A while back, I tried my hand at a 5-2 CO map on swingstateproject.com. As hilarious as I find that U-shaped rural vote-sink to be, I look back and I realize I could have done better and shot for the grand prize, a 6-1 map that takes advantage of the fact that Republican voters are already conveniently located near each other. As veteran SSP/DKE readers know to expect from these types of diaries, none of this is possible, this is a what-if scenario if Democrats had the trifecta AND were ruthless bastards. Purely for your amusement:
Denver area:
CO Springs:
North Colorado:
CO-01 (Dark Blue): Diana DeGette (D). As in my previous map, DeGette gets a radically different district from her currently compact Denver-county one. Losing quite a few precints in the northeastern part of the current district, she now sees her territory extending further south into Centennial and even the tip of red Douglas County. She would hate this radical dilution of her dark blue district, but it's necessary to crack GOP voters and leave room for an Aurora-based district to move in and grab heavily minority precincts in Denver. 67% White, 22% Hispanic, 4% Black, 3% Asian (old: 52% White, 33% Hispanic, 9% Black, 4% Asian).
CO-02 (Green): Jared Polis (D). I took a different tack in this map, instead of making a Boulder/Fort Collins district, I followed the idea proposed by Colorado legislature Democrats, and used Boulder's deep blue status to soak the GOP voters in Grand Junction, and made a geographically larger CO-02 that takes up most of the northwest quadrant of the state. The district becomes more competitive but you'd have to go back to the 90s to find a time where a Republican could actually win something like this. Boulder is simply too big and too Democratic now to let Grand Junction hold it down. I would love to see the hysteria from the latter's voters when they realize they are being represented by a gay man from Boulder and can't do a damn thing about it. 83% W, 12% H, 1% B, 2% A (old: 79% W, 15% H, 1% B, 3% A).
CO-03 (Light Blue): Scott Tipton (R). In my 5-2 map, I threw Tipton into a giant U-shaped atrocity with Cory Gardner. In this version, I keep CO-03 closer to its current version but by removing Grand Junction I deprive Tipton of the conservative counterweight to Dem-leaning Pueblo. The Dem legislator version also did this but made up for the population by adding blood-red counties around El Paso and along the eastern border of the state, which was a terrible idea, so instead I cracked El Paso county good and hard, and took in a ton of heavily minority precincts in South Colorado Springs, as well as adding liberal Manitou Springs. This is a district that House Minority Leader Sal Pace (D) would crush Tipton in, and there are other good Democratic talent here (such as Senate Majority Leader John Morse). 64% W, 27% H, 4% B, 1% A (old: 75% W, 22% H, 1% B).
CO-04 (Red): (no incumbent). I follow the general idea of the Dem state legislator map, but I dip CO-04 down closer to Denver and this lets me lose all the dark red and rural parts of this district along the eastern border of the state (though an arm still extends to grab the racially diverse core of Sterling). Cory Gardner is drawn out of his current district and even if he tried to move here, this district is much more dependent on population centers such as Fort Collins, Broomfield, Brighton, and Longmont, which are all becoming more Democratic. In short, this is a district tailor made for Senate President Brandon Shaffer (D), or any other Democrat from those cities. 73% W, 21% H, 1% B, 3% A (old: 79% W, 17% H, 1% B).
CO-05 (Yellow): Doug Lamborn (R) and Cory Gardner (R). Here's the fun part. With the complete cracking of South Colorado Springs, Lamborn's district is so depopulated that I'm able to use this as an even more massive GOP vote sink to grab every super Republican county along the eastern border of the state that currently makes CO-04 so red. This sprawling district would have to be one of the most Republican in the country. Lamborn has his extremely conservative North Colorado Springs base and would easily fend off a challenge from newcomer Cory Gardner, who is drawn in. 81% W, 11% H, 3% B, 2% A (old: 77% W, 11% H, 6% B, 2% A).
CO-06 (Purple): Mike Coffman (R). As in my previous map, Coffman loses all the red exurban and rural territory as his district shoots north into the more racially diverse parts of Aurora and East Denver. He still lives here, but he doesn't have a chance without Douglas and Elbert counties. This would safely elect a Democrat. 51% W, 28% H, 13% B, 5% A (old: 88% W, 6% H, 2% B, 3% A).
CO-07 (Orange): Ed Perlmutter (D). The least amount changed from my first map. Drops its current earmuff into Aurora and settles in to become a tidier Arvada-Westminster-Lakewood district. In the 90s a Republican could probably win here, but times have changed and Perlmutter should be able to dominate this district as long as he wants. 70% W, 23% H, 1% B, 3% A (old: 69% W, 20% H, 6% B, 3% A).