Colorado Democrats are hellbent to sideline the Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission in the 2026 election and ultimately steal three Republican congressional seats in 2028 and 2030.

A hilariously named group that calls itself “Coloradans for a Level Playing Field” wants to bypass the Independent Commission and the competitive congressional districts it created in 2021 in order to defeat three Republican incumbents elected in 2024. They would create gerrymandered districts which would elect seven Democrats and only one Republican.

Under this so-called “level playing field” the Colorado delegation would go from four Democrats and four Republicans in its delegation to a lopsided 7-1 Democratic majority.

The Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission was created by voters in 2018 when Amendment Y received more than 71% of the votes with only 28% in opposition. The Commission successfully created a redistricting map after the 2021 census that had four Democratic districts, three Republican districts, and one truly competitive seat that could go either way and it has.

The 8th Congressional District is now one of the most competitive in the nation and it has already been won by both parties, Democratic U.S. Rep. Yadira Caravejo in 2022 and Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans in 2024.

This abuse of power by Colorado Democrats is part of a nationwide drive by both red and blue states to increase their partisan congressional numbers.

To be sure, this national fight was started by President Donald Trump when he demanded that a compliant Texas Republican Party redistrict and add five Republican seats. National Democrats responded in blue states like California and Illinois, and they are now bringing this fight to Colorado.

“Coloradans for a Level Playing Field” is little more than a front group which will be funded by Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and his House Majority PAC and the National Democratic Redistricting Committee out of Washington, D.C., which is chaired by former Attorney General Eric Holder.

These groups and their liberal billionaire donors will ultimately finance the campaign to steal Republican congressional seats in Colorado.

The vast majority of Coloradans who voted for the Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission be damned.

Those same liberal billionaires who are so appalled at the behavior and actions of Trump in trying to rig the political process were ever so silent and compliant when the Obama and Biden administrations politically weaponized the Department of Justice and other federal offices. As Obama’s attorney general, Eric Holder pioneered the concept of using federal power to restrain and harass conservative and Republican groups.

“Coloradans for a Level Playing Field” claims that after new partisan maps are approved to elect seven Democrats in 2028 and 2030, the redistricting process will revert to the independent commission in 2032. Fat chance.

Does anyone really believe three new Democratic members of Congress from Colorado will stand by and watch their gerrymandered districts be ripped away from them by the commission in 2032? Does anyone believe that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and its Super PAC allies in Washington, D.C. will not fight to permanently eliminate the Independent Congressional Redistricting Commissioner so that the 7-1 Democratic advantage will remain throughout the 2030s?

The Colorado Democratic political consultants who will run this campaign might honestly believe the commission’s role will be revived in 2032 but if so, they are amazingly naive.

Colorado is in serious decline under total Democratic rule with recent polls showing Democrats are increasingly unpopular. This naked power play is consistent with the arrogance that is driving more people to leave the state than move here.

The brief period of independent congressional redistricting — supported by 71% of voters — will be dead thanks to Colorado Democrats and their Washington, D.C., overlords.

Dick Wadhams is a former Colorado Republican state chairman who managed campaigns for U.S. Sens. Hank Brown and Wayne Allard, and Gov. Bill Owens. He was campaign manager for U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota in 2004 when Thune unseated Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle.