Colorado's 7th congressional district

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Colorado's 7th Congressional district
Colorado's 7th Congressional district

The 7th Congressional district of Colorado is located in central Colorado, encompassing much of the northern parts of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area, including the cities of Lakewood, Arvada, and Aurora. It is represented in the current Congress by Democrat Ed Perlmutter.

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[edit] 2000's alignment

The 7th Congressional district was created following the 2000 U.S. census and associated realignment and reapportionment of Colorado congressional districts. It consists of portions of Adams, Arapahoe, and Jefferson counties. The boundaries were drawn by a court after the state legislature failed to agree on a redistricting plan. It has been described as the most competitive congressional district in the United States, being almost equally split three ways between registered Republicans, Democrats, and unaffiliated voters. In 2003 state Republicans, who at that time controlled both houses of the legislature, redrew the district's boundaries to make it more favorable to them, removing much of the western suburbs and adding much of Arapahoe and Elbert counties. Democrats sued to block the plan and won, with the state Supreme Court ruling that redistricting could not be done more than once every ten years, so the legislature could not redistrict after failing to do so before the first post-census election.


[edit] 2004 election

US House election, 2004: Colorado District 7
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Bob Beauprez 135,571 54.7
Democratic Dave Thomas 106,026 42.8
Constitution Clyde J. Harkins 6,167 2.5
Turnout 247,764
Republican hold Swing

[edit] 2006 Democratic primary

US House election, 2006: Colorado District 7
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Ed Perlmutter 15,385 53.3%
Democratic Peggy Lamm 10,857 37.6%
Democratic Herb Rubenstein 2,569 8.9%
Turnout

[edit] 2006 election

US House election, 2006: Colorado District 7
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Ed Perlmutter 103,918 54.9% +12.1
Republican Rick O'Donnell 79,571 42.1% -12.4
Green Dave Chandler 3,073 1.6% *
Constitution Roger McCarville 2,605 1.4% -1.1
Turnout 189,167
Democratic gain from Republican Swing 12.3