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Colorado's 3rd Congressional District election, 2020 (June 30 Republican primary)
- Primary date: June 30
- Primary type: Semi-closed
- Registration deadline(s): N/A (same-day registration)
- Online registration: Yes
- Same-day registration: Yes
- Early voting starts: June 22[1]
- Absentee/mail voting deadline(s): N/A (vote-by-mail)
- Voter ID: Non-photo ID
- Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.[1]
2022 →
← 2018
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| Colorado's 3rd Congressional District |
|---|
 |
| Democratic primary Republican primary General election |
| Election details |
| Filing deadline: March 17, 2020 |
| Primary: June 30, 2020 General: November 3, 2020 Pre-election incumbent: Scott Tipton (Republican) |
| How to vote |
| Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voting in Colorado |
| Race ratings |
Inside Elections: Tilt Republican Sabato's Crystal Ball: Lean Republican |
| Ballotpedia analysis |
| U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2020 |
| See also |
U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th Colorado elections, 2020 U.S. Congress elections, 2020 U.S. Senate elections, 2020 U.S. House elections, 2020 |
Challenger Lauren Boebert (R) defeated incumbent Scott Tipton (R) in the Republican primary for Colorado's 3rd Congressional District on June 30, 2020. As of 8:45 a.m. Mountain Time on July 2, Boebert had received 55% of the vote to Tipton's 45% with 95% of precincts reporting.
A Republican Party primary took place on June 30, 2020, in Colorado's 3rd Congressional District to determine which Republican candidate would run in the district's general election on November 3, 2020.
Lauren Boebert advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Colorado District 3.
| Candidate filing deadline | Primary election | General election |
|---|---|---|
Heading into the election, the incumbent was Scott Tipton (Republican), who was first elected in 2010.
A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election.
Colorado utilizes a semi-closed primary system. According to Section 1-7-201 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, "An eligible unaffiliated elector, including a preregistrant who is eligible under section 1-2-101 (2)(c), is entitled to vote in the primary election of a major political party without affiliating with that political party."[2][3]
For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.
This page focuses on Colorado's 3rd Congressional District Republican primary. For more in-depth information on the district's Democratic primary and the general election, see the following pages:
- Colorado's 3rd Congressional District election, 2020 (June 30 Democratic primary)
- Colorado's 3rd Congressional District election, 2020
Election procedure changes in 2020
Ballotpedia provided comprehensive coverage of how election dates and procedures changed in 2020. While the majority of changes occurred as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some changes occurred for other reasons.
Political party events in Colorado were modified as follows:
- Political party events: Governor Jared Polis (D) signed HB20-1359 into law, extending select political party deadlines for the 2020 election cycle.
For a full timeline about election modifications made in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, click here.
Candidates and election results
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Colorado District 3
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Lauren Boebert | 54.6 | 58,678 |
 | Scott Tipton | 45.4 | 48,805 | |
| Total votes: 107,483 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
District analysis
- See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index
- See also: FiveThirtyEight's elasticity scores
The 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was R+6, meaning that in the previous two presidential elections, this district's results were 6 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Colorado's 3rd Congressional District the 180th most Republican nationally.[4]
FiveThirtyEight's September 2018 elasticity score for states and congressional districts measured "how sensitive it is to changes in the national political environment." This district's elasticity score was 1.14. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 1.14 points toward that party.[5]
Campaign finance
This section contains campaign finance figures from the Federal Election Commission covering all candidate fundraising and spending in this election.[6] It does not include information on fundraising before the current campaign cycle or on spending by satellite groups. The numbers in this section are updated as candidates file new campaign finance reports. Candidates for Congress are required to file financial reports on a quarterly basis, as well as two weeks before any primary, runoff, or general election in which they will be on the ballot and upon the termination of any campaign committees.[7] The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission.
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scott Tipton | Republican Party | $1,287,891 | $932,750 | $385,998 | As of December 31, 2020 |
| Lauren Boebert | Republican Party | $2,989,470 | $2,632,676 | $356,794 | As of December 31, 2020 |
|
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2020. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." |
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General election race ratings
- See also: Race rating definitions and methods
Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:
- Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
- Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
- Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.[8]
- Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.
Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.[9][10][11]
| Race ratings: Colorado's 3rd Congressional District election, 2020 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race tracker | Race ratings | ||||||||
| November 3, 2020 | October 27, 2020 | October 20, 2020 | October 13, 2020 | ||||||
| The Cook Political Report | Lean Republican | Lean Republican | Lean Republican | Lean Republican | |||||
| Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales | Tilt Republican | Lean Republican | Lean Republican | Lean Republican | |||||
| Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball | Lean Republican | Lean Republican | Lean Republican | Lean Republican | |||||
| Note: Ballotpedia updates external race ratings every week throughout the election season. | |||||||||
See also
- Colorado's 3rd Congressional District election, 2020 (June 30 Democratic primary)
- Colorado's 3rd Congressional District election, 2020
- United States House elections in Colorado, 2020 (June 30 Democratic primaries)
- United States House elections in Colorado, 2020 (June 30 Republican primaries)
- United States House Democratic Party primaries, 2020
- United States House Republican Party primaries, 2020
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2020
- U.S. House battlegrounds, 2020
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Colorado is a vote-by-mail state. Early voting dates and polling hours apply to vote centers where individuals can instead vote in person.
- ↑ LexisNexis, "Colorado Revised Statutes § 1-7-201," accessed October 20, 2025
- ↑ Colorado Secretary of State, "Primary Elections FAQs," accessed October 20, 2025
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Introducing the 2017 Cook Political Report Partisan Voter Index," April 7, 2017
- ↑ FiveThirtyEight, "Election Update: The Most (And Least) Elastic States And Districts," September 6, 2018
- ↑ Fundraising by primary candidates can be found on the race's respective primary election page. Fundraising by general election candidates can be found on the race's general election page.
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "2022 Quarterly Reports," accessed March 2, 2022
- ↑ Inside Elections also uses Tilt ratings to indicate an even smaller advantage and greater competitiveness.
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Nathan Gonzalez," April 19, 2018
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Kyle Kondik," April 19, 2018
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Charlie Cook," April 22, 2018
