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Colorado’s 2020 population was 5,773,714 people. It was the country’s 21st largest state – smaller than #20 Wisconsin and larger than #22 Minnesota. Colorado’s growth during the course of the decade moved it past Minnesota. With that growth, Colorado gains a House seat and will have 8 Members of Congress, the same as Minnesota and Wisconsin. Missouri and Maryland, the 18th and 19th largest states by population, also have 8 Representatives. Each of these states, of course, have 2 US Senators.
Colorado
US Senate
Both Senators are Democrats. Incumbent Michael Bennet is up for election. He will face one of four candidates seeking the Republican nomination
State Constitutional Offices
Governor
Democratic incumbent Jared Polis vs one of 3 Republicans
Attorney General
Democratic incumbent Phil Weiser vs DA John Kellner
Secretary of State
Democratic incumbent Jena Griswold vs a current or a former county clerk.
State Treasurer
Democratic incumbent David Young vs ex state Rep Lang Sias
US House of Representatives
CO 03 Eight or ten Democrats are eager to take on Incumbent Republican Lauren Boebert in this R+15 leaning district
CO 03 Three Democrats are seeking the nomination to take on incumbent Republican Doug Lamborn in this R+18 district.
CO 06 Incumbent Democrat Jason Crow will face Businesswoman Rebecca Leatherwood in this D+16 district.
CO 07 Brittany Petterson is the only Democrat while Republicans are still deciding who will run for this Open Democratic seat which has a D+6 lean.
CO 08 Yadira Caraveo is the only Democrat while five Republicans are competing to decide who will run for this newly created seat which has a R+3 tilt.
April 17th , 2022 Political Note #461 Yadira Caraveo CO 08
2022 General Election
Colorado has a Democratic Governor and Lt. Governor, two Democratic US Senators, a Democratic Secretary of State, a Democratic Attorney General, a Democratic State Treasurer, a 65 member State House of Representatives in which Democrats outnumber Republicans 41-24, and a 35 member State Senate in which Democrats outnumber Republicans 20-15. Colorado has apparently become a Blue State.
Despite Democratic dominance, Democratic Members of Congress outnumber Republicans by only a 4-3 margin. Because of Colorado’s growth, the state will have an eighth Congressional district beginning in 2022. In these days of gerrymandering, you would think that Colorado Democrats would want to create more Democratic districts. That is not what happened. In 2018, Colorado approved the use of an independent redistricting commission.
The Commission was independent. The result of redistricting was as follows:
| District | 2020 | 2022 |
| 1 | D+47 | D+55 |
| 2 | D+23 | D+32 |
| 3 | R+12 | R+15 |
| 4 | R+22 | R+28 |
| 5 | R+21 | R+18 |
| 6 | D+12 | D+16 |
| 7 | D+15 | D+6 |
| 8 | R+3 |
The Commission eroded the position of Democrats in the delegation. The probability is that the new delegation will be 4 Democrats and 4 Republicans. There is even a reasonable possibility that the new delegation could be 5 Republicans and 3 Democrats. If the Democrats retain the Democratic leaning District 7 and win the Republican tilting new District 8, the new delegation could be composed of 5 Democrats and 3 Republicans. That will require some work and some resources.
Democrats have coalesced around Yadira Caraveo as the Democratic nominee for the newly created 8thCongressional District. She can win this seat with an energetic campaign and your help.
Yadira Caraveo is the daughter of immigrants from Mexico who arrived, without documents, in the 1970s. Very much like our ideal for immigrants to the United States, they lived for their children’s success. All four of their children earned college degrees. One of them, Yadira Caraveo, continued on to get a medical degree from the University of Colorado.
Yadira Caraveo showed her hand early about how she would approach being a doctor. She helped organize medical residents and served as the Union Rep for the Service Employees International Union. Her interests were not only local. She was sufficiently active in the Union of Concerned Scientists in the effort to deal with the climate crisis that President Obama named her a Champion of Change.
Yadira Caraveo is a pediatrician. Almost two-thirds of the families she serves are on Medicaid. As a pediatrician, she knew she would not make the changes she wanted made working only with her patients. She got herself elected as a State Rep, with an intention to make changes for the families she served. She worked to pass legislation that reduced the cost of prescription medication.
In the state legislature, Yadira Caraveo worked to reduce pollution, to increase resources for preschools, to change the law to ensure that all Coloradans can have paid sick leave and paid family leave, and to protect people suffering from the pandemic from eviction. She has been working toward providing free contraceptives and reproductive care to the undocumented – pointing out that research shows that this would reduce infant mortality rates and maternal mortality.
One particularly interesting and controversial effort that Yadira Caraveo tried to effect was to put a cap on the potency levels of certain cannabis products that were particularly attractive to the young in this state that has been a pioneer in the legalization of marijuana. At the same time, she proposed a requirement for a THC test for all “unnatural deaths.” She got Republican sponsors for this proposal, but resistance from Democrats who feared that the testing would be based on race rather than the circumstances of the deaths.
If Yadira Caraveo can be elected to Congress, she will bring the same willingness to make bold proposals, the same willingness to work with any legislator willing to work with her, and the same commitment to creating a country in which everyone has the chance to live a decent life. Let’s get her elected.
Democrats to support in Republican Tilting or Leaning Districts
INCUMBENTS
MI 08 R+1 Dan Kildee See Political Note #459
IA 03 R+2 Cindy Axne. See Political Note #428
NJ 07 R+3 Tom Malinowski. See Political Note #363
KS 03 R+3 Sharice Davids See Political Note #412
PA 07 R+4 Susan Wild. See Political Note #394
MI 07 R+4 Elissa Slotkin. See Political Note #378
OH 09 R+8 Marcy Kaptur See Political Note #430
PA 08 R+8 Matt Cartwright. See Political Note #70
WI 03 R+9 State Senator Brad Pfaff See Political Note #418
ME 02 R+10 Jared Golden. See Political Note #406
AZ 02 R+15 Tom O’Halleran See Political Note #389
CHALLENGERS
OH 13 R+2 State Rep Emilia Sykes
CO 08 R+3 State Rep Yadera Caraveo
OH 01 R+3 City Councilor Greg Landsman. See Political Note #452
NE 02 R+3 State Senator Tony Vargas See Political Note #453
CA 40 R+4 Physician Asif Mahmood. See Political Note #456
IA 01 R+4 State Rep and Law Professor Christina Bohannan. See Political Note #411
IA 02 R+6 State Sen Liz Mathis. See Political Note #445
MI 10 R+6 County Judge Carl Marlinga
CA 41 R+7 Prosecutor Will Rollins
CA 03 R+8 Physician Kermit Jones See Political Note #439
PA 10 R+9 Army Veteran Rick Coplen
OH 15 R+11 County Recorder Danny O’Connor. See Political Note #129
TX 23 R+13 Marine Vet and Small Business Expert John Lira. See Political Note #424
NC 11 R+14 Pastor and County Commissioner Jasmine Beach Ferrara
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Help create a larger Democratic majority in the Senate that does not rely on the agreement of one or two Senators.
