Burnt Orange Report

2004 House Races in Colorado

By Byron LaMasters

It's amazing how much of an effect redistricting has on National politics. The last few election cycles have seen only a few dozen House seats that are genuinely competetive. With today's ruling, in one day, we can add two (CO-3, CO-7) to that list. Colorado Luis writes:

The Colorado Supreme Court's decisions have been released, and Democrats are celebrating as the Court ruled that the legislature's 2003 re-redistricting plan is unconstitutional and that Attorney General Ken Salazar acted properly in filing suit to block the plan.

The ruling was unanimous as to Salazar's standing. The two Republican members of the Court, Justices Rebecca Kourlis and Nathan Coats, dissented as to the re-redistricting issue.

So, we are back to the 2001 map, where two seats are considered safe for the Democrats and three are considered safe for the Republicans. The other two are tossups -- the 3rd District (Western Slope and Pueblo) where John Salazar (the Attorney General's brother) is the early Democratic frontrunner in the battle to replace outgoing GOP Rep. Scott McInnis, and the 7th District, where Republican Bob Beauprez was elected during the GOP sweep year of 2002 by only 121 votes. Businessman John Works (who apparently has some ability to self-finance his campaign) has announced that he will challenge Beauprez.

While this will probably have little (if any) effect on the Texas redistricting efforts, it certainly provides a moral boost to all of us here. And for the first time in awhile, we can think about the possibility of taking back the House next year. I'm not saying that it will happen, but for the first time in awhile, I actually believe that it's possible.