http://online.wsj.com/articles/immigration-twist-in-colorado-race-1402443788

After Redistricting, Representative Changes Message on Illegal Residents

By DAN FROSCH
Updated June 10, 2014 8:19 p.m. ET
AURORA, Colo.—During his first few terms in Congress, Republican Rep. Mike Coffman sounded like the immigration hard-liner his conservative Colorado district had been electing for years.

He voted against granting legal status to students who entered the country unlawfully as children, and praised his predecessor, Tom Tancredo, who is nationally known for fierce rhetoric about illegal immigration.

But as he campaigns for a fourth House term in a congressional district dramatically transformed by newcomers to the U.S., Mr. Coffman is delivering a far more conciliatory message. At a recent dinner for Asian-Americans in the Denver area, he said it was high time Republicans became more sensitive to immigrants' concerns.

"There was a perception about Republicans being anti-immigrant," Mr. Coffman said. "In my view, immigrant communities in America are a jump ball. And Republicans have just not been in the game."

Mr. Coffman faces one of the toughest re-election battles in Congress this year. His Democratic rival, Andrew Romanoff, has raised $2.6 million to match Mr. Coffman's war chest—more than any other House challenger in the country.

Thanks to a redrawing of the congressional district—subtracting suburbs that made it a conservative stronghold and adding immigrant-heavy Aurora—Mr. Coffman's race is now widely seen as one of Democrats' best chances to pick up a House seat.



Of 13 current House elections considered tossups by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, Mr. Coffman's race is the only one involving a GOP incumbent.

"For Democrats, this is a must-win race if they are to have any hope of picking up any seats whatsoever," said David Wasserman, House editor for the Cook Report. "Most Republicans were helped by redistricting in 2012. But Coffman was hurt by it."

The race is viewed by both parties as a testing ground for issues that might resonate with swing voters—including whether Republicans who tack to the center on immigration can appeal to moderate voters, and whether Democrats can counter that narrative and coax newer U.S. citizens to vote for them.

When Mr. Coffman was first elected to Congress six years ago, his district was about 90% white and Republicans outnumbered Democrats nearly 2 to 1. Now the district is 20% Hispanic, and is evenly split among Republicans and Democrats while unaffiliated voters total a bit more than those of either party.

"Both sides will be looking back at this race in 2016 for lessons on the best ways to turn out the vote, flip votes and reach constituents in a competitive district," said Seth Masket, who heads the political science department at the University of Denver.

In 2012, Mr. Coffman, 59, narrowly carried the newly redrawn seat against what was viewed as a weak Democratic challenge by a former state legislator, Joe Miklosi, winning by two percentage points.

Mr. Romanoff, 47, a former speaker of Colorado's House, is a seasoned politician considered a rising Democratic star. He most recently worked for a nonprofit that aided farmers in developing countries. Mindful that immigration may determine the election, he has seized on the shift by Mr. Coffman, who is now the primary sponsor of a bipartisan bill in Congress to allow illegal immigrants to earn citizenship through military service.

Mr. Romanoff noted that Mr. Coffman had opposed an immigration package proposed by Senate Democrats this year. Mr. Coffman said he was against it because he considered it too sweeping and disagreed with its path to citizenship for adults who had come to the U.S. illegally. Mr. Romanoff also highlighted Mr. Coffman's 2010 vote against the Dream Act, which would provide a way for undocumented students to become citizens. Mr. Coffman said he would now support such legislation.

"We've had a congressman, in both Tom Tancredo and Mike Coffman, who has voted against the interest of immigrants," Mr. Romanoff said.

Mr. Coffman's campaign, in turn, has criticized Mr. Romanoff's record on immigration, noting that as speaker he played a prominent role in passing strict state immigration laws that were deeply unpopular with immigrant-rights groups.

Mr. Coffman said his conversion on immigration was inspired by personal stories from his new constituents. He now supports a middle ground to allow more immigrants already in the U.S. to obtain legal status so they can leave the shadows.

Both candidates are heavily courting immigrant voters, appearing at cultural events and visiting Aurora's immigrant neighborhoods, where strip malls are crammed with Asian markets, Korean barbecue restaurants and Mexican butchers. Mr. Coffman has been learning Spanish. Mr. Romanoff already speaks it.

Asian constituents say they are receiving unprecedented attention. Both men have set up Asian advisory committees to bolster support within Aurora's Korean and Vietnamese enclaves."We're used to being ignored by candidates. Usually we don't have enough critical mass to make a difference. Except now we do," said Harry Budisidharta, a Colorado lawyer from Indonesia who is volunteering for Mr. Romanoff's campaign.

Mr. Coffman, who served in the Marines during the first Gulf War and the Iraq War, has also sought to make the Obama administration's handling of veterans' care a campaign theme. The issue has special resonance in Aurora—construction of a new Veterans Affairs hospital in the city is behind schedule and over budget.

But with Mr. Romanoff weaving immigration reform into myriad topics—like the cost of education for undocumented students—the issue will likely keep playing a central role.

Outside groups have contributed more than $600,000 to the race, according to the Federal Election Commission, including a recent TV ad by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that touts Mr. Coffman as a "leader to fix our broken immigration system."

The race "will be a magnet for outside money from all kinds of interest groups—on the left, on the right and everywhere in between," said Eric Sondermann, an independent political analyst in Denver.