2020 United States presidential election in Colorado

The 2020 United States presidential election in Colorado was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Colorado voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, incumbent President Donald Trump from Florida, and his running mate Vice President Mike Pence from Indiana, against Democratic Party nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden from Delaware, and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris from California. Colorado had nine electoral votes in the Electoral College.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) proposed Denver as a finalist to host the 2020 Democratic National Convention, but the city declined, citing conflicts. The Democrats had met in Denver in 1908 and 2008 Democratic National Convention. The DNC ultimately decided to hold the convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Prior to the election, all 14 news organizations considered Colorado a state Biden would win, or a likely blue state. On the day of the election, Biden won Colorado with over 55% of the vote, and by a victory margin of 13.50%, an 8.6 percentage point improvement on Hillary Clinton's victory in the state four years prior, the strongest Democratic performance since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, and the first time that it voted for a presidential candidate of either major party by a double-digit percentage since Ronald Reagan in 1984. Per exit polls by the Associated Press, changing demographics made Colorado more favorable to Democrats, with Latinos backing Biden with 68%, including Latinos of Mexican heritage with 75%. Biden also carried Whites with 53%. 69% of voters favored increasing federal government spending on green and renewable energy, and they favored Biden by 76%–23%.

Biden flipped three counties in Colorado: Pueblo County, which had been reliably Democratic before narrowly backing Trump in 2016; Chaffee County, one of the few counties to flip from John McCain in 2008 to Barack Obama in 2012; and Garfield County, which had last voted Democratic when Bill Clinton won it in 1992. Biden also significantly closed the gap in the GOP's two largest remaining strongholds in the state, El Paso County and Douglas County, becoming the first Democrat to win more than 40% of the vote in the former since 1964 and closing the gap in the latter to single digits for the first time since 1964. Trump became the first Republican since William McKinley in 1900 to lose Colorado in multiple presidential elections. Nevertheless, Biden became the first Democrat since Grover Cleveland in 1892 to win the White House without carrying Conejos County, as well as the first since Woodrow Wilson in 1912 to do so without carrying Huerfano or Las Animas Counties. Trump also narrowly flipped Alamosa County, one of only fifteen counties nationwide that flipped from Hillary Clinton in 2016 to Trump in 2020, thereby making Biden the first Democratic president to be elected without carrying this county since Jimmy Carter in 1976.

This marked the first time since 1968 that Colorado voted more Democratic than neighboring New Mexico. Biden carried New Mexico by 10.79%, 2.71 points lower than Colorado.

Primary elections

The primary elections were held on Super Tuesday, March 3, 2020.

Republican primary

The Republican primary was due to be canceled until Robert Ardini, a retired advertising executive, decided to submit his name for the ballot. Several others subsequently joined him.

Democratic primary

Libertarian nominee

• Jo Jorgensen, Psychology Senior Lecturer at Clemson University

General election

Predictions

Polling

Graphical summary

Aggregate polls

Polls

Results

Results by county

Results by congressional district

Biden won 4 out of the 7 congressional districts in Colorado.

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Chaffee (largest municipality: Salida)
• Garfield (largest municipality: Glenwood Springs)
• Pueblo (largest municipality: Pueblo)

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Alamosa (largest municipality: Alamosa)

Analysis

In this election, Colorado weighed in as 9.1% more Democratic than the nation as a whole. The results established Colorado as a Democratic stronghold, rather than the Democratic-leaning battleground state it had been for the past three election cycles and previously a Republican leaning state, as Trump became the first Republican incumbent since William Howard Taft to consecutively lose the state between elections. With Biden's win, Colorado voted Democratic at the presidential level four times in a row for the first time since statehood, the state having previously voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 and for Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Unlike Virginia, another Republican-leaning turned battleground state that also voted Democratic by double digits for the first time in decades at the presidential level in 2020, Colorado's status as a blue state would hold up following the 2022 midterms, in which Democrats won every statewide offices by double digits, and expanded their majorities in the state legislature. This would stand in contrast to Virginia in 2021, which saw Republicans win all three elected offices and the lower house.

Edison exit polls

Notes

Partisan clients

See also

• United States presidential elections in Colorado
• 2020 Colorado elections
• 2020 United States presidential election
• 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries
• 2020 Republican Party presidential primaries
• 2020 United States elections

References

Further reading

• Summary: State Laws on Presidential Electors (PDF), Washington DC: National Association of Secretaries of State, August 2020, Colorado

External links

• "League of Women Voters of Colorado". (state affiliate of the U.S. League of Women Voters)
• League of Women Voters, "Voting in my state: Colorado", Vote411.org