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Bob Beauprez

Bob Beauprez (1948–) is a rancher and former banker and politician from Boulder County. He represented Colorado’s Seventh Congressional District from 2003 to 2007 and ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2006 and 2014. A devout Catholic and member of the…

Colorado Congressional Districts

Colorado is divided into seven Congressional districts according to population, with each district represented by an elected member of the United States House of Representatives. Colorado representatives serve two-year terms, as required by the US…

Diana DeGette

Diana DeGette (1957– ) is a lawyer and politician who has represented Colorado’s First Congressional District—the city of Denver—in the US House of Representatives since 1997. A member of the Democratic Party, DeGette is known for her ardent support of…

Jared Polis

Jared Schutz Polis (1975– ) is the forty-third governor of Colorado, elected in 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, Polis formerly represented Colorado’s Second Congressional District and served on the State Board of Education. Polis is a…

Joe Neguse

Joseph “Joe” D. Neguse (1984–) is a politician who represents Colorado’s Second Congressional District, which includes Boulder, Fort Collins, and most of the northern Front Range. A member of the Democratic Party, Neguse is the first African American…

John Hickenlooper

John Wright Hickenlooper II (1952– ) is a Colorado businessman and politician who served as mayor of Denver from 2003 to 2011 and forty-third governor of the state from 2011 to 2019. In 2020 Hickenlooper was elected to the US Senate. In 1988 he founded…

Ken Buck

Ken Buck (1959–) is an attorney and politician from Weld County. He represents Colorado’s Fourth Congressional District in the US House of Representatives, an office he has held since 2015, winning reelection in 2016 and 2018. Since March 2019, Buck has…

Mark Udall

Mark Emery Udall (1950–) is a former US representative (1999–2008) and senator (2009–14) from Colorado. A member of the Democratic Party, Udall comes from a prominent political family in the American West. His father was former senator Morris Udall; his…

Michael Hancock

Michael Hancock (1969– ) is the forty-fifth mayor of Denver, elected in 2011. Currently in his third term, Hancock succeeded fellow Democrat John Hickenlooper and interim mayor Guillermo Vidal. Widely seen as a pro-growth mayor, Hancock is credited with…

Mike Coffman

Mike Coffman (1955–) is a Colorado politician who is currently the mayor of Aurora, his childhood hometown. From 2009 to 2019, Coffman served in Congress, representing Colorado’s Sixth Congressional District, which includes Aurora. He also previously…

Populism in Colorado

Populism was a third-party political movement of the 1890s that left an enduring imprint on Colorado history. The Populist or People’s Party was especially strong in the south, Midwest, and west because it focused on the grievances of farmers, workers,…

Progressive Era in Colorado

The Progressive Era (1900–20) was a national period of social and political reform in which grassroots activists and their political allies sought the power of government and science to address pressing public problems. In Colorado, Progressives brought…