The Colorado Congressional Redistricting Commission is off to a reasonable start in its task of redrawing the boundaries for Colorado’s eight seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The commission’s tentative congressional redistricting plan, revealed a little more than a week ago, provides for two safe Democratic seats (Districts 1, 2), two safe Republican seats (Districts 4, 5), and two competitive seats that could be won by either the Democrats or the Republicans (Districts 7, 8).

In addition, the plan creates one U.S. House seat that is somewhat Republican (3) and a second U.S. House seat somewhat Democratic (6). Either of those seats could be won by the other political party in a “big sweep” election.

For supporters of competitive seats, where either political party can win, that is a big improvement over the present districting, in effect from 2012 through 2020. Colorado currently has three safe Democratic seats (1, 2, 7), three safe Republican seats (3, 4, 5), and only one competitive seat (7).

Colorado’s eighth seat in the U.S. House of Representatives is new this year, having been created because of rapid population growth in Colorado over the past decade.

These are, of course, initial recommendations from the Congressional Redistricting Commission, and they will be subject to public hearings throughout Colorado in July. The Commission will make its final decision on the redistricting of the state’s eight congressional seats this fall.

Also keep in mind this recommended redistricting is based on estimated population figures. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, official U.S. Census population counts will not be available until this fall.

Gerrymandering is the drawing of congressional district lines in such a way that many voters from one political party are heavily concentrated in a district. A result is that congressional districts drawn in this particular way always vote for the candidate from that political party. Such gerrymandered districts are said to be either “Safe Democratic” or “Safe Republican.”

Political scientists, civics teachers, and “good government” groups such as the League of Women Voters and Common Cause, disapprove of gerrymandering. The reason is gerrymandering removes from the voters in the district the power to change the political party that represents the district. The general election between the Democrats and the Republicans for the seat becomes meaningless because the same party, with its overwhelming numbers of voters, always wins.

Political scientists and civics teachers, like us, prefer a redistricting process to provide as many competitive districts (often called “swing” districts or “battleground” districts) as possible. The proposed new congressional redistricting took Colorado from one competitive seat (2012-2020) to two competitive seats and one near-competitive Democratic seat and one near competitive Republican seat. That’s an improvement.

The state legislature’s non-partisan professional staff served as the staff for the Congressional Redistricting Commission. They used the 2018 general election for Colorado attorney general to measure the extent to which a proposed congressional district is Democratic or Republican. Competitive seats were defined as ranging from 45 percent Democratic to 55 percent Democratic.

Here is a rundown on Colorado’s eight new U.S. House of Representatives districts as proposed by the redistricting commission:

District 1 – Center-city Denver. This area votes so Democratic that creating a Safe Democratic seat is unavoidable. The political party split (from the 2018 attorney general election) is 78.7 percent Democratic to 21.3 percent Republican. Incumbent – Democrat Diana DeGette.

District 2 – Boulder and Larimer counties. This area also is Democratic, and thereby the seat becomes Safe Democratic. The breakdown is 63.7% Dem to 36.3% Rep. Incumbent – Democrat Joe Neguse.

District 3 – The entire Western Slope of Colorado plus some of the Eastern Slope mountain areas. The farms and ranches in this outdoorsy district are heavily Republican, but the ski resort counties are strongly Democratic. At 44.9% Dem to 55.1% Rep, it would not take very many extra Democratic votes to make this district possibly occasionally competitive. Somewhat Republican. Incumbent – Republican Lauren Boebert.

District 4 – Northeastern Weld County plus the Eastern Plains and Pueblo County and most of Southern Colorado. This spacious congressional district is mainly rural and Safe Republican. It is 38% Dem to 62% Rep. Incumbent – Republican Ken Buck.

District 5 – West and North El Paso County including all of Colorado Springs. This congressional district is the mirror twin of #1 in Denver, with Republicans (instead of Democrats) dominating at 39.4% Dem to 60.6% Rep. Safe Republican. Incumbent – Republican Doug Lamborn.

District 6 – Southeast Denver suburbs (Aurora). This is one of the most multi-racial parts of Colorado and has large numbers of Democrats and Republicans living in close proximity to one another. At 56.6 Dem to 43.4 Rep, it rates Somewhat Democratic. Incumbent – Democrat Jason Crow.

District 7 – West Denver suburbs (Jefferson County and part of Douglas County). This will be Colorado’s most Competitive congressional district at 48.5 Dem to 51.5 Rep. Those numbers make it a toss-up. Incumbent – Democrat Ed Perlmutter.

District 8 – North Denver suburbs (part of Adams and part of Weld counties). This is Colorado’s new seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. It is located in the fast-growing areas to the north of Denver. At 53.8 Dem to 46.2 Rep, it is Competitive. Democrats will have a slight edge yet Republicans will fight hard to elect the first occupant of Colorado District #8.

Colorado voters created the Congressional Redistricting Commission through an initiated ballot issue. The ballot measure required that the highest number possible of competitive districts be created by the Commission.

Political parties always attack redistricting plans and charge unfairness, but we think this competitive districts plan is excellent as proposed.

Tom Cronin and Bob Loevy were longtime political science professors on the faculty of Colorado College in Colorado Springs. They write about national and Colorado issues. Bob Loevy served on Colorado’s state legislature redistricting committee following the 2010 U.S. Census. Read his book on his experience: Google “Bob Loevy home page”, click on 2.