December 05, 2011 08:52 PM UTC

Congressional Districts Affirmed By Colorado Supreme Court

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• by: Colorado Pols

It’s over, folks, your new congressional battlegrounds for the next decade:

UPDATE #4: AP’s Ivan Moreno Tweets initial reaction from newly-vulnerable Rep. Mike Coffman:

Presumably, a whole new Mike Coffman cometh.

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UPDATE #3: AP via the Fort Collins Coloradoan:

Democratic attorney Mark Grueskin said he hoped the court’s decision sent a message to other states working on redistricting that members of Congress can be held accountable in their districts.

“This is an incredibly important day for Colorado and, hopefully, the country. This map was all about accountability,” Grueskin said. [Pols emphasis]

The map also acknowledged the demographic changes of the state over the past 10 years, he said. Republicans had argued for minimal changes to the current congressional lines, which must be redrawn every decade to account for population shifts.

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UPDATE #2: Roll Call’s Abby Livingston:

Under the new lines Rep. Mike Coffman’s (R) conservative 6th district becomes a swing seat. Coffman’s most serious Democratic challenger so far is state House Rep. Joe Miklosi.

The new map also shored up GOP freshman Rep. Cory Gardner’s 4th district for Republicans and maintained GOP Rep. Scott Tipton’s 3rd district as a tossup.

The courts had to resolve redistricting in the state when Colorado’s split-power government was unable to compromise on a new map. This was the fourth time in four decades that Colorado had to resort to the courts to draw a new map.

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FOX 31’s Eli Stokols has the first brief story up:

Democrats have prevailed in the year-long fight over Colorado’s congressional district boundaries.

The state Supreme Court Monday upheld the ruling of Denver District Judge Robert Hyatt, who ruled last month in favor of a Democratic map that, most importantly, made a long-time safe GOP seat — the Sixth C.D. — a toss-up.