Volatility and Volition: The Pendulum Swings High and Hard in Colorado’s Seventh District

By any measure, the 2002 Colorado Seventh Congressional District race was a squeaker, with Republican Bob Beauprez defeating Democrat Mike Feeley by only 121 votes.1 Indeed, this slimmest of margins for Republican Beauprez led many observers to believe that this “truly competitive swing district” would be a national bellwether in subsequent election cycles. The 2004 race was not close, however, as then-incumbent Beauprez won by a margin of thirteen points over Democratic challenger Dave Thomas, even though John Kerry carried the district. Beauprez’s victory could be traced to the many advantages of incumbency-most notably fund-raising-and to Thomas’s substandard performance.2