2008 United States House of Representatives elections in Colorado


The 2008 congressional elections in Colorado were held on November 4, 2008, to determine who will represent the state of Colorado in the United States House of Representatives, coinciding with the presidential and senatorial elections. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; those elected served in the 111th Congress from January 3, 2009, until January 3, 2011.
Colorado had seven seats in the House, apportioned according to the 2000 United States census. Its 2007-2008 congressional delegation consisted of four Democrats and three Republicans. After the elections, it consisted of five Democrats and two Republicans. District 4 changed party, which was the only district CQ Politics had forecasted to be at some risk for the incumbent party.
The Primary election was held August 12, 2008.

Overview

Statewide

By district

Results of the 2008 United States House of Representatives elections in Colorado by district:

District 1

Incumbent Democrat Diana DeGette, who had represented this Denver based district since 1997, ran for re-election. She was re-elected with 79.8% of the vote in 2006 and the district had a PVI of D+18.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • Diana DeGette, incumbent U.S. Representative

    Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • George Lilly, sales and marketing representative, Constitution nominee for state representative in 2000 and for this seat in 2002 & 2004
    Eliminated in primary
  • Charles Crain

    Results

General election

Endorsements

Predictions

Results

Finances

Campaigns
Outside Spending

District 2

Incumbent Democrat Mark Udall, who had represented the district, centred around heavily Democratic Boulder, since 1999, ran for the Senate following the retirement of Senator Wayne Allard, leaving this an open seat. He was re-elected with 68.2% of the vote in 2006 and the district had a PVI of D+8.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • Scott Starin, aerospace engineer
    Declined
  • Tom Stone, former Eagle County Commissioner

    Results

Green primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • J. A. Calhoun, nominee for this seat in 2006
    Declined
  • Mark Ruzzin, Mayor of Boulder

    Unity primary

Candidates

Nominee

Endorsements

Predictions

Results

Finances

Campaigns
Outside Spending

District 3

Incumbent Democrat John Salazar, who had represented the conservative, west Colorado district since 2005, ran for re-election. He was re–elected with 61.6% of the vote in 2006 and the district had a PVI of R+6.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • John Salazar, incumbent U.S. Representative

    Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • Wayne Wolf, rancher and Delta County commissioner
    Declined
  • Josh Penry, state senator
  • Ellen Roberts, state representative
  • Scott Tipton, businessman and nominee for this seat in 2006
  • Al White, state representative

    Results

General election

Endorsements

Predictions

Results

Finances

Campaigns
Outside Spending

District 4

Incumbent Republican Marilyn Musgrave, who had represented this conservative east Colorado-based district since 2003, ran for re-election. She was re-elected with 45.6% of the vote in 2006 and the district had a PVI of R+9. Musgrave, a conservative known for her staunch opposition to gay marriage, won in 2006 by winning a plurality of the vote against Angie Paccione and a strong Reform Party challenge from Eric Eidsness, who managed to garner 11% of the vote. That, along with her 51% showing in 2004 despite George W. Bush winning 58% of the vote in this eastern Colorado district that includes the Fort Collins area, made her seem vulnerable in 2008.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • Marilyn Musgrave, incumbent U.S. Representative

    Results

Democratic primary

Democrats suffered a setback earlier when State Senator Brandon Shaffer suddenly dropped out, citing his party's failure to clear the field. Eidsness switched parties again, having switched from Republican to Reform Party the year prior, and became a Democrat, which could have fuelled a potential rematch with Musgrave in 2008. 2006 nominee Angie Paccione briefly launched a campaign as well, but left the race in September 2007.

Candidates

Nominee
  • Betsy Markey, businesswoman and regional director for Senator Ken Salazar
    Withdrawn
  • Eric Eidsness, former EPA Assistant Administrator for Water and Reform nominee for this seat in 2006
  • Angie Paccione, former state representative and nominee for this seat in 2006
  • Brandon Shaffer, state senator
    Declined
  • Bill Long, Bent County Commissioner
  • Jim Riesberg, state representative

    Results

General election

Campaign

Musgrave launched a negative advertisement, attacking Markey over the business of Syscom Systems, the data-processing equipment company run by Markey and her husband. The Musgrave ad was called "highly misleading" by a Denver television station that investigated the facts. On October 24, the National Republican Congressional Committee abandoned Marilyn Musgrave's 2008 re-election campaign, believing the race was lost. This decision was based solely on Musgrave's poor poll numbers.

Endorsements

Polling

Predictions

Results

After her defeat, Musgrave would not comment on the election results with the media, nor would she concede the race or contact Markey to congratulate her. She also did not thank her campaign staff for their efforts. She later recorded a robocall for Republican Georgia senator Saxby Chambliss, saying that she was defeated by "leftist special interests" who "suppressed the truth with vicious attacks and lies."

Finances

Campaigns
Outside Spending

District 5

Incumbent Republican Doug Lamborn, who had represented this conservative district based in Colorado Springs and its suburbs district since 2007, ran for re-election. He was elected with 59.6% of the vote in 2006 and the district had a PVI of R+16.

Republican primary

Campaign

Lamborn had received bad press when two constituents accused him of making a threatening phone call in response to a critical letter they wrote. He won against Jeff Crank and Bentley Rayburn, more moderate Republicans who had also run in 2006, in the Republican primary. In 2006, Lamborn had narrowly won a nasty multi-candidate primary with 27% of the vote, despite previous representative Joel Hefley's endorsement of Crank, citing Lamborn's "sleazy" campaign. Crank and Rayburn thus came to a gentleman's agreement - they would jointly conduct a poll of the primary, and whoever of the two of them was in third place would drop out and endorse the other, so as to have a better chance of defeating Lamborn. Rayburn came third in the poll, but he refused to drop out.

Candidates

Nominee

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

General election

Endorsements

Predictions

Results

Amid worries of vulnerability, Lamborn won the general election by a 59%-41% margin, becoming the highest vote getter for a GOP Congressional candidate in the state in the 2008 cycle.

Finances

Campaigns
Outside Spending

District 6

Incumbent Republican Tom Tancredo, who had represented this solidly conservative district based in the Denver suburbs since 1999, retired in order to run for President. He was re-elected with 58.6% of the vote in 2006 and the district had a PVI of R+10.
His seat was considered to be the most Republican-dominated district of the Denver-area seats and was also one of the wealthiest in the nation. Tancredo was the second highest vote getter for a Republican congressional candidate statewide in 2006, just behind Doug Lamborn in the 5th district. The district includes Columbine High School, which was devastated in a tragic 1999 school massacre.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • Mike Coffman, Secretary of State of Colorado
    Eliminated in primary
  • Wil Armstrong, businessman and son of former senator William L. Armstrong
  • Ted Harvey, state senator
  • Steve Ward, state senator
    Declined
  • Frank McNulty, state representative
  • Tom Tancredo, incumbent U.S. Representative
  • Tom Wiens, state senator, nominee for Colorado State Treasurer in 1978 and candidate for the 3rd District in 1982