Colorado 2021 Redistricting

Savanah Wolfson doesn’t mince words as she describes what some people in her small hometown of Oak Creek think of joining a new congressional district stretching all the way to Boulder County. “They are mad as hell. They are mad as hell,” Wolfson says. “Especially the ranchers.”

The Colorado Supreme Court has approved new maps of legislative districts that will affect statehouse races for the next decade. The new boundaries appear to give Democrats an edge in next year’s elections to determine which party controls the legislative agenda at the Capitol.

Calling it a "watershed moment," the Colorado Supreme Court on Monday unanimously approved new congressional district boundaries for Colorado that were drawn for the first time by an independent commission instead of the state legislature.

The court rejected arguments from Democratic and Latino advocacy groups that the map should be sent back to the commission to be changed because of voting rights issues.

The fiercest fights for control of the Colorado House and Senate would no longer be mostly contained to the Denver area. Durango and the San Luis Valley would be the heart of competitive districts central to deciding which party is in the Senate majority.

The state Supreme Court is accepting challenges to Colorado’s new congressional election map through this week. At least two groups say they will file their concerns about the map, which was drawn by the state’s first independent redistricting commission.

A politically diverse committee that has spent half a year vetting the boundaries for Colorado’s U.S. House districts voted 11-1 just before midnight on Tuesday to send a map to the state Supreme Court.

The Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission must agree on a map by the end of Tuesday, or a staff-drawn map will get sent to the Supreme Court.

A final Congressional map is due before the Colorado Supreme Court in less than two weeks, as commissioners struggle to reach agreement.

A sweeping, L-shaped district would cover most of the Western Slope and southern Colorado, while ski areas would merge with Boulder and Larimer in the 2nd District