Rep. Tom Tancredo (R) Elected 1998, 4th term
Born:	Dec. 20, 1945, Denver
Home:	Littleton
Education:	U. of N. CO, B.A. 1968
Religion:	Presbyterian
Marital Status:	married (Jackie)
Elected  Office:	CO House of Reps., 1976-81
Professional Career:	Jr. high teacher, 1968-81; Regional rep., U.S. Dept. of Education, 1981-93; Pres., Independence Inst., 1993-98
DC Office	1130 LHOB20515, 202-225-7882; Fax: 202-226-4623; Web site: www.house.gov/tancredo
State Offices	Centennial, 720-283-9772.
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Two generations ago, most people in metro Denver lived in the city itself; at the city limits, the tree-shaded sidewalks gave way to the empty High Plains. Today, more than three-quarters of metro Denver residents live outside the city, some in long-settled suburbs, some in huge new subdivisions raised up in the 1990s and 2000s on bare rolling land with magnificent views of the Rockies. You can see the boundaries to these areas in Littleton, originally a small, long-settled suburb just south of Denver, but now extending to vast new tracts; this is the site of the massacre at Columbine High School in April 1999. Just south of Littleton is Douglas County, which until the 1970s was a sparsely populated patch of the High Plains just east of the Front Range. From 1990 to 2003 it was the fastest-growing county in the United States, as young families moved into 35-acre "ranchettes," or huge subdivisions around Castle Rock and Parker just south of the Denver Tech Center, and took high-paying telecommunications jobs at local employers Echo Star and AT&T Broadband, now a part of Comcast. In 2000 it was the nation's most affluent county in median household income ($84,645) and had the smallest percentage of people living in poverty (1.8%). This is Patio Land, as David Brooks has described, with a high-tech economy, a highly educated population with relatively conservative cultural values, family men and women who want to create a safe, comfortable environment for their children with the serenity if not the close personal ties of the traditional small town and the economic vibrancy and creativity of the great metropolis. "The fastest-growing regions of the country tend to have the highest concentrations of children. Young families move away from what they perceive as disorder, vulgarity and danger and move to places like Douglas County," Brooks wrote in The New York Times.

The 6th Congressional District of Colorado is centered on Littleton and Douglas County. To the west, it includes much of Jefferson County, including part of affluent Evergreen in the mountains. To the east, it includes much of Arapahoe County and, southeast, Elbert County, long empty land but now sprouting new subdivisions on the high plains. Redistricting in 2002 changed the 6th District more than any previously existing district in Colorado. The subtraction of closer-in suburbs in Jefferson and Arapahoe Counties and the addition of Douglas County made the 6th much more Republican, and this is now Colorado's second most Republican district.

The congressman from the 6th District is Tom Tancredo (pronounced tan-CRAY-doe), a self-described religious right Republican, who was first elected in a turbulent 1998 campaign. Tancredo grew up on the north side of Denver, taught junior high school civics, and in 1976, at 30, was elected to the state House. He was part of a group called ''the Crazies,'' who zeroed out the sales tax on food and utilities, the inheritance tax and the auto safety inspection tax. In 1981, he became head of the regional office of the Education Department, and cut its staff by two-thirds. A lapsed Catholic who began attending an evangelical Presbyterian church in 1990, he became in 1993 head of the Independence Institute, a libertarian think tank in Golden.

When the 6th District incumbent retired in 1998, Tancredo, an energetic and voluble speaker, jumped into the race. He had four opponents in the Republican primary, spanning the ideological spectrum. Tancredo campaigned by walking the district and running radio ads the last 10 days; his big break was an endorsement by former Senator Bill Armstrong (1979-91), a religious conservative who has stayed politically active. Armstrong's endorsement was worth 5% of the vote, Tancredo said, and he needed it: He defeated moderate Bill Schroeder 25%-22%. In the general election, Tancredo was smeared by a self-financing 70-year-old Democrat, who ran a TV ad linking Tancredo with a white supremacist militia. But Tancredo won comfortably, 56%-42%.

Tancredo drew attention from the start. He declined to attend a Clinton White House reception for new members. Then came the shootings at Columbine High School, six blocks from Tancredo's house. An outcry arose for new gun controls. Tancredo, a Second Amendment supporter, pointed out that Colorado has stronger gun-control laws than the federal government. Gun control measures failed to pass; Tancredo was the only Colorado House member to vote for the National Rifle Association's bill.

In November 2003, he was one of 25 House Republicans to vote against the final version of the Medicare/prescription drug bill, which he said would trigger a "catastrophic fiscal crisis", but immigration is the chief cause that has exercised Tancredo. He is the leading voice in Congress for tougher border enforcement and increased immigration regulation and heads the 71-member Congressional Immigration Caucus. After September 11, he crusaded for stricter border controls to keep out terrorists. In April 2002, in an editorial meeting with The Washington Times, Tancredo earned the enmity of the White House by charging that George W. Bush's "open door" border policy was a threat to national security. Tancredo said that Bush strategist Karl Rove called him disloyal and told him, "Don't ever darken the doorstep of the White House." But six months later, Tancredo was invited to the White House for the signing of the Sudan Peace Act, which he co-sponsored. Democratic National Chairman Terry McAuliffe called Tancredo "the true Republican voice on immigration policy."

While Bush was calling for a legalized guest worker program, Tancredo remained relentless. He opposed proposals to grant regularized status to illegal immigrants who entered the country illegally or overstayed visas and proposed an amendment to the Colorado constitution to deny state services to illegal immigrants. He called for taxes on the checks that immigrants send to their families that have remained south of the border. At the Republican convention he criticized the platform's "open-border policy" for pandering to corporate desires for cheap labor. He set up a PAC that funded anti-immigration challengers to incumbent House members Chris Cannon and Jim Kolbe for which he was rebuked by Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Tancredo said that DeLay told him: "You're finished, kaput. You cannot think of making a career in this place." When Bush suggested in March 2005 that the Minuteman Project activists who patrolled the Arizona-Mexico border were "vigilantes", Tancredo told them, "You are not vigilantes, you are heroes in my book."

Tancredo's views obviously have made him controversial, and in 2000 he was reelected by the not overwhelming margin of 54%-42%. Redistricting made reelection in 2002 much easier; he won 67%-30%. In September 2002, he renounced his pledge to serve only three terms, and said he would run again to pursue his campaign to change immigration laws. In 2004 well-financed Democrat Joanna Conti criticized him as ineffective. Tancredo won 59%-39%, running behind George W. Bush. He got just 56% and 57% in Arapahoe and Jefferson Counties, as well as 65% in Douglas County.

After the election, Tancredo stirred local waters when he criticized as "self-serving" bills naming a lake and a conservation area for retiring Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell and Representative Scott McInnis. He is not likely to win a popularity contest among his fellow Republicans or in the Bush White House, but his immigration caucus has increased its numbers and he is a force to be reckoned with on immigration issues. He has talked about running for president, but recognized that his candidacy would be "so audacious in one way, and so idiotic in another"; in February 2005, he did a two-day tour of New Hampshire. "What I'm trying to do is stir the pot on immigration so the serious candidates in the next presidential race have to face it wherever they go," he said. "The only way I would be a candidate is if they all weasel out."

Committees

• International Relations (11th of 27 R): Africa, Global Human Rights & International Operations; International Terrorism & Nonproliferation.
• Resources (15th of 27 R): Forests & Forest Health; Water & Power.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	10	5	25	0	60	81	95	100	94	100	--
2003	25	--	13	5	--	84	77	96	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	46%	--	54%		13%	--	87%
Social	30%	--	65%		17%	--	81%
Foreign	46%	--	52%		14%	--	85%
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 Y 2. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 3. Medicare/Rx Bill N 4. Bar Overtime Pay Regs. N 5. DC School Vouchers Y 6. Ban Human Cloning Y		7. Restrict Gun Liability Y  8. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  9. Ban Same-Sex Marriage Y 10. Fund Iraq War N 11. Bar Cuba Embargo Funds N 12. Intelligence Reorg. Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Tom Tancredo (R)	212,778	59%	$1,178,724
	Joanna Conti (D)	139,870	39%	$827,526
	Other	5,093	1%
2004 primary	Tom Tancredo (R)	unopposed
2002 general	Tom Tancredo (R)	158,851	67%	$475,451
	Lance Wright (D)	71,327	30%	$6,476
	Other	7,323	3%
Prior winning percentages: 2000 (54%); 1998 (56%)

2004 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 223,156 (60%) Kerry (D) 144,683 (39%)

2000 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 169,205 (60%) Gore (D) 104,126 (37%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Sixth 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: R +10
• District Size: 4,111 square miles
• Population in 2000: 614,466; 84.7% urban; 15.3% rural
• Median Household Income: $73,393; 2.7% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 13.2% blue collar; 77.4% white collar; 9.4% gray collar; 13.6% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 87.7% White, 1.9% Black, 2.6% Asian, 0.4% Amer. Indian, 0.1% Hawaiian, 1.5% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 5.8% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 18.9% German, 10.9% Irish, 10.5% English
• Click here for statewide demographic data.