Colorado redistricting commission picks map that keeps Eagle County divided

The Colorado Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission by an 11-1 vote late Tuesday selected its third and now final plan for congressional redistricting to be submitted to the Colorado Supreme Court on Oct. 1. It keeps Eagle County divided between U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert’s 3rd Congressional District and U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse’s 2nd Congressional District.

However, more of Eagle County will now be in Neguse’s district compared to the current map, including the most populous parts of the county along the Interstate 70 corridor. CD3 maintains much of its old character, stretching from Northwestern Colorado across much of the Western Slope and down through southern Colorado. Its two largest cities will still be Pueblo and Grand Junction, assuming the court approves the final map.

State Sen. Kerry Donovan, a former Vail Town Council member who has so far been the best-known Democrat to seek her party’s nomination to challenge the highly controversial Boebert in the 2022 election, will now live and own businesses in Neguse’s CD2. No word yet on whether Donovan will continue to seek to run for the CD3 seat.

Neguse will be a virtual lock for CD2, which will still include Boulder and Fort Collins. By law, Colorado congressional candidates do not have to live in the districts they’re trying to represent. Here’s Tuesday’s press release from the Colorado Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission:

DENVER — The Colorado Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission today approved a final plan that counsel will submit to the Colorado Supreme Court on Oct. 1. The Colorado Supreme Court will issue an opinion no later than Nov. 1. The final plan can be viewed or downloaded at https://coleg.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=4f4b78fcd8a340f38c8434f840776b55. 

The plan was approved by a vote of 11 in favor and 1 opposed, fulfilling the constitutional requirement that a final map must be approved by a supermajority of eight of the twelve commissioners, including at least two unaffiliated commissioners. The approved final plan was unofficially titled Staff Plan 3 Coleman Amendment and will now be titled the Final Approved Plan.

“The thousands of public comments from Coloradans, diligent map-making from the staff, and thoughtful discussions from the commission are all what led us to this moment and it has been an honor to chair the first Colorado Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission and hope we’ve set a standard for other states to follow in the future,” acknowledged Chair Carly Hare. 

As stated in the Colorado Constitution, the new congressional districts must: 

• Have equal population, justifying each variance, no matter how small, as required by the U.S. Constitution;
• Be composed of contiguous geographic areas;
• Comply with the federal “Voting Rights Act of 1965,” as amended;
• Preserve whole communities of interest and whole political subdivisions, such as counties, cities, and towns;
• Be as compact as is reasonably possible; and
• Thereafter, maximize the number of politically competitive districts.

Districts cannot be drawn for the purpose of:

• Protecting incumbents or declared candidates of the U.S. House of Representatives or any political party; or
• Denying or abridging the right of any citizen to vote on account of that person’s race or membership in a language minority group, including diluting the impact of that racial or language minority group’s electoral influence.

Due to population growth documented by the 2020 census data, Colorado gained an eighth congressional district.