U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, a Republican from Yuma, will no longer represent Larimer County in Congress after next year, after the Colorado Supreme Court decided to uphold the final redistricting map submitted by the state Legislature.
That map, approved by Denver District Court Judge Robert Hyatt in November and affirmed Monday by the Supreme Court, moves Larimer County out of the Fourth Congressional District and into the Second. There it joins most of Boulder and Jefferson counties as well as the mountain counties of Gilpin, Clear Creek, Summit and Grand. The eastern portion of Eagle County is also part of the district, currently represented by Rep. Jared Polis, a Democrat from Boulder.
Most of Douglas County, south of Denver, and large portions of Adams and Arapahoe counties move into the Fourth District with Weld County and all the Eastern Plains. The district has been represented by Republicans for all but two of the past 30 years.
The new district boundaries will be in place for the 2012 election. Longmont, the portion of Boulder County represented by state Senate President Brandon Shaffer, a Democrat, remains in the Fourth District. Shaffer is challenging Gardner for the Congressional seat next year.
Congressional districts are redrawn every 10 years to reflect population shifts reported by the U.S. Census. Although the state Legislature is responsible for setting the boundaries, the issue has been decided by the courts since 1980.