Colorado’s redistricting story in the post-2020 era unfolds in two distinct chapters. The first covers the state’s post-census redistricting process, conducted entirely by citizen commissions established by voters in 2018, and the legal challenges that followed. The second, still unfolding, covers the state’s response to the nationwide mid-decade redistricting wars launched in 2025, which have drawn Colorado into a contested ballot measure fight that will ultimately be decided by voters in November 2026. Together, the two chapters illustrate both how Colorado’s independent redistricting architecture has insulated it from the partisan map-drawing that has roiled other states and the limits of that insulation when national political forces are determined to test it.
2020 Redistricting in Colorado
Colorado’s post-2020 congressional redistricting was conducted by the state’s Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission, a body established by voters in 2018 through the passage of Amendments Y and Z, a pair of constitutional amendments explicitly designed to take congressional and state legislative redistricting out of the hands of elected officials and place it with a citizen panel. Each commission consists of four members from the state’s largest political party, four from the state’s second-largest party, and four unaffiliated voters. Commission members are appointed by a panel of three judges selected by the Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court. The amendment requires at least eight of the commission’s 12 members, including at least two who are not affiliated with any political party, to approve a map.
The commission held extensive public hearings through the summer and fall of 2021 and submitted its final congressional plan to the Colorado Supreme Court on October 1, 2021. On November 1, 2021, the Colorado Supreme Court approved the plan, finding the commission had not abused its discretion, and the map took effect for the state’s 2022 congressional elections. Colorado’s congressional map included eight districts, reflecting a net gain of one seat following the 2020 census. The Colorado Supreme Court separately approved the state’s legislative maps on November 15, 2021. In March 2022, the Colorado Supreme Court also approved minor technical changes to both maps at the request of the Secretary of State.
The commission’s process was not without controversy. The Colorado League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the Campaign Legal Center submitted letters and filings with the state Supreme Court arguing that the commission had failed to conduct an adequate analysis of racially polarized voting and had diluted the voting power of Hispanic and Latino voters in violation of the state constitution’s minority-protection provisions, which legal observers argued are stronger than those contained in the federal Voting Rights Act. Article V, Section 44.3 of the Colorado State Constitution establishes that:
“No map may be approved by the commission or given effect by the supreme court if: … (b) It has been drawn for the purpose of or results in the denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen to vote on account of that person’s race or membership in a language minority group, including diluting the impact of that racial or language minority group’s electoral influence.”
The congressional commission, unlike the legislative commission, did not retain an outside expert to conduct such an analysis, according to nonpartisan commission staff. The Supreme Court addressed the minority-dilution argument directly and ruled against it, finding that the state constitution’s ‘electoral influence’ language merely reinforces, rather than expands upon, the protections contained in the federal Voting Rights Act, and that the commission had met those requirements.
Mid-Decade Redistricting
The nationwide mid-decade redistricting push launched by President Trump in July 2025, beginning with Texas and spreading to more than a dozen states, prompted a serious and ongoing debate in Colorado about whether the state should pursue its own ballot measure to redraw congressional lines. Because Colorado’s redistricting process is embedded in the state constitution, it cannot be altered by legislative action alone; any change requires voter approval through a constitutional amendment requiring 55% to pass and at least 124,238 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot, with signatures drawn from at least 2% of registered voters in each of the state’s 35 Senate districts. In August 2025, two private citizens filed the first initiative proposal for a constitutional amendment that would give the governor emergency authority to suspend the independent commission and appoint a temporary redistricting body in response to national redistricting imbalances.
As of June 2026, five redistricting-related ballot initiatives are approved for signature gathering, three backed by Coloradans for a Level Playing Field (Democrat affiliated) and two backed by Advance Colorado (Republican affiliated), all with a petition submission deadline of August 3, 2026:
Initiative 240 (Democrat-backed) – Amends the state constitution to adopt a new temporary congressional map for use in the 2028 and 2030 elections, after which the independent redistricting commission resumes its normal authority ahead of 2032. Requires 55% voter approval.
Initiative 241 (Democrat-backed) – Moves the congressional redistricting commission from the state constitution into statute, but only if Initiative 242 also passes.
Initiative 242 (Democrat-backed) – Enacts the new temporary congressional map for 2028 and 2030, but only if Initiative 241 also passes.
Note: Initiatives 240 and the 241/242 pair would produce the same practical result — a new Democratic-favoring map for 2028 and 2030 — through two different legal mechanisms. Coloradans for a Level Playing Field will run either 240 alone or the 241/242 pair, not both.
Initiative 251 (Republican-backed) – Amends the state constitution to require that any mid-decade congressional redistricting map be approved by both the independent redistricting commission and the Colorado Supreme Court before taking effect, and prohibits any map drawn purposefully to favor one political party. Requires 55% voter approval.
Initiative 256 (Republican-backed) – Identical in substance to Initiative 251, but with a revised title set by the Title Board at rehearing. Currently subject to a pending Colorado Supreme Court challenge under case 26SA146. Requires 55% voter approval.
One structural limitation that distinguishes Colorado from states like California and Virginia is that even if the ballot measure passes in November 2026, any new map it produces would not take effect until the 2028 election cycle, meaning Colorado will play no role in the 2026 midterms regardless of the ballot measure’s outcome.
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