By the Numbers, Part 2: Federal Elections

Look for an analysis post on September 25 for more details on registered voters and recent district performance for all 8 federal races.

Found here.

There are 8 federal races in Colorado this year—one in each of our 7 Congressional Districts and a statewide U.S. Senate race.  There are 29 total candidates across 5 parties.  Each race has at least a Democratic candidate and a Republican candidate.  3 races (in CDs 2, 5, and 7) are straight-up votes between Republican and Democratic candidates only. (Figure 1)

Figure 1: Federal Candidates

Republican candidates have raised a total of over $11,000,000 for federal races in Colorado (Figure 2) and spent just under $5,000,000 so far (Figure 3).  Numbers are current as of the July 15 reporting period.  The next report will not be until October.

Figure 2: Republican Contributions

Figure 3: Republican Expenditures

Democratic candidates have raised a total of over $17,500,000 for federal races in Colorado (Figure 4) and spent just under $9,000,000 so far (Figure 5).  Numbers are current as of the July 15 reporting period.  The next report will not be until October.

Figure 4: Democratic Contributions

Figure 5: Democratic Expenditures

Historically, Colorado is not the red state, at least federally, that everyone seems to think it once was. Since 1876, Colorado has only had Republican Representation in the districts up for election in 2014 51.56% of the time--barely over half. (Figure 6)

Figure 6: Historic Federal Performance

Please note: there were two at-large districts at various times before 1914, which were represented by Republicans 73.33% of the time they were around.  Please also note that in CD1 (once) and CD2 (five times), Populists Representatives were elected.

By the Numbers Part 1: County-wide Offices

Because of the number and variety of races for county-wide office in Colorado, no financial information is included at this time.  If I have the opportunity to look at that before the election, I may edit that information in here, but it might be too disparate with which to make good comparisons.

There are 392 total races for offices across 62 counties (Broomfield and Denver are city-counties and do not have elections like other counties).  The average number of races per county is 6.  5 races per county is the least, and 8 the most (Chart 1).

Chart 1

Of the 62 counties, 28 counties have Republican candidates in every single race, while only 9 counties have Democratic candidates in every single race.  There are just 4 counties with no Republican candidates at all, but there are 12 counties with no Democratic candidates at all.  9 counties have a mix of Republicans and Democrats running for different numbers of offices each. (Chart 2)

Chart 2

Below are counties with only Republican/Democratic candidates running. (Chart 3)

Chart 3

Of 392 races, 195 Republicans are running entirely unopposed by anyone of any Party.  64 Democratic candidates are unopposed, and 7 Unaffiliated Candidates are entirely unopposed.  34 more races are Republican candidates with no Democratic opposition, and 20 races are Democratic candidates with no Republican opposition. (Chart 4)

Chart 4

Of 526 total candidates, 306 are Republicans, 166 are Democratic, 44 are Unaffiliated, and 10 are other parties (American Constitution Party, Green, and Libertarian). (Chart 4)

Chart 5