gardens amusement park and the expanded Museum of Nature and Science. Rather than losing population as many central cities have, it has gained people since 1990; most of its neighborhoods have vitality, including the black neighborhoods of northeastern Denver, filled with well-maintained 1950s bungalows, and the Hispanic quarter northwest of downtown. But more than three-quarters of the metro area's people now live in the suburbs, and Denver has disproportionate numbers of singles and cultural liberals who value an urban and physically active lifestyle, in the gentrified areas south of the Capitol and the rich neighborhood where the Tattered Cover, among the nation's premier independent book stores, sits opposite posh Cherry Creek Shopping Center.

Denver has become the liberal heart of Colorado, heavily Democratic as the state has mostly voted Republican, strongly liberation-minded on cultural issues, cautiously liberal on economic issues. Though it remains majority Anglo, it has elected Hispanic and black mayors for the past two decades. In the early 1970s, Denver liberals were hostile to growth and boosterism; today's Denver, from Cherry Creek to LoDo, has shown that growth can produce more of the distinctiveness that people here appreciate, and the 2000-03 downturn has shown that there are things worse than growth. Civic pride is rampant: At the start of the 21st century, boosters noted that Denver was ranked among the nation's top 10 cities in its business climate, livability, libraries, and bikeways. In the lower downtown near Coors Field, dilapidated bars have been replaced by art galleries over the past decade. The down side is apparent if you are stalled in traffic on still-being-widened I-25 and its horrendous interchange with usually congested I-70. In November 2004, voters easily approved a sales tax increase to pay for the "FasTracks" expansion of commuter rail and bus service across the metro area.

The 1st Congressional District of Colorado includes all of Denver and extends northeast to take in Denver International Airport, encompassing places with warehouses and trucking terminals on main streets and curved-street subdivisions behind. The 2002 redistricting added affluent suburbs, long-settled Englewood and newly settled Cherry Hills Village, in Arapahoe County. This remains a heavily Democratic district, and counts most of metro Denver's blacks and Hispanics, singles and gays: The percentage of households with married couples and children has been among the lowest in America, and was lower in 2000 than in 1990. In an era when cultural attitudes are a better clue to voting behavior than economic status, this district, politically marginal in the 1970s, is solidly Democratic.

The congresswoman from the 1st District is Diana DeGette, a Democrat elected in 1996. DeGette is a fourth-generation Denverite (though she was born on a military base in Japan) who went away to law school, returned to practice employment law and became involved in politics. In 1992, at 35, she was elected to the Colorado House, where she was surprisingly productive for a member of the minority. She sponsored a ''bubble'' bill placing a zone of protection around abortion clinics and their clients, which the Supreme Court upheld in 2000.

In 1995, Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder announced she was retiring after 24 years in the House, where she became a pioneer of the feminist left. Today, in a place like Denver, the feminist left is the heart of the Democratic Party (as the religious right is the heart of the Republican Party in Colorado Springs) and DeGette--feminist, organizationally adept and legislatively creative--has become a worthy successor to Schroeder. DeGette has a very liberal voting record but she has shown on the Commerce Committee, as she did in Denver, some legislative successes even though in the minority. She has focused especially on health care issues. She won House passage of an amendment to ensure that organ-transplant legislation recognizes the needs of children; the House passed the controversial measure with bipartisan support. She supported President Bill Clinton on trade relations with China but returned to organized labor's graces by opposing trade promotion authority in 2002. When John Hickenlooper took office as Denver mayor in 2003, DeGette urged him to reverse outgoing Mayor Wellington Webb's decision to cut back on the city's lobbying in Washington. Teaming with Republican Mike Castle of Delaware, she formed a broad bipartisan coalition to expand federal funds for stem cell research and remove President George W. Bush's restrictions; in May 2005, they won majority support but Bush promised a veto. She opposed the war in Iraq, and said that Bush's handling had created a "credibility gap." DeGette backed Steny Hoyer in his unsuccessful leadership race against Nancy Pelosi; when Hoyer became Minority Whip he named DeGette a floor whip. Although Democrats have had few victories on the House floor, DeGette seeks opportunities for parliamentary mischief and has deliberately moved into a role as a party strategist.

In 2002, DeGette fared impressively against credible primary and general election opponents. Ramona Martinez, a 15-year term-limited member of the Denver City Council and a Democratic National Committeewoman, criticized DeGette for having lost touch with the district. DeGette moved her family back to Denver from the Maryland suburbs in 2001 and won by an unexpectedly large 73%-27% margin. In November 2002 she faced Republican Ken Chlouber, a rural state senator known for folksy humor and a flame-painted pickup truck, who won the Teamsters' endorsement. His outgoing personality was not nearly outgoing enough in this Democratic district: DeGette won 66%-30%. She won reelection in 2004 without serious opposition, and talked in Washington of the lessons of Democrats' 2004 successes in Colorado.

Committees

• Chief Deputy Minority Whip
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• Energy & Commerce (16th of 26 D): Commerce, Trade & Consumer Protection; Health; Oversight & Investigations.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	90	95	100	100	60	11	37	0	0	15	--
2003	90	--	100	90	--	27	31	13	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	85%	--	14%		83%	--	16%
Social	92%	--	0%		88%	--	0%
Foreign	64%	--	35%		89%	--	10%
For National Journal's complete 2004 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 108th Congress (More Info)
1. Drilling in ANWR N 2. Approve Bush Tax Cuts N 3. Medicare/Rx Bill N 4. Bar Overtime Pay Regs. Y 5. DC School Vouchers N 6. Ban Human Cloning N		7. Restrict Gun Liability N  8. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion N  9. Ban Same-Sex Marriage N 10. Fund Iraq War N 11. Bar Cuba Embargo Funds Y 12. Intelligence Reorg. N

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Diana DeGette (D)	177,077	73%	$620,599
	Roland Chicas (R)	58,659	24%	$16,968
	Other	5,193	2%
2004 primary	Diana DeGette (D)	unopposed
2002 general	Diana DeGette (D)	111,718	66%	$787,840
	Ken Chlouber (R)	49,884	30%	$114,832
	Other	6,962	3%
Prior winning percentages: 2000 (69%); 1998 (67%); 1996 (57%)

2004 Presidential Vote Kerry (D) 180,064 (68%) Bush (R) 81,265 (31%)

2000 Presidential Vote Gore (D) 134,187 (61%) Bush (R) 72,455 (33%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the First District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: D +18
• District Size: 173 square miles
• Population in 2000: 614,465; 100.0% urban; 0.0% rural
• Median Household Income: $39,658; 13.7% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 20.4% blue collar; 64.3% white collar; 15.3% gray collar; 11.3% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 54.3% White, 10.1% Black, 2.7% Asian, 0.7% Amer. Indian, 0.1% Hawaiian, 1.9% Two+ races, 0.2% Other, 30.0% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 11.6% German, 7.8% Irish, 6.9% English
• Click here for statewide demographic data.