On November 6 2018, Joe Neguse became Colorado’s first African-American member of Congress. Neguse claimed victory in the 2nd congressional district located in north-central Colorado. The district includes the suburbs of Denver, Boulder, Northglenn, Westminster, Vail, Grand Lake, and Idaho Springs. Furthermore, the 2010 census, redistricted Larimer County into the 2nd congressional district, which includes Fort Collins and and Loveland. The district’s current representative, Democrat Jared Polis, one of seven openly gay members of Congress, has retired after recently being elected governor of Colorado. Polis has represented the district in the House since 2009. Joe Neguse’s claimed victory of Colorado’s 2nd congressional district is a result of party identification or position taking, campaign fundraising, and voter turnout.
The 2nd congressional district of Colorado consists of an estimated 799,734 people. Within the population of this district, there are 403,643 males and 396,091females. The population is dominantly white in the district. There are 729,280 white individuals, there are 8,640 african american individuals, and there are 25,229 asian individuals. Most of the population is born in the United States. The median household income in the 2nd congressional district of Colorado is $80,019. The percent of people below the poverty level in this district is 10.7%. This district contains an educated population, with 96.3% of people being high school graduates or higher and 56.4% of people have completed a bachelor's degree or higher (Census). Overall, this district is primarily white and democratic. This district is also a reasonably educated.
Following Polis’ announcement to run for governor, Todd Mitchem, Mark Williams, Nick Thomas, Roger Barris, Peter Yu, and Joe Neguse began campaigning for the incumbent’s seat in the House of Representatives. Mitchem, a cannabis industry consultant and libertarian, withdrew from the election shortly after announcing his campaign. Williams lost the democratic primary on June 26 to Joe Neguse. Joe Neguse won over more support and more campaign finances after defeating Williams for the primary. Neguse had 66 percent of the votes for the primary by a two-to-one margin, giving him an early advantage (Coloradon).
Joe Neguse won the position of 2nd congressional district of Colorado as a result of party identification and position taking. Party identification is loyalty or a psychological attachment to a political party (Kollman 353). This means political parties already have a foundation of support from the population. David Mayhew defines position taking as, “The public enunciation of a judgemental statement on anything likely to be of interest to political actors” (Mayhew 166). In simpler terms this means taking stands on issues and responding to constituents. Mayhew states, “The most important classes of judgement statements are governmental ends or governmental means” (Mayhew 166). Governmental ends are a vote cast against the war. Governmental means are a statement from the candidate that makes it an at-large statement by involving the United Nations, such as bringing a war to stop by involving the United Nations.
Party identification played a role in Neguse victory due to a couple of factors. The first factor is the 2nd congressional district has not been republican since 1975. This district is notoriously democratic (ballotpedia). The second factor is this district contains a multitude of universities, including University of Colorado Boulder and Colorado State University. College students are looking for government aided programs to help pay tuitions and most young people tend to be democratic. The extensive amount of school shootings over the course of the year are another reason young people identify as democrats as they support gun reform. Neguse supports gun reform unlike his opposing candidate, Peter Yu.
Joe Neguse’s position taking was meaningful to his achievement of winning. Neguse and Yu had very opposing views on the most important current issues. The issues include human-caused climate change, rolling back federal environmental laws, bans on assault-style weapons, Colorado moving away from fossil fuels and moving towards renewable energy, federal legalization of marijuana, and immigrant reformation. Neguse supports the idea of bans on assault-style weapons and the federal legalization of marijuana. Yu does not support either of those ideas. Neguse also supports human-caused climate change, Colorado moving away from fossil fuels and moving towards renewable energy, and immigrant reformation. He does not support rolling back federal environmental laws however. Yu is does not fully support human -caused climate change, Colorado moving away from fossil fuels and moving towards renewable energy, and immigrant reformation. Yu is also not completely opposed to rolling back federal environmental laws (CPR). The 2nd congressional district of Colorado is known for being democrat and Yu does not support liberal ideas compared to Neguse. This gives Neguse an advantage over Yu and leads to Neguse being elected.
Another consequence of Joe Neguse defeating Peter Yu in the 2nd congressional district of Colorado is campaign fundraising. Campaign fundraising is critical during an election because it allows the candidate to spend more towards their campaign. This can go towards advertisements, the candidate being able to travel and speak more, and can intimidate other candidates running for the same position (Norton).
The candidates who ran for the position of 2nd congressional district of Colorado were Joe Neguse, Peter Yu, Roger Barris for the libertarian party, and Nick Thomas for the independent party. Joe Neguse significantly had the most campaign funds out of all the candidates. Joe Neguse raised $1,120,734 for the election and spent $892,036, leaving him with a total of $228,698 left over. In comparison, Peter Yu raised $53,221 which is extraordinary less than Neguse’s campaign funds. Yu spent $35,331 on the campaign leaving him with $17,890 overall. Neguse and Yu raised a remarkable amount compared to their counterparts, Barris and Thomas. Independent candidate, Nick Thomas, raised no money for his campaign even though he received more votes than libertarian candidate, Roger Barris. Barris raised $650 for the campaign, but spent $31,252, which grants him -$30,602 leftover (ballotpedia).
It is no coincidence between Joe Neguse winning the 2nd congressional district and having raised the most campaign funds. This allows Neguse to further advance his campaign more so than the opposing candidates. This is a considerable factor of the outcome of the election.
The last crucial circumstance for the outcome of Colorado’s 2nd congressional district is voter turnout. Voter turnout is the proportion of potential voters who vote in a given election (Kollan 395). Voter turnout is critical to election, especially elections that are very close. In elections that are very close, voters feel their vote actually matters, political organizations may expand their efforts to encourage voting, and there is more media coverage, which allows voters to receive more information on the election (kollman 397). In recent years, elections have been extremely competitive causing a higher voter turnout.
The democratic primary election had 116,873 total votes. Out of the total votes, Joe Neguse received 76,829 votes compared to his opposing candidate, Mark Williams, who received 40,044 votes. There was a total of 420,222 votes for the general election of the 2nd district of Colorado. Joe Neguse collected 252,220 votes, which is 60 percent of the total votes. Contending candidate, Peter Yu, received 142,617 votes, which is 33.9 percent of the total votes. The other votes are dispersed between Nick Thomas and Roger Barris. Nick Thomas received 15,961 votes, which is 3.8 percent of the total votes. Roger Barris collected the remaining 9,424 votes, which is 2.2 percent of the total votes (Ballotpedia).
The 2018 election for the 2nd congressional district of Colorado had an average voter turnout in comparison to previous years. The 2016 election had a total of 457,312 votes. Democrats had the highest percentage of votes in comparison to republicans. The democratic party had 260,175 votes, which is 56.9% of the total votes. Republicans had 170,001votes. In addition, the 2014 election had a total of 345,945 votes. This election was closer in comparison to previous years. The democratic party had 196,300 votes, which is 56.7% percent of the total votes, whereas the republican party had 149,645 votes (ballotpedia). Voter turnout gave Joe Neguse an advantage in this election because the 2nd congressional district of Colorado is historically democratic. In addition, the democratic party has a higher voter turnout in comparison to other parties, especially the republican party.
In conclusion, the outcome of the election for the 2nd congressional district of Colorado is the result of three major factors. Joe Neguse defeated Peter Yu because of the three major factors. The three major factors are party identification and position taking, campaign finances, and voter turnout. Party identification and position taking are an advantage for Neguse because the district is historically democratic. Campaign finances gave Neguse more leverage in this election because Neguse had significant more amount of campaign funds which are used to promote his campaign. Lastly, voter turnout is a consequence of Neguse claiming victory of the district because democrats have historically had higher voter turnout in this district.