FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 21, 2024
PRESS CONTACT: erika@newheightscommunications.com
DENVER — Colorado voters continue to emphatically back abortion rights and access across geographic and party lines as Amendment 79 not only outperformed the top of the ticket in 2024, it won a majority in six of eight Colorado Congressional Districts. As a Constitutional measure, Amendment 79 needed 55% to pass. It won with 62% of the vote statewide.
Abortion access has consistently and historically transcended political and party divisions in Colorado, and Amendment 79 demonstrated that again in 2024. Colorado public officials at the state and federal levels should continue to be mindful of the will of Colorado voters.
Now that Amendment 79 has passed, Cobalt and COLOR are leading on the implementation process in the 2025 legislative session at the Colorado General Assembly.
Success by Congressional Districts and Counties
Initial analysis based on county results found Amendment 79 received majority Yes votes from six of eight congressional districts (CDs) in Colorado.
Amendment 79 won a majority in Congressional District 3 in western Colorado with 54% of the vote based on county analysis. It also probably finished above the 55% threshold in Congressional District 8. Amendment 79 won Adams County in CD 8 with 60%. It finished at 50% in Weld, and Garfield County/Rifle in CD 3 was also above 60%.
Amendment 79 was extremely popular in Colorado’s ski counties. Pitkin County (Aspen) was the top vote recipient in the state with 82% in support, with San Miguel (Telluride) at 81%, and Summit/Eagle counties (Vail) at 75% and 71% respectively. Denver County was at 81% and even Douglas County in CD 4 finished at 54.5%. Pueblo at 53.5% and El Paso at 52% also surpassed a majority.
Outperforming the Top of the Ticket
The amendment also earned more votes than any statewide candidate and the lowest undervote of statewide measures, meaning that nearly all (96%) ballots cast included a vote on Amendment 79.
This is the second Presidential cycle in a row in which abortion rights outperformed the top of the Democratic Presidential ticket, this time by about 200,000 votes. This phenomenon mirrors the state’s 2020 results where more than 55,000 more Coloradans voted to strike down Prop 115, the 22-week abortion ban initiative, than voted for the Democratic presidential candidate.
With Amendment 79 enshrined in the state constitution—lifting a discriminatory ban on insurance coverage for abortion care—abortion rights in Colorado are among the strongest in the nation, providing a model for other states to follow.
“Colorado voters back abortion rights across party and geographic lines. The overwhelming support for Amendment 79 sends a clear signal to policymakers in the state to protect those rights as well. We’ve known for a long time that abortion is a winning issue in Colorado—and now it’s home to some of the strongest protections in the nation,” said Jessica Grennan, Campaign Director for Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom. “From the start, this was a campaign led by Coloradans for Coloradans. We’re immensely proud of our coalition for getting this measure over the finish line and are now focused on turning the will of voters into law with an implementation process led by COLOR and Cobalt.”
Exit polling by Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom also shows that Amendment 79 received Yes votes from the following groups:
- 69% of young voters
- Over two-thirds of voters of color
- 23% of registered Republicans
- 18% of Trump voters
- 91% of Harris voters
If you are interested in connecting with leadership from Colorodans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom, please reach out to Erika Gulija at erika@newheightscommunications.com.
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