With Colorado’s new congressional districts approved by an independent redistricting commission and the state’s new legislative districts awaiting only State Supreme Court approval, I wanted to look at the amendments that made that possible. I also wanted to look at the offices that will be up for re-election 2022.

2018 Colorado Gubernatorial Election

Former Governor John Hickenlooper (who successfully ran for a US Senate seat in 2020) was term-limited and so the 2018 race for Governor in Colorado was open. The Democratic Primary was fought between Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District Representative Jared Polis, former State Senator Mike Johnston, former State Treasurer Cary Kennedy, and Lieutenant Governor Donna Lynne. Jared Polis won the primary and chose former State Representative Dianne Primavera as his running mate. The Republican was just as spirited and eventually chose State Treasurer Walker Stapleton.

Jared Polis ultimately won the election by 10.6%, a sign of the wave year 2018 was for Democrats. By winning, Polis became the first openly gay Governor in American history.

2018 Attorney General Election

Incumbent Attorney General Cynthia Coffman decided to run for Governor (and was eliminated at the convention), resulting in an open race. Democrats had a spirited primary between former State Representative Joe Salazar and former dean of the University of Colorado Law School Phil Weiser. Weiser prevailed in a narrow primary win and went on to win election against district attorney for Colorado’s 18th Judicial District George Brauchler. Brauchler went on to narrowly win re-election in the 18th Judicial District in 2020.

2018 Secretary of State Election

Incumbent Secretary of State Wayne Williams faced a tough re-election against Democratic nominee Jena Griswold. Griswold, a lawyer and small business owner, was spurred to run by claimed election irregularities in the 2016 Presidential election. Despite some high-profile endorsements, Williams lost to Griswold by a large 8% margin. Griswold has gone on to be a spokeswoman in favor of Colorado’s mail ballot elections system in the face of claimed irregularities in the 2020 elections.

2018 Treasurer Election

Incumbent Treasurer Walker Stapleton was term-limited and so this produced another open race for Colorado Democrats. Democratic State Representative Dave Young from Weld County easily won his primary and faced businessman and CEO of Northstar Commercial Partners, a real estate development company, Brian Watson in the general election. Watson had faced a difficult primary against more established Republican candidates and in the general went down easily to Young by nearly 8%. Dave Young’s wife, Mary Young, would go on to replace him in Colorado’s 50th House District.

Colorado Amendment A

Going into the 2018 election, the Colorado Constitution contained a provision that allows convicted criminals to be forced to work in prison without pay or restitution. Amendment A amended the state Constitution to repeal an exception to the ban of slavery which allowed compulsory labor, involuntary servitude, or slavery if for the punishment of a crime.

The provision in question was as follows:

“There shall never be in this state either slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.”

The phrase “except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted” meant that anyone convicted of a crime could be subject to labor without consent in prison. The measure removed this wording.

From Ballotpedia

Colorado Amendment Y

Amendment Y was designed to create a 12-member independent congressional redistricting commission to be responsible for redistricting Colorado’s seven U.S. House districts. The commission was designed to include four members from the state’s largest political party, four from the state’s second largest political party, and four that are not affiliated with any political party.

A preliminary plan for the redistricting of congressional districts was designed to be created solely by nonpartisan staff. The nonpartisan staff will consider comments from the commission and from the public when creating the preliminary redistricting plan. After a hearing on the preliminary plan, nonpartisan staff will then create at least three more plans to be presented to the commission. The commission could adopt a final staff plan or request in a public hearing that the nonpartisan staff create additional plans or amend plans, which does not require approval from the commission as a whole. The commission, through an affirmative vote of at least eight members and at least one commissioner unaffiliated with any political party, could adopt standards and guidelines for nonpartisan staff to adhere to when creating plans.

The final map requires the approval of eight of the 12 members, including at least 2 members that are not affiliated with any political party. It also requires approval by the Colorado Supreme Court. Under the amendment, districts need to be competitive. Competitive is defined in the measure as having a reasonable potential to change parties at least once every ten years. Measuring competitiveness entails evidenced-based analyses, voter registration data, and past election results. Upon the approval of a final map (redistricting plan), the commission is required to create a report demonstrating the extent to which districts are competitive.

The map approved by the commission and by the Colorado Supreme Court would not be subject to legislative approval or the governor’s veto or to veto referendum petitions.

From Ballotpedia

Colorado Amendment Z

Amendment Z was designed to create a 12-member independent state legislative redistricting commission responsible for approving or rejecting redistricting Colorado’s 65 House districts and 35 Senate districts. The commission was designed to include four members from the state’s largest political party, four from the state’s second largest political party, and four that are not affiliated with any political party.

Preliminary plans for the redistricting of state House and state Senate districts would be created solely by nonpartisan staff. The nonpartisan staff would consider comments from the commission and from the public when creating the preliminary redistricting plans. Nonpartisan staff will create at least three plans for the House districts and three plans for the Senate districts, which would be presented to the commission. The commission could adopt a final staff plan or request in a public hearing that the nonpartisan staff create additional plans or amend plans, which does not require approval from the commission as a whole. The commission, through an affirmative vote of at least eight members and at least one commissioner unaffiliated with any political party, could adopt standards and guidelines for nonpartisan staff to adhere to when creating plans.

The final map needs the approval of eight of the 12 members, including at least 2 members that are not affiliated with any political party. Under the amendment, districts need to be competitive. Competitive is defined in the amendment as having a reasonable potential to change parties at least once every ten years. Measuring competitiveness entails evidenced-based analyses, voter registration data, and past election results. Upon the approval of a final map (redistricting plan), the commission is required to create a report demonstrating the extent to which districts are competitive.

The map approved by the commission and by the Colorado Supreme Court would not be subject to legislative approval or the governor’s veto or to veto referendum petitions.

From Ballotpedia

---

Many thanks to Drew Savicki for providing election breakdowns by congressional district for these maps.