Independent Redistricting Commission

In statehouses across the country, the political playing field is being redrawn, as states wade into the murky waters of midcycle redistricting.

The resounding victory of Prop. 50 in California, Tuesday opened a new front in the state-by-state war over partisan redistricting.

The candidate for governor says Colorado should shift its map for Democrats to counter changes by red states.

The Colorado Supreme Court has approved new maps of legislative districts that will affect statehouse races for the next decade. The new boundaries appear to give Democrats an edge in next year’s elections to determine which party controls the legislative agenda at the Capitol.

On Monday, the Colorado Supreme Court unanimously approved a new congressional map, drawn for the first time by an independent commission instead of by members of the state legislature. Several legal challenges were made after the map was submitted, arguing the district boundaries had been drawn unfairly, but the court ultimately rejected those arguments.

Calling it a "watershed moment," the Colorado Supreme Court on Monday unanimously approved new congressional district boundaries for Colorado that were drawn for the first time by an independent commission instead of the state legislature.

A politically diverse committee that has spent half a year vetting the boundaries for Colorado’s U.S. House districts voted 11-1 just before midnight on Tuesday to send a map to the state Supreme Court.

A new draft of Colorado’s congressional district map was released late Friday. Unlike the previous preliminary map, this one uses official population data from the 2020 census count instead of estimates. That, along with public comments from 36 meetings in July and August, has led to some major changes in the map’s proposed districts, particularly the new eighth district Colorado gained due to a population increase counted in the 2020 census.

After months of waiting, Colorado finally got the local Census population counts needed to draw congressional and state general assembly electoral districts on Thursday. The massive delay has caused a lot of unexpected problems for the state’s brand new independent redistricting commissions. This new set of local data show the ways Colorado’s population has really changed over the last decade.

During these two months of public comment hearings, KUNC will detail some of the preliminary districts and the general redistricting process to help meeting attendees know what they're talking about. Check out the district breakdown and FAQ in this story for more information.