The 2008 congressional elections in Colorado were held on November 4, 2008 to determine who will represent the state of

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the 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 western edge of t ...

in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

, coinciding with the

presidential President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese fu ...

and

senatorial A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the eld ...

elections. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; those elected served in the

111th Congress The 111th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government from January 3, 2009, until January 3, 2011. It began during the last weeks of the George W. Bush administration, with th ...

from January 3, 2009 until January 3, 2011. Colorado had seven seats in the House, apportioned according to the

2000 United States Census The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 ce ...

. Its 2007-2008 congressional delegation consisted of four Democrats and three Republicans. After the elections, it consisted of five Democrats and two Republicans. District 4 changed party (from Republican to Democratic), which was the only district CQ Politics had forecasted to be at some risk for the incumbent party. The Primary election was held August 12, 2008.

Overview

Match-up summary

District breakdown

District 1

Democratic incumbent Diana DeGette won against Republican nominee George Lilly. DeGette was unopposed in her primary, and Lilly won against Charles Crain in his primary. ''CQ Politics'' forecasted the race as 'Safe Democrat'.

District 2

Democratic nominee Jared Polis, a businessman, won against Republican nominee Scott Starin, an aerospace engineer. ''CQ Politics'' forecasted the race as 'Safe Democrat'. This district had been represented by Democrat

Mark Udall Mark Emery Udall ( ; born July 18, 1950) is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Colorado from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the United States House of Representatives, represe ...

since 1999. With the retirement of Senator Wayne Allard, Udall ran for the Senate, leaving this an open seat. Polis won the Democratic primary against Senate President

Joan Fitz-Gerald Joan Fitz-Gerald is an American politician and attorney who served as a member of the Colorado Senate, representing the 16th district from 2001 until 2007. She also served as President of the Senate, the first woman to hold that office. Fitz ...

and Colorado Conservation Trust Director

Will Shafroth Will Shafroth (born June 3, 1957) is a conservationist and outdoor recreation enthusiast whose professional career has been in preservation and protection of public lands. Since July 2015, Shafroth has served as President and CEO of the National ...

. Starin was unopposed in the Republican primary. Former

Eagle County Eagle County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 55,731. The county seat is the Town of Eagle and the most populous community is Edwards. The county is named for the Eagle River. Eagl ...

Commissioner Tom Stone was earlier considered a possible Republican candidate, as was

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...

Mayor Mark Ruzzin for the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

. Democrats held a strong edge in this district, with the most recent Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry, having won 59% in 2004, as it was centered around heavily Democratic

District 3

Democratic incumbent

John Salazar John Tony Salazar (born July 21, 1953) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2005 until 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was appointed Commissioner of the Colorado Department of Agriculture in the C ...

won against Republican nominee Wayne Wolf. CQ Politics forecasted the race as 'Safe Democrat'.

District 4

Democratic nominee Betsy Markey, businesswoman and regional director for Senator

Ken Salazar Kenneth Lee Salazar (born March 2, 1955) is an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat who is the United States ambassador to Mexico. He previously served as the 50th United States Secretary of the Interior in the administration of President Ba ...

won against Republican incumbent

Marilyn Musgrave Marilyn Neoma Musgrave (née Shuler; born January 27, 1949), American politician, is a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives who served from 2003 to 2009, representing the 4th District of Colorado. Musgrave serv ...

), who had represented this district since 2003. Both ran unopposed in the party primary elections. ''CQ Politics'' forecasted the race as 'Leans Democratic'. ''The Rothenberg Political Report'' rated it 'Toss-Up/Tilt Democratic'. ''The Cook Political Report'' ranked it 'Republican Toss Up'. Musgrave, a conservative known for her staunch opposition to gay marriage, won in 2006 by winning a plurality (46%) of the vote against

Angie Paccione Angela Veronica "Angie" Paccione (born February 21, 1960) is a former Colorado legislator and was a 2006 Congressional candidate. A college basketball player at Stanford and professional basketball player in the 1980s, Paccione became a high s ...

(D) and a strong Reform Party challenge from Eric Eidsness, who managed to garner 11% of the vote. That, along with her 51% showing in 2004 despite George W. Bush winning 58% of the vote in this eastern Colorado district that includes the Fort Collins area, made her vulnerable in 2008. Democrats suffered a setback earlier when State Senator Brandon Schaffer suddenly dropped out, citing his party's failure to clear the field. Eidsness switched parties again, having switched from Republican to Reform Party the year prior, and became a Democrat, which could have fueled a potential rematch with Musgrave in 2008. 2006 nominee

briefly launched a campaign as well, but left the race in September 2007. On October 24, 2008, the National Republican Congressional Committee abandoned Marilyn Musgrave's 2008 reelection campaign, believing the race was lost. This decision was based solely on Musgrave's poor poll numbers. Musgrave launched a negative advertisement, attacking Markey over the business of Syscom Systems, the data-processing equipment company run by Markey and her husband. The Musgrave ad was called "highly misleading" by a Denver television station that investigated the facts. After her defeat, Musgrave would not comment on the election results with the media, nor would she concede the race or contact Markey to congratulate her. She also did not thank her campaign staff for their efforts. She later recorded a

robocall A robocall is a phone call that uses a computerized autodialer to deliver a pre-recorded message, as if from a robot. Robocalls are often associated with political and telemarketing phone campaigns, but can also be used for public service or emer ...

for Republican Georgia senator Saxby Chambliss, saying that she was defeated by "leftist special interests" who "suppressed the truth with vicious attacks and lies."

District 5

Freshman Republican incumbent

Doug Lamborn Douglas Lawrence Lamborn (born May 24, 1954) is an American attorney and politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2007. He is a member of the Republican Party. His district is based in Colorado Springs. Early life and career Born ...

won against Democratic nominee Hal Bidlack, a Clinton administration

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...

official, and Independent Rich Hand campaign website, running as a write-in candidate. The district is based in heavily Republican Colorado Springs. ''CQ Politics'' forecasted the race as 'Safe Republican'. Lamborn got bad press when two constituents accused him of making a threatening phone call in response to a critical letter they wrote. He won against

Jeff Crank Jeffrey George Crank (born January 28, 1967) is an American politician. He is a former candidate for United States Representative for Colorado's 5th congressional district. Early life, education, and career Crank was born in 1967 and graduated ...

and

Bentley Rayburn Bentley B. Rayburn (born June 15, 1953) is an American retired Air Force major general and businessman. Rayburn graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy, Georgetown University, and the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. He was named ...

, more moderate Republicans who had also run in 2006, in the Republican primary. In 2006, Lamborn had narrowly won a nasty multi-candidate primary with 27% of the vote, despite previous representative

Joel Hefley Joel Maurice Hefley (born April 18, 1935) is an American Republican politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives representing the 5th Congressional District of Colorado from 1987 to 2007. His wife, Lynn Hefle ...

's endorsement of Crank, citing Lamborn's "sleazy" campaign. Crank and Rayburn thus came to a gentleman's agreement - they would jointly conduct a poll of the primary, and whoever of the two of them was in third place would drop out and endorse the other, so as to have a better chance of defeating Lamborn. Rayburn came third in the poll, but he refused to drop out and Lamborn won the primary with 44% of the vote. Amid worries of vulnerability, Lamborn then won the general election by a 59%-41% margin, becoming the highest vote getter for a GOP Congressional candidate in the state in the 2006 cycle.

District 6

Republican nominee Mike Coffman won against Democratic nominee Hank Eng. ''CQ Politics'', ''The Cook Political Report'' and ''The Rothenberg Political Report'' all forecasted the race as 'Safe Republican', despite some minor controversies surrounding Mike Coffman and Colorado Ethics Watch.Ethics Watch Requests Criminal Investigation of Coffman
''Colorado Ethics Watch'', June 15, 2007 Eng ran unopposed in the Democratic Primary. Coffman defeated a crowded field of candidates including

Ted Harvey Ted Harvey is an American politician. In 2001, Harvey was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives as a Republican, representing the 43rd House District. Elected in 2006 to the Colorado Senate, he represented Senate District 30, which ...

, Steve Ward, and Will Armstrong (who was endorsed by the State GOP). Republican incumbent Tom Tancredo, who held the seat since 1999, decided to retire leaving it an open seat. His seat was considered to be the most Republican-dominated district of the Denver-area seats and was also one of the wealthiest in the nation. Tancredo was the second highest vote getter for a Republican congressional candidate statewide (59%-40%) in 2006, just behind Doug Lamborn in the 5th district. The district includes

Columbine High School Columbine High School (CHS) is a public high school in Columbine, Colorado, United States, in the Denver metropolitan area. It is part of the Jefferson County Public Schools district. In 1999, it became the scene of an infamous mass shooti ...

, which was devastated in a tragic 1999 school massacre.

District 7

Democratic incumbent

Ed Perlmutter Edwin George Perlmutter (born May 1, 1953) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for . A member of the Democratic Party, his district is located in the northern and western suburbs of the Denver metropolitan area ...

, who had represented this district since 2007, won against Republican nominee John W. Lerew. CQ Politics forecasted the race as 'Safe Democrat'. In 2006, Perlmutter won 55% of the vote in this suburban Denver district that narrowly went to John Kerry with 52% in 2004. The district's voter registration was split, with independents constituting a slim plurality of 35% compared to Democrats (34%) and Republicans (31%).

References

;Specific ;General
2008 Competitive House Race Chart
''

The Cook Political Report ''The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter'' is an American online newsletter that analyzes elections and campaigns for the U.S. Presidency, the United States Senate, the United States House of Representatives, and U.S. governors' offices. Sel ...

'', October 28, 2008
2008 House Ratings
'' The Rothenberg Political Report'', October 22, 2008

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP). ...

District 1 race ranking and details
from

CQ Politics Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is part of a privately owned publishing company called CQ Roll Call that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress. CQ was acquired by the Economist Group and combined ...

District 1 campaign contributions
from

District 2 race ranking and details
from

District 2 campaign contributions
from

District 3 race ranking and details
from

District 3 campaign contributions
from

District 4 race ranking and details
from

District 4 campaign contributions
from

Musgrave (R-i) vs Markey (D)
graph of collected poll results from ''Pollster.com''
District 5 race ranking and details
from

District 5 campaign contributions
from

Cherry Creek News: Where's Hank
from ''Cherry Creek News''
District 6 race ranking and details
from

District 6 campaign contributions
from

District 7 race ranking and details
from

District 7 campaign contributions
from

{{2008 United States elections

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...