A voter guide to districts for Colorado's House and Senate, U.S. Congress

Natasha Lovato, Fort Collins Coloradoan
Updated ·2 min read

2024 is a big election year for local municipalities and the nation, meaning registered voters will have ballots chock-full of measures and candidates. So, when it comes down to selecting legislators, it's helpful to know the difference between U.S. Congress and Colorado's House and Senate, and the districts that form them.

Colorado General Assembly: House and Senate

Every state has a state legislature. Similar to Congress, the Colorado General Assembly includes the House and the Senate. The Colorado General Assembly has a total of 100 members: 35 are members of the Senate and 65 are members of the House. The state senators and representatives are elected to represent each district in Colorado.

Those legislators introduce and pass bills that impact the state. In order to become a law, a bill has to pass both the House and the Senate and get signed by the governor.

More: Here's who's running to represent Northern Colorado at the state capitol, so far

How Colorado is represented in U.S. Congress

Congress is also made up of two chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate. Congress passes legislation at a nationwide level, and legislators are seated in Washington, D.C., rather than at the Colorado Capitol. Every state has two senators and a different number of representatives depending on population. Colorado has eight representatives who are elected by their districts. The state's senators are elected to represent all of Colorado and are not tied to specific districts.

Making sense of the different districts

Every state varies based on population. For Coloradans, where they live determines the districts in which they live.

For the Colorado General Assembly, there are 35 Senate districts and 65 House districts. Each of the 35 state Senate districts has about 164,963 people, and the 65 state House districts has about 88,826 people, according to the state’s redistricting information.

Here's a map of the state Senate districts:

Colorado's state Senate districts. There are 35 districts for the Colorado Senate.
Colorado's state Senate districts. There are 35 districts for the Colorado Senate.

And here's one of the state House districts:

Colorado's state House districts. There are 65 districts for the Colorado House of Representatives.
Colorado's state House districts. There are 65 districts for the Colorado House of Representatives.

On the national level, there are eight congressional districts in Colorado. Congressional districts are supposed to be relatively equal in population. Each of the eight congressional districts will serve about 721,714 people.

Here's a map of Colorado's congressional districts:

Colorado's congressional districts. Colorado has eight representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Colorado's congressional districts. Colorado has eight representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Most likely, Coloradans live and vote within multiple districts. For example, if you live in Fort Collins, you are a part of the 2nd Congressional District and represented in Washington, D.C., by Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse. Depending on your address though, you could be in state Senate District 14 or 23, and your district in the state House could be 53 or 52.

Click here to find your districts and legislators.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: A voter guide to Colorado's House and Senate, U.S. Congress districts