House Speaker Mike Johnson Backs Colorado Amendment 86

The wind off the Platte River cuts through the parking lot of the Thornton convention center, carrying the faint, metallic scent of autumn rain that hasn’t quite arrived. Inside, the hum of conversation is thick with the particular tension of a campaign trail that has stretched from the Gulf Coast to the Front Range, a journey that now culminates in a single, high-stakes wager on the future of Colorado’s map. It is a wager that did not originate in Denver, but in the office of a Louisiana Republican, where a check for $250,000 was cut in August to a group called Fair Redistricting Colorado.

This money comes from the American Revival PAC, a leadership committee created by House Speaker Mike Johnson in 2017. According to the Colorado Sun, the PAC is funded by other political action committees tied to Johnson, serving as his primary vehicle for supporting Republican candidates and causes across the country. By pouring this significant sum into the Fair Redistricting Colorado issue committee, Johnson is effectively underwriting the push for Amendment 86, a ballot measure scheduled for a vote in November. The amendment seeks to tighten the rules for redrawing congressional boundaries, making it more difficult to alter district lines outside of the specific process already established in the state constitution.

The presence of Johnson’s PAC in this local fight signals a broader national strategy. The Colorado Sun notes that while the American Revival PAC is the only external donor reported for Fair Redistricting Colorado, the measure itself was brought to the ballot by Advance Colorado, a conservative political nonprofit that does not disclose its donors. A second supporting group, Brighter Colorado, lists Advance Colorado and Common Sense America among its major backers. This network of opaque funding suggests that the influence shaping Colorado’s redistricting battle spans far beyond the state’s borders, linking local ballot measures to the fundraising machines of national party leaders.

The stakes are high because Amendment 86 was crafted as a direct counter to a Democratic initiative that nearly made it to the 2026 ballot. That earlier proposal, funded by money tied to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, would have allowed for a mid-decade redraw of congressional districts for the 2028 and 2030 elections. Had it passed, the new map would have given Democrats a strong chance of flipping three Republican-held seats, leaving the GOP with only one of the state’s eight congressional districts. However, the Colorado Supreme Court unanimously ruled in June that the Democratic measure violated the state constitution’s "single subject" requirement, killing the effort before voters could weigh in. Now, with the court’s decision cleared, the focus shifts entirely to whether voters will lock in the current boundaries via Amendment 86, a move backed by millions in hidden conservative funds and a quarter-million-dollar endorsement from the speaker of the U.S. House.

Outside the convention center, the sky remains a flat, unbroken gray, the kind of overcast that makes the light seem to disappear entirely, leaving only the shadows of the parking lot lights flickering on as dusk settles over the valley floor.