2000 United States presidential election in Colorado

Main article: 2000 United States presidential election

2000 United States presidential election in Colorado

←  1996 November 7, 2000 2004  →

Nominee George W. Bush Al Gore Ralph Nader Party Republican Democratic Green Home state Texas Tennessee Connecticut Running mate Dick Cheney Joe Lieberman Winona LaDuke Electoral vote 8 0 0 Popular vote 883,745 738,227 91,434 Percentage 50.8% 42.4% 5.3%

County Results Bush   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80% Gore   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%

President before election Bill Clinton Democratic Elected President George W. Bush Republican

The 2000 United States presidential election in Colorado took place on November 7, 2000, and was part of the 2000 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Colorado was won by Governor George W. Bush by an 8.36% margin of victory, although almost 7% of the electorate voted for third-party candidates. Nader's best performance in the state and indeed the nation was in San Miguel County where he received over 17.20% of the vote, ^[1] a performance that remains the Green Party's second best performance in any county nationwide as of the 2020 presidential election ^[update] after this record was bested in 2016 when Jill Stein carried 25% of the vote in Kalawao County, Hawaii. ^[2]

As of 2020 ^[update] , this is the last election in which San Juan County, Gunnison County, Clear Creek County, Routt County, Eagle County, and La Plata County voted for a Republican presidential candidate, as well as the last time that Colorado voted to the right of many modern-day red and swing states, specifically Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, ^[3] Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee and West Virginia. Bush became the first Republican to win the White House without carrying Summit County since William Howard Taft in 1908.

Colorado was 1 of 14 states that Bill Clinton carried at least once that Gore, the sitting VP under Clinton in 2000, lost to Bush.

Results

2000 United States presidential election in Colorado [4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	George W. Bush	883,745	50.75%	8
	Democratic	Al Gore	738,227	42.39%	0
	Green	Ralph Nader	91,434	5.25%	0
	Libertarian	Harry Browne	12,799	0.73%	0
	American	Patrick Buchanan	10,465	0.60%	0
	Natural Law	John Hagelin	2,240	0.13%	0
	Constitution	Howard Phillips	1,319	0.08%	0
	Socialist	David McReynolds	712	0.04%	0
	Socialist Workers	James Harris	216	0.01%	0
	Prohibition	Earl Dodge	208	0.01%	0
Totals			1,741,365	100.00%	8
Voter turnout (Voting age)					54%

Results by county

County	George W. Bush Republican		Al Gore Democratic		Ralph Nader Green		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Adams	47,561	44.10%	54,132	50.19%	4,165	3.86%	1,994	1.85%	-6,571	-6.09%	107,852
Alamosa	2,857	50.49%	2,455	43.38%	265	4.68%	82	1.44%	402	7.11%	5,659
Arapahoe	97,768	51.47%	82,614	43.49%	6,952	3.66%	2,608	1.38%	15,154	7.98%	189,942
Archuleta	2,988	62.80%	1,432	30.10%	265	5.57%	73	1.54%	1,556	32.70%	4,758
Baca	1,663	73.00%	531	23.31%	47	2.06%	37	1.62%	1,132	49.69%	2,278
Bent	1,096	55.83%	783	39.89%	44	2.24%	40	2.04%	313	15.94%	1,963
Boulder	50,873	36.44%	69,983	50.12%	16,498	11.82%	2,272	1.63%	-19,110	-13.68%	139,626
Chaffee	4,300	56.50%	2,768	36.37%	459	6.03%	83	1.09%	1,532	20.13%	7,610
Cheyenne	957	78.96%	209	17.24%	22	1.82%	24	1.98%	748	61.72%	1,212
Clear Creek	2,247	45.63%	2,188	44.44%	354	7.19%	135	2.73%	59	1.19%	4,924
Conejos	1,772	48.27%	1,749	47.64%	79	2.15%	71	1.93%	23	0.63%	3,671
Costilla	504	30.58%	1,054	63.96%	71	4.31%	19	1.15%	-550	-33.38%	1,648
Crowley	855	59.17%	511	35.36%	28	1.94%	51	3.54%	343	23.81%	1,445
Custer	1,451	68.74%	507	24.02%	100	4.74%	53	2.51%	944	44.72%	2,111
Delta	8,372	65.99%	3,264	25.73%	852	6.72%	198	1.56%	5,108	40.26%	12,686
Denver	61,224	30.87%	122,693	61.86%	11,624	5.86%	2,806	1.42%	-61,469	-30.99%	198,347
Dolores	741	65.34%	293	25.84%	73	6.44%	27	2.38%	448	39.50%	1,134
Douglas	56,007	64.95%	27,076	31.40%	2,230	2.59%	912	1.06%	28,931	33.55%	86,225
Eagle	7,165	47.18%	6,772	44.59%	1,045	6.88%	206	1.35%	393	2.59%	15,188
El Paso	128,294	63.91%	61,799	30.78%	7,116	3.54%	3,548	1.76%	66,495	33.13%	200,757
Elbert	6,151	68.61%	2,326	25.95%	292	3.26%	196	2.19%	3,825	42.66%	8,965
Fremont	9,914	61.75%	5,293	32.97%	516	3.21%	333	2.07%	4,621	28.78%	16,056
Garfield	9,103	53.22%	6,087	35.59%	1,608	9.40%	306	1.80%	3,016	17.63%	17,104
Gilpin	1,006	40.81%	1,099	44.58%	276	11.20%	84	3.40%	-93	-3.77%	2,465
Grand	3,570	56.19%	2,308	36.33%	366	5.76%	109	1.71%	1,262	19.86%	6,353
Gunnison	3,128	43.23%	3,059	42.27%	927	12.81%	122	1.69%	69	0.96%	7,236
Hinsdale	316	55.83%	188	33.22%	51	9.01%	11	1.94%	128	22.61%	566
Huerfano	1,466	46.19%	1,495	47.10%	169	5.32%	44	1.39%	-29	-0.91%	3,174
Jackson	682	73.73%	173	18.70%	40	4.32%	30	3.23%	509	55.03%	925
Jefferson	120,138	51.02%	100,970	42.88%	10,336	4.39%	4,047	1.71%	19,168	8.14%	235,491
Kiowa	728	75.21%	211	21.80%	13	1.34%	16	1.66%	517	53.41%	968
Kit Carson	2,542	73.51%	809	23.40%	58	1.68%	49	1.42%	1,733	50.11%	3,458
La Plata	9,993	48.77%	7,864	38.38%	2,378	11.61%	255	1.25%	2,129	10.39%	20,490
Lake	1,056	40.18%	1,296	49.32%	213	8.11%	63	2.40%	-240	-9.14%	2,628
Larimer	62,429	52.67%	46,055	38.85%	8,194	6.91%	1,859	1.56%	16,374	13.82%	118,537
Las Animas	2,569	42.16%	3,243	53.22%	199	3.27%	83	1.37%	-674	-11.06%	6,094
Lincoln	1,630	74.12%	510	23.19%	27	1.23%	32	1.45%	1,120	50.93%	2,199
Logan	5,531	68.32%	2,296	28.36%	140	1.73%	129	1.60%	3,235	39.96%	8,096
Mesa	32,396	63.45%	15,465	30.29%	2,235	4.38%	958	1.88%	16,931	33.16%	51,054
Mineral	294	60.49%	168	34.57%	19	3.91%	5	1.03%	126	25.92%	486
Moffat	3,840	71.95%	1,223	22.92%	169	3.17%	105	1.97%	2,617	49.03%	5,337
Montezuma	6,158	65.62%	2,556	27.24%	530	5.65%	140	1.50%	3,602	38.38%	9,384
Montrose	9,266	65.18%	4,041	28.43%	656	4.61%	252	1.78%	5,225	36.75%	14,215
Morgan	5,722	63.59%	2,885	32.06%	211	2.34%	180	1.99%	2,837	31.53%	8,998
Otero	4,082	55.83%	2,963	40.52%	138	1.89%	129	1.76%	1,119	15.31%	7,312
Ouray	1,279	57.28%	705	31.57%	224	10.03%	25	1.12%	574	25.71%	2,233
Park	3,677	55.17%	2,393	35.90%	404	6.06%	191	2.87%	1,284	19.27%	6,665
Phillips	1,573	70.86%	564	25.41%	48	2.16%	35	1.59%	1,009	45.45%	2,220
Pitkin	2,565	32.88%	4,137	53.04%	1,013	12.99%	85	1.09%	-1,572	-20.16%	7,800
Prowers	3,026	66.89%	1,361	30.08%	79	1.75%	58	1.28%	1,665	36.81%	4,524
Pueblo	22,827	42.31%	28,888	53.55%	1,520	2.82%	711	1.32%	-6,061	-11.24%	53,946
Rio Blanco	2,185	76.53%	543	19.02%	85	2.98%	42	1.47%	1,642	57.51%	2,855
Rio Grande	3,111	61.30%	1,707	33.64%	179	3.53%	78	1.53%	1,404	27.66%	5,075
Routt	4,472	46.40%	4,208	43.66%	820	8.51%	138	1.44%	264	2.74%	9,638
Saguache	1,078	42.63%	1,145	45.27%	261	10.32%	45	1.77%	-67	-2.64%	2,529
San Juan	210	48.17%	149	34.17%	58	13.30%	19	4.35%	61	14.00%	436
San Miguel	1,043	32.04%	1,598	49.09%	560	17.20%	54	1.67%	-555	-17.05%	3,255
Sedgwick	877	67.31%	384	29.47%	25	1.92%	17	1.30%	493	37.84%	1,303
Summit	4,497	40.63%	5,304	47.92%	1,131	10.22%	136	1.22%	-807	-7.29%	11,068
Teller	6,477	65.78%	2,750	27.93%	429	4.36%	191	1.93%	3,727	37.85%	9,847
Washington	1,878	76.81%	477	19.51%	50	2.04%	40	1.63%	1,401	57.30%	2,445
Weld	37,409	57.96%	23,436	36.31%	2,438	3.78%	1,258	1.94%	13,973	21.65%	64,541
Yuma	3,156	72.42%	1,082	24.83%	60	1.38%	60	1.38%	2,074	47.59%	4,358
Total	883,745	50.75%	738,227	42.39%	91,434	5.25%	27,959	1.61%	145,518	8.36%	1,741,365

	Al Gore	George W. Bush	Total
Counties won	13	50	63
Best score	Costilla County (63.96%)	Cheyenne County (78.96%)	.
Counties won under statewide margin (8.36%)	5	8	13
	Huerfano County (0.91%) Saguache County (2.64%) Gilpin County (3.77%) Adams County (6.09%) Summit County (7.29%)	Conejos County (0.63%) Gunnison County (0.96%) Clear Creek County (1.19%) Eagle County (2.59%) Routt County (2.74%) Alamosa County (7.11%) Arapahoe County (7.98%) Jefferson County (8.14%)
Counties won under nationwide margin (0.51%)	0	0	0

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Alamosa (Largest city: Alamosa)
• Bent (Largest city: Las Animas)
• Clear Creek (Largest city: Idaho Springs)
• Conejos (Largest city: Manassa)
• Eagle (Largest city: Edwards)
• Gunnison (Largest city: Gunnison)
• Mineral (Largest city: Creede)
• Otero (Largest city: La Junta)
• Routt (Largest city: Steamboat Springs)

By congressional district

Bush won four of six congressional districts. ^[5]

District	Bush	Gore	Representative
1st	32%	61%	Diana DeGette
2nd	42%	48%	Mark Udall
3rd	53%	39%	Scott McInnis
4th	56%	37%	Bob Schaffer
5th	63%	32%	Joel Hefley
6th	51%	44%	Tom Tancredo

Electors

Main article: List of 2000 United States presidential electors

Technically the voters of Colorado cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Colorado is allocated 8 electors because it has 6 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 8 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 8 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.

The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 18, 2000 ^[6] to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All were pledged to and voted for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney: ^{[7] [8]}

1. Bob Beauprez
2. Marcy Benson
3. Robert Dieter
4. Mary Hergert
5. Robert Martinez
6. Ralph Nagel
7. Lilly Nunez
8. Joe Rogers

References

1. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections 2000 - San Miguel County, CO" . Retrieved January 7, 2013.
2. "Statewide Precinct Detail" (PDF). State of Hawaii Office of Elections. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
3. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
4. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections 2000 - Colorado" . Retrieved January 7, 2013.
5. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections - County Data".
6. "2000 Post-Election Timeline of Events".
7. "President Elect - 2000". Archived from the original on 2012-02-12. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
8. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections - Presidential Electors".