A group of Colorado voters launched a bid Wednesday to rewrite the state’s congressional map and erase as many as three GOP-held seats, moving to counter Republican gains from mid-decade redistricting elsewhere.
Colorado’s lines are supposed to be drawn by an independent commission, but Coloradans for a Level Playing Field said voters need to break free from those restrictions.
The measure would go on the ballot in November and apply to the 2028 and 2030 elections.
“Independent redistricting is an ideal, but ideals cannot stand alone when a political faction is openly capitalizing on the inability of their opponents to fight fire with fire,” said Curtis Hubbard, the group’s spokesman.
Colorado’s House delegation is split between four Republicans and four Democrats.
If Democrats net three new seats, it would give them 87.5% of the delegation in a state where Democratic nominee Kamala Harris won 54% of the vote in 2024.
Backers cast their effort as an attempt to “fight back” against what they called President Trump’s “election rigging.”
Their proposed map would take the Denver region, the state’s heavily Democratic major population center, and seed those voters into currently GOP-held seats.
Colorado’s current map was drawn in 2021 by an independent commission and approved by the state’s Supreme Court, which hailed it as the first time the state had a map that was “not the product of politics or litigation.”
The push to redraw the lines drew quick backing from Eric Holder, the attorney general under President Obama and now head of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. He said Republicans started it.
“Let’s be clear: Colorado did not choose this fight. As Republicans pursue mid-decade gerrymanders in other states, the American people, including Coloradans, will fight back,” he said in a statement.
Texas’ Republican Legislature kicked off the redistricting war last year by redrawing its lines to net as many as five more seats for the GOP. California then retaliated with a new map — approved by voters — that could flip five seats to Democrats.
Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio have also adopted GOP-friendlier maps.
Democrats are eyeing retaliatory strikes.
In Maryland, U.S. House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries met with Gov. Wes Moore on Wednesday to push the state to finish redrawing its map to eliminate the one GOP-held seat in its eight-member congressional delegation.
In Virginia, Democrats have secured a referendum this spring to ask voters to redraw the maps that could reduce the GOP from five of the state’s 11 seats down to just one.
That process still faces legal challenges, including a new lawsuit on Wednesday.
In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has called for a special legislative session in April to redraw his state’s lines. The GOP currently holds a 20-8 advantage.
Nationally, Democrats had been more enthusiastic about independent commissions drawing lines. That has dissipated in recent months as they’ve reached for partisan advantage.
Colorado, Virginia and California all have been operating under independent commission maps that would be upended by Democrats’ action.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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