Court will draw districts

Court will draw districts

Political parties’ district proposals

Republicans and Democrats introduced two very different plans for new congressional districts when the Legislature was in session. Now that a court is deciding the issue, new options could be considered, but this chart shows how our elected leaders fared under the existing proposals.
Congressional District 1, Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver
Democratic map — Win. The heavily Democratic city of Denver remains the focus of District 1 in both parties’ plans, so DeGette has nothing to fear. 2010 party registration: 47 percent Democrat, 22 percent Republican, 30.3 percent unaffiliated.
Republican map — Win. Republicans know they can’t win Congressional District 1, so they packed in even more Democrats to make the suburban districts a little tougher for the Dems to win. 2010 party registration: 48.6 percent Democrat, 20.2 percent Republican, 30.3 percent unaffiliated.
Congressional District 2, Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder
Democratic map — Lose. Polis is the biggest loser in the Democratic map, moving from a safe district to a competitive one that includes the conservative areas of Douglas County and Cañon City. 2010 party registration: 33.8 percent Democrat, 31.9 percent Republican, 33.4 percent unaffiliated.
Republican map — Win. Polis retains his safe district of Boulder and the Interstate 70 ski towns in the Republican plan. 2010 party registration: 37.2 percent Democrat, 27.1 percent Republican, 34.9 percent unaffiliated.
Congressional District 3, Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez
Democratic map — Draw. Even though an earlier Democratic plan would have brought Tipton more Republican voters, the district would have reached out to Kansas and close to Denver, leaving him vulnerable to primaries in a district where few Republican voters knew him. This plan is status quo. 2010 party registration: 32.5 percent Democrat, 37.7 percent Republican, 28.9 percent unaffiliated.
Republican map — Draw. Tipton’s district doesn’t change much under the Republican plan, except he picks up Chaffee and Lake counties. Maps from both parties would make the Western Slope district one of the most competitive in Colorado. 2010 party registration: 32.7 percent Democrat, 37.7 percent Republican, 28.8 percent unaffiliated.
Congressional District 4, Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma
Democratic map — Draw. Although the Eastern Plains district would remain heavily Republican, Gardner would lose the southern part of the plains and pick up a swath of Democrat voters south of Longmont. 2010 party registration: 28.1 percent Democrat, 37.8 percent Republican, 33.3 percent unaffiliated.
Republican map — Win. Gardner would retain almost all of his familiar district and pick up a slightly higher concentration of registered Republicans. 2010 party registration: 27.3 percent Democrat, 39.5 percent Republican, 32.5 percent unaffiliated.
Congressional District 5, Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs
Democratic map — Lose. The Colorado Springs district remains the Republican stronghold, but Democrats would expand it to the southeastern plains, where the voters are at odds with El Paso County over water and a military training field expansion. 2010 party registration: 22.6 percent Democrat, 47.4 percent Republican, 29.3 percent unaffiliated.
Republican map — Win. Colorado Springs remains the focus of this safest of all Republican districts, where Lamborn already has won two Republican primary elections. 2010 party registration: 22.1 percent Democrat, 47.5 percent Republican, 29.8 percent unaffiliated.
Congressional District 6, Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Aurora
Democratic map — Lose. Coffman is the other big loser in the Democratic scheme, trading a safe district in the Denver suburbs for one that he could lose. 2010 party registration: 30.7 percent Democrat, 38.9 percent Republican, 29.9 percent unaffiliated.
Republican map — Win. Republicans would add some Democrats compared to the current district, but not in large enough numbers to threaten Coffman. 2010 party registration: 28.5 percent Democrat, 41.4 percent Republican, 29.6 percent unaffiliated.
Congressional District 7, Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Golden
Democratic map — Draw. Congressional District 7 was born in 2000 as a politically balanced district, and it became slightly Democratic in the past decade. Democrats would restore some of the original balance but still leave Perlmutter with a slight advantage. 2010 party registration: 34.9 percent Democrat, 32.0 percent Republican, 32.4 percent unaffiliated.
Republican map — Lose. The Republican plan would bring an 8 percentage point swing in party registration against Perlmutter in this district that spans Denver northwestern and northeastern suburbs. 2010 party registration: 33.9 percent Democrat, 33.5 percent Republican, 31.9 percent unaffiliated.

Reach Joe Hanel at joeh@cortezjournal.com.