The 6th Congressional District–evenly divided among Democrats, Republicans and independents–is the state’s most ethnically diverse as well as one of the most competitive House races in the nation. Republican incumbent Mike Coffman is running against Democratic Challenger and former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff. The race has become one of the most expensive and closely watched in the nation this year. Coffman was elected to the 6th as a House representative in 2008. Redistricting in 2012 has turned the Republican stronghold to a competitive swing seat. In 2012, Coffman beat Democrat Joe Miklosi by 2 percentage points.
[srp display_thumbnail=”no” widget_title=”Recent Secretary of State Race News” widget_title_hide=”no” post_limit=”5″ post_content_type=”excerpt” post_content_mode=”titleonly” post_date=”no” post_author_url=”no” category_title=”no” post_category_link=”yes” category_include=”15105″]
[wc_accordion collapse=”1″ leaveopen=”0″ layout=”box”] [wc_accordion_section title=”About the Race“]
Eyes are on Aurora’s House race Coffman vs Romanoff
By Rachel Sapin, Staff Writer
Democratic challenger Andrew Romanoff is facing 6th Congressional District incumbent Rep. Mike Coffman in what pundits are calling the most closely watched U.S. House race in the country.
In an election that will hinge on thousands of votes, the district is almost evenly divided among Democrats, Republicans and independents, and it’s also the state’s most ethnically diverse. Latinos make up about 20 percent, and blacks and Asians make up more than 13 percent of the district. Recent immigrants make up a sizable voting bloc in an area where Ethiopian and Korean restaurants can be found in nearly every strip mall.
The mostly Aurora district was reshaped after the 2010 census. In 2012, Coffman won narrowly against Democratic challenger Joe Miklosi by two percentage points. Coffman garnered 7,000 more votes than Miklosi, which brought his total to 163,938 votes.
For this year’s race, both Coffman and Romanoff have raised $6.8 million as of June 30, elevating the Colorado race to the sixth most expensive House race in the nation. Candidates will file their next financial reports Oct. 15 and once more before November’s general election. According to The Colorado Statesman, it’s one of only eight races nationwide where a challenger from the opposite party has raised more money than the incumbent.
Pundits predict total spending for both sides to be as much as $25 million come November.
Coffman has been Aurora’s 6th Congressional District representative since 2009. His challenger, Romanoff, served for eight years in the Colorado House of Representatives, and then unsuccessfully challenged Sen. Michael Bennet in 2010 for a Democratic U.S. Senate nomination. The former Colorado House Speaker moved from Denver to Aurora in 2013.
The candidates have clashed repeatedly over immigration, campaign finance, and climate change.
Coffman said he does not support the omnibus immigration package passed out of the Senate last year.
He said he doesn’t support a special path to citizenship for adults in the country who knowingly illegally immigrated to the country, contrary to one of the Senate bill’s main tenets and a contentious topic between Republicans and Democrats. Coffman supports a proposal that would allow enlistees who have received Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status a path to citizenship through military service. Currently, to enlist in the military, immigrants must be permanent residents with a green card. Coffman didn’t support the executive order creating DACA last year, but he said he supports the program — just not the way it was created by President Barack Obama.
“I think at the end of the day, there’s going to be a middle path,” he said earlier this year. “And in my view, we need to come up with a permanent solution that we’re not, 20 or 30 years from now, wringing our hands again and saying, ‘We have a broken immigration system.’”
Romanoff has stated that he supports comprehensive immigration reform and said if elected he would vote to pass the Senate’s immigration bill. He has often criticized the Republican-led House’s inaction on the bill and GOP leaders’ preference for a piecemeal approach rather than comprehensive legislation.
When Romanoff asked Coffman at a debate held by the Aurora Chamber of Commerce in August whether he would join him in being the first two candidates in history to turn down all contributions from political action committees, things got heated. Coffman is taking political action committee money for this campaign. Romanoff is not.
“You have lobbyists on your campaign. If you think it’s wrong, get those lobbyists off your campaign,” Coffman said as he pounded the table.
Romanoff said at the same debate he is in favor of the federal Manchin-Toomey gun control amendment. The bill, which failed in the Senate last year, would have required background checks on all commercial gun sales.
“I believe ultimately, that is a decision for states to make in whether or not to have a universal background check, and what component things are going to be in it to determine who can have access to a firearm, and who cannot have access,” Coffman said. “So I would not support that bill.”
Coffman’s position on the statewide personhood amendment has been a lightening rod for debate with his opponent, who has described Coffman’s opposition to reproductive rights as “unequivocal” and “unapologetic.”
In a reply, Coffman’s campaign called the attacks “sleaze” and said the congressman didn’t support personhood in 2012, even though it wasn’t on Colorado’s ballot, despite supporting it in 2008. Voters overwhelmingly rejected the measures in 2008 and 2010.
During a slew of questions at a Denver Post debate in September, where the candidates were told to answer either yes or no, Coffman said he did not support same sex marriage in Colorado while Romanoff said he supported it. Coffman said he did not believe humans are contributing significantly to climate change, while Romanoff said he did believe humans are contributing to climate change.
When given time to elaborate, Coffman said he believed marriage should be allowed only for a man and a woman, but that he would support whatever decisions Colorado citizens wanted in Congress. “It’s ultimately up for the voters of Colorado to make that decision,” he said in support of Colorado’s ban on same sex marriage, which was recently lifted by a Federal Appeals Court and a subsequent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Romanoff said he supports the Affordable Care Act, while Coffman said he opposes it and wants to repeal it. At a debate in September, Romanoff said he did not support a single-payer health care system.
Both candidates said they would work to protect Buckley Air Force Base from a potential round of base closures in 2015 and that they support defense budget cuts. Coffman, a combat veteran, said he was working with Colorado Senator Mark Udall in the House Armed Services Committee on replacing the base’s F16 jets with F35 jets. “If we fail to do that … then we will no longer have an active runway at Buckley Air Force Base,” he said. Coffman has also called for Congress to close bases overseas as a way to save money.
[/wc_accordion_section] [wc_accordion_section title=”Andrew Romanoff Bio“]
Andrew Romanoff was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Columbus, Ohio. He graduated with a B.A. from Yale University in 1989, and an M.P.P. from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1993. He also holds a law degree from the University of Denver. Romanoff has also worked for the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.
He currently resides in Aurora, Colorado, where he moved in 2013. He previously served as an instructor at the Community College of Aurora.
[/wc_accordion_section] [wc_accordion_section title=”Mike Coffman Bio“]
Mike Coffman is a veteran and former small business owner in Aurora that has served his state and country since enlisting in the Army at age 17.
The son of a career soldier who grew up in the working class neighborhoods of Aurora, in 1972 Mike dropped out of high school to join the Army, later earning a high school diploma and attending the University of Colorado on the G.I. Bill.
Prior to graduating, he was able to take a leave of absence from the Army Reserve and the University of Colorado for one year to attend Vaishnav College in India and the University of Veracruz in Mexico.
After CU, Mike transferred to the U.S. Marine Corps where he became an infantry officer. In 1983, Mike Coffman came back to Colorado to start a property management business, which he sold in 2000.
He has served Colorado as a state legislator, the state treasurer and as the secretary of state.He is married to Cynthia Coffman, the Chief Deputy Attorney General who is currently running as the Republican nominee for Attorney General
.
[/wc_accordion_section] [wc_accordion_section title=”Andrew Romanoff Bio Finance“]
https://www.fec.gov/fecviewer/CandidateCommitteeDetail.do?candidateCommitteeId=H4CO06087&tabIndex=1
[/wc_accordion_section] [wc_accordion_section title=”Mike Coffman Finance“]
https://www.fec.gov/fecviewer/CandidateCommitteeDetail.do?candidateCommitteeId=H8CO06138&tabIndex=1
[/wc_accordion_section] [wc_accordion_section title=”Andrew Romanoff Bio Endorsements“]
Coming soon
[/wc_accordion_section] [wc_accordion_section title=”Mike Coffman Endorsements“]
Coming soon
[/wc_accordion_section] [/wc_accordion]