Defining Downtown Lakewood: Political Leanings

Cities have their political leanings. When people mention Boulder, liberal is the term that quickly comes to mind. Mention Colorado Springs, and it's conservative.

But what about Lakewood?

Lakewood is the largest city in Jefferson County, and Jeffco is often described as the classic swing county here in Colorado, making or breaking candidates for statewide office. And yet, in the last decade, Jeffco has been trending blue, voting more and more often for Democrats over Republicans.

Much of this trend has been driven by Lakewood, which has become a Democratic bastion within Jeffco.

This is nicely illustrated by the results of the most recent 2014 elections.

Colorado House District 28 in Blue and
House District 23 in Yellow

State House Districts

Much of Lakewood (and all of downtown Lakewood) sits within the borders of Colorado House District 28, which is represented by Democrat Brittany Petersen. The rest of Lakewood sits in House District 23, which is represented by Democrat Max Tyler.

Although 2014 was widely viewed as a banner year for Republicans, Petersen won her election by a solid 55% of the vote. Her Republican opponent, Stacia Kuhn, received just 45%. Tyler, meanwhile, handily won his election with 51% of the vote vs. 41% for his Republican opponent Jane Barnes.

So, in the two races where voters consisted mostly of Lakewood residents, Democrats won by solid margins.

State Senate District

Lakewood's Democratic strength is also shown in the results of Colorado Senate District 22.

Geographically, this district is long and skinny, stretching from downtown Lakewood and Edgewater in the north all the way down to C-470 in the south. Voters in the southern part of the district are more Republican. Voters in the north of the district are more Democratic.

Colorado Senate District 22

So how did the last election pan out?

Despite Republican headwinds, incumbent Senator and Democrat Andy Kerr narrowly won re-election, garnering 51% of the vote, while his Republican and Tea-Party affiliated opponent Tony Sanchez received 49%.

Again, I think this speaks to the strength of Lakewood as an emerging Democratic stronghold-- Kerr would not have been able to win without the heavy support of Lakewood's voters.

Statewide and Federal Elections

I haven't been able to dig up detailed voting statistics for Lakewood for statewide  and federal elections, but I do have data for how Jeffco voted as a whole, and I think the results speak, again, to the way Jeffco (with Lakewood's help) is trending blue.

In the 2014 elections, Jeffco went for Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper over his Republican opponent Bob Beauprez by a margin of 51% to 46%.

Jeffco also supported Democratic Representative Ed Perlmutter over his opponent Don Ytterberg by a solid 55% to 45%.

Perhaps most tellingly, however, Jeffco voters preferred incumbent Senator Mark Udall over Cory Gardner by 47.24% to 46.99%. Gardner, of course, won the election, but (by an admittedly very narrow margin) Jeffco voters went against the statewide trend, voting instead with Denver and Boulder for the more liberal candidate.

Downtown Lakewood

Looking at this data all together, and especially at the way the Colorado state house and senate seat are drawn, we get a picture of Lakewood as more Democratic than the rest of Jefferson county, and downtown Lakewood as more Democratic than suburban Lakewood.