The Story:
The 2020 Census figures show that the State of Colorado acquired more than three quarters of a million new residents (774,518) since the previous census. Denver alone added more than 115,000 new residents. Colorado will gain a new seat in the U.S. House of Representatives: its eighth. How the new seat will be carved out from the older seven is not at all clear, and one that may surely be contentious.
Background:
Colorado has a new redistricting process, created by a 2018 amendment to the state’s constitution. The work will be done by a citizen’s redistricting commission which will consist of private persons (no incumbent or recent office holders): four Republicans, four Democrats, four unaffiliated persons.
The 2018 initiative instructed the commission to “maximize the number of politically competitive districts.”
The Thing to Know:
The two major parties are of balanced strength in Colorado, and the voters of both are outnumbered by the unaffiliated. Specifically, roughly 40% of voters do not affiliate by party, roughly 30% with each of the major parties.
Among the seven representatives that the state now sends to the U.S. House: four are Democrats, three are Republican. How the new district will affect that will depend on how the new map is drawn.
