The Colorado Democrat Party is having a meltdown over its own state Supreme Court, which issued a ruling today on its attempt to get redistricting measures on the 2026 ballot.
Democrats just suffered a major setback in their plans to counter Republican redistricting gains before the 2028 elections.
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Monday that all five proposed redistricting ballot measures in the state — three led by Democrats and two led by Republicans — violated the state’s constitution, preventing either party from implementing new maps by undoing the independent commission that currently controls the process.
Shades of Virginia. In that case, the Democrats decided to disregard their state constitution and put a gerrymander referendum on the ballot anyway without following proper procedure. That’s when the VA Supreme Court shut them down, and the United States Supreme Court wouldn’t touch it.
The Colorado Supreme Court saved the Democrat Party the trouble and embarrassment.
First Virginia, now Colorado. Republicans redraw full speed ahead wherever they can, while Democrats keep watching commissions and courts block their own side from fighting back.
This is what years of unilateral disarmament looks like. https://t.co/2deBlsOM62
— BeshearStan (@BeshearStan) June 29, 2026
No, dear Stan, it’s that some lawmakers in Republican-dominant states have finally learned to play by the Democrats’ rules, and the Democrats don’t like it one bit.
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Colorado’s eight House seats are currently split evenly between both parties, and one of Democrats’ most ambitious redraw efforts would have created a map where seven of the districts favor the party.
Because Democrats would have needed a measure on the ballot this fall in order to redraw for 2028, the timing of the ruling makes it all but impossible to redraw.
The court issued two opinions on the redistricting measures Monday, and both were unanimous decisions against proposed remapping efforts.
Just the News correspondent Ben Whedon broke it down in layman’s terms, pointing to the Democrats’ failures in ensuring their gerrymander could pass legal and constitutional muster.
Not quite, the reason for this ruling was a specific provision of Colorado’s constitution that limits ballot initiatives to single issues
These three would only take effect if the other passed, which the court said isn’t single issue
You can just submit a new one
More broadly,… https://t.co/FOnoh72c3z
— Ben Whedon (@whedonwins) June 29, 2026
Not quite, the reason for this ruling was a specific provision of Colorado’s constitution that limits ballot initiatives to single issues
These three would only take effect if the other passed, which the court said isn’t single issue
You can just submit a new one
More broadly, there are two main reasons Democrats have struggled with redistricting.
1) Their strongest states spearheaded independent commissions, which put constitutional barriers in place to keep the legislatures from redistricting
2) Poor legal drafting in Colo, and disregard for explicit constitutional provisions in VA upended those
Republicans got hit in Utah the same way, by their own state supreme court
More from Politico:
That scuttles Democrats’ hopes to pick up as many as three House seats as part of the running nationwide gerrymandering battle. It’s also the latest court setback for Democrats after their gerrymander in Virginia faced a similar fate and the U.S. Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act, allowing the GOP to dismantle minority-majority districts across the South.
Even with Tuesday’s blow to election integrity from the United States Supreme Court, which upheld a state’s ability to extend the receipt of mail-in ballots past election day, with other SCOTUS rulings making temporary protected status (TPS) temporary again, and weighing in on the side of presidential executive authority, what this all portends is the erosion of the Democrats’ usual apparatuses and avenues which they use to game the system to their advantage.
Now, if Republicans would only get their act together to ensure the SAVE America Act passes, America just might have a fighting chance of dismantling these schemes completely.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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