Colorado's 6th congressional district is a

congressional district Congressional districts, also known as electoral districts and legislative districts, electorates, or wards in other nations, are divisions of a larger administrative region that represent the population of a region in the larger congressional bod ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

. Located in central Colorado, the district encompasses much of the eastern part of the Denver metropolitan area, including all of

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

, as well as portions of the southern (

Centennial {{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation) A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years. Notable events Notable centennial events at ...

and Littleton) and northern metro area ( Brighton and Henderson). The district is currently represented by Democrat Jason Crow. The district was created in 1983 as a result of the redistricting cycle after the

1980 Census The United States census of 1980, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 226,545,805, an increase of 11.4 percent over the 203,184,772 persons enumerated during the 1970 census. It was th ...

, and was originally a classic suburban Republican bastion; this was once the safest seat for Colorado Republicans outside of

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

. However, changing demographics in the

Front Range The Front Range is a mountain range of the Southern Rocky Mountains of North America located in the central portion of the U.S. State of Colorado, and southeastern portion of the U.S. State of Wyoming. It is the first mountain range encountered ...

, especially in Arapahoe County which went from a traditional conservative suburban/exurban stronghold to a densely populated, ethnically and culturally diverse Democratic-leaning inner suburban county, has made suburban Denver much friendlier to Democrats. The 2010 redistricting shifted the more rural, GOP-dominated sections of the district to the nearby 4th and added heavily populated and Democratic parts of

, turning the 6th district into a Democratic-leaning swing district. However, Republicans are still competitive downballot, and the Democratic strength was limited to western Arapahoe County for much of its history, as the components of Douglas County and Adams County in the 6th were still Republican leaning: this changed in 2020, as Joe Biden and Representative Jason Crow won all county areas in the district. After the 2020 redistricting, the 6th will become a purely inner suburban district anchored in western Arapahoe County, however small parts of Jefferson, Douglas, and Adams Counties will be included as well to completely take in the cities of Littleton and

History

1990s

Following the 1990 U.S. Census and associated realignment of Colorado congressional districts, the 6th Congressional district consisted of portions of

Arapahoe The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho band ...

and Jefferson counties.

2000s

Following the 2000 U.S. Census and associated realignment of Colorado congressional districts, the 6th Congressional district consisted of Douglas and Elbert counties as well as portions of

, Jefferson, and Park counties.

2010s

During the 2010 Colorado Redistricting, the 6th Congressional district lost most of its previous area; the district now consisted of the western portions of

and Adams counties plus the community of

Highlands Ranch Highlands Ranch is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Douglas County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The p ...

in Douglas County and a very little part of Jefferson County.

2020s

During the 2020 Colorado Redistricting, the 6th Congressional district became a pure inner-suburban district consisting of western Arapahoe County, the portions of the City of Aurora located in Adams and Douglas counties, as well as parts of Jefferson County bordering Littleton near Highway 470.

Characteristics

A suburban swing district anchored by

, Republicans are the strongest in the Adams County and Douglas County portions of the district, while the Democrats are strongest in the

suburbs. While Adams County leans Democratic, most of the denser and more populated areas of the county lie in the 7th congressional district, leaving the more Republican leaning parts of the county in the district such as Brighton and Henderson: similarly, while Douglas County is a Republican stronghold, the parts of the county in the 6th, such as

, is not nearly as Republican as the rest of the county and is slowly swinging towards the Democrats. Arapahoe County makes up the bulk of the population and is historically a mixed bag, though it has been becoming a Democratic stronghold as of late.

, a racially and economically diverse city, provides a large base for the Democrats, although not uniformly throughout the city: central Aurora near I-225 is one of the most Democratic parts of Colorado and votes similarly to neighboring parts of Denver, however the further parts of the city are far more competitive between parties. Similarly, Englewood and Sheridan are strongly Democratic due to their sociological and economic proximity to nearby Denver neighborhoods. The more southern and eastern parts of the county were formerly Republican strongholds, however have swung rapidly to the Democrats in recent years, as cities such as

and Littleton swung from high single digit cities for McCain and Romney to mild wins for Clinton and double digit wins for Biden. Similarly, the district's PVI has changed from R+1 when it was first drawn to a D+6 district in its current iteration.

Voting

Election results from presidential racesPresidential Election Results, by district
swingstateproject.com

List of members representing the district

Election results

1982

1983 (Special)

1984

1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

Republican primary

General election

2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

2020

Historical district boundaries

References

Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present
{{coord, 39, 45, 18, N, 104, 45, 55, W, region:US_type:city_source:kolossus-eswiki, display=title 6 Douglas County, Colorado Elbert County, Colorado Arapahoe County, Colorado Jefferson County, Colorado Park County, Colorado 1983 establishments in Colorado