Colorado's 2nd congressional district


Colorado's 2nd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Colorado. The district is located in the north-central part of the state, and encompasses the Front Range northwest of Denver, mainly centered around the college towns of Boulder and Fort Collins. The district also includes the mountain towns of Vail, Granby, Steamboat Springs, and Idaho Springs. Redistricting in 2011 moved Larimer County, including the cities of Fort Collins and Loveland, to the 2nd from the 4th district. Meanwhile, redistricting in 2021 moved Loveland back to the 4th district and Broomfield and western Jefferson County to the 7th district.
The district is currently represented by Democrat Joe Neguse. He was elected in 2018 to replace Jared Polis, who retired after being elected governor of Colorado.

History

1890s

Following the 1890 U.S. census and associated reapportionment of seats in the United States House of Representatives, Colorado gained a second congressional district. The first representative elected to this district was John Calhoun Bell of The Populist party.

1990s

Following the 1990 U.S. census and associated realignment of Colorado congressional districts, the 2nd congressional district consisted of Boulder, Clear Creek, and Gilpin counties, as well as portions of Adams, and Jefferson counties.

2000s

Following the 2000 U.S. census and associated realignment of Colorado congressional districts, the 2nd congressional district consisted of Broomfield, Clear Creek, Eagle, Gilpin, Grand, and Summit counties, as well as portions of Adams, Boulder, Jefferson, and Weld counties.

2010s

Following the 2010 U.S. census and associated realignment of Colorado congressional districts, the 2nd congressional district consisted of Broomfield, Clear Creek, Gilpin, Grand and Summit counties; most of Boulder and Jefferson counties; and portions of Eagle, Larimer and Weld counties. Following the census, the 2nd district stretched further north to the Wyoming border while losing the western portion of Eagle County.

2020s

Redistricting in 2021 moved Loveland back to the 4th district and Broomfield and western Jefferson County to the 7th district. Also the 3rd congressional district lost Jackson County, Routt County, and most of Eagle County to the 2nd district.

Composition

For the 118th and successive Congresses, the district contains all or portions of the following counties and communities:
[Boulder County, Colorado|Boulder 'County] '
Clear Creek County '
[Clear Creek County, Colorado|Eagle County] '
Gilpin County '
Grand County '
Jackson County '
[Jefferson County, Colorado|Jefferson County] '
[Larimer County, Colorado|Larimer County] '
Routt County '
Summit County '
Weld County' ''''''

Characteristics

This district is anchored in Boulder and Larimer counties which have the bulk of population in the district: both counties are anchored by the large college towns consisting of Colorado's two main state universities - University of Colorado Boulder in Boulder and Colorado State University in Fort Collins, providing Democratic strength in the district.
The other parts of the district are diverse, ranging from far western Denver suburbs to agricultural areas and mountain towns. Eagle and Summit counties, home to the ski resort towns of Vail and Breckenridge and other tourism dependent towns such as Avon, Frisco and Silverthorne, are Democratic strongholds: however Gilpin and Clear Creek counties, while also being tourism dependent and Democratic leaning, do not vote as strongly for the Democrats. Grand County leans Republican, though the ski resort areas of the county in Winter Park are heavily Democratic. While the district included Denver's northwestern suburbs for a long time, redistricting caused Jefferson and Broomfield counties to be mostly moved to the 7th district outside of a small part of Arvada that remains in the 2nd.