A proposed redistricting plan, which would give Colorado seven Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives and only one Republican, will split El Paso County into two parts and thereby weaken the county’s influence in Congress.

El Paso County, which contains all of the city of Colorado Springs, currently is mainly in U.S. House of Representatives District 5. The U.S. representative is Jeff Crank, a Republican.

Under the proposed redistricting plan, introduced by out-of-state Democrats, El Paso County will be divided in two, and the two parts added to two other new districts.

The eastern portion of El Paso County will go into House District 4, which is comprised of a total of 22 counties on the eastern plains of Colorado and is currently represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert.

The western portion of El Paso County will go into a new House District 5. It will include western El Paso County plus a large portion of Douglas County to the north and a section of Arapahoe County north of Douglas County.

The new member of the U.S. House of Representatives elected from this new House District 5 might be from El Paso County, but it will not be guaranteed. The new representative from this new district might very well be from Douglas County or Arapahoe County instead of El Paso County.

Got all that? These details will help.

A political group from outside Colorado supports a proposal to completely redistrict Colorado’s eight districts in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C.

This outside group is named “Coloradans for a Level Playing Field.” They propose redrawing the boundary lines of Colorado’s eight districts in the U.S. House of Representatives in such a way seven Democrats will be elected and only one Republican.

Their plan is based on an old redistricting trick. You squeeze as many Republican voters as possible into one district, in this case U.S. House District 4, and that way the other seven U.S. House Districts in Colorado become more Democratic.

This is all part of a national movement by both political parties to get more members of their party into the House of Representatives by redrawing district boundary lines across the country.

The Democrats claim, and they are right about this, this struggle was started by President Donald Trump and the Republicans in Texas.

The Republicans are drawing new House of Representative districts lines in any state they can to give the Republicans a larger majority in the U.S. House.

Naturally, the Democrats are responding to this Republican initiative by working to pick up as many extra seats in the U.S. House as they can by doing what is called a “mid-decade redistricting.”

And that is how this proposal to create a U.S. House of Representatives delegation of seven Democrats and one Republican came to Colorado.

“Coloradans for a Level Playing Field” has a proposal for the November election ballot. Under that proposal, voters will be able to adopt the new “Seven Democrats-One Republican Plan” at the ballot box next November 2026.

If adopted by the voters in November of 2026, the plan will go into effect for the 2028 and the 2030 House of Representatives elections.

El Paso County Democrats will have a tough decision to make regarding whether or not to vote for the “Coloradans for a Level Playing Field” redistricting plan.

Many of them have been taught in high school and college to be against gerrymandering, and the “Coloradans for a Level Playing Field” plan is a definite gerrymander.

It will favor Democrats, but it will severely disenfranchise Republican voters and unaffiliated voters who like to take their choice between Democrats and Republicans.

On the other hand, it is the Republicans who started this redistricting war in other states and who are using gerrymandering unapologetically to further their interests.

The “Coloradans for a Level Playing Field” plan is a good defense against Trump and the gerrymandering Republicans in other states.

And then there is the problem for Democrats in El Paso County the “Coloradans for a Level Playing Field” plan will split El Paso County in two and could possibly take away from El Paso County something it has had for many years: Being able to always elect one of its own citizens to the U.S. House of Representatives.

This situation bears careful watching. If “Coloradans for a Level Playing Field” gets its plan passed by the electorate next November, the situation with U.S. representatives in Colorado is going to be very different from what it is today.

Bob Loevy writes about Colorado and national politics. He served on the 2010 Colorado State Legislative Reapportionment Commission.