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BRIGHTON, Colo. (AP) - The swing dancers and loud Frank Sinatra impersonator didnt merit even a glance from Andrew Romanoff at a recent Adams County Fair event. The Democrat paid attention only to voters as he moved from table to table at a breakfast for seniors.

Romanoff has missed political chances before, and he is trying to make sure it doesnt happen again as he challenges Rep. Mike Coffman for his U.S. House seat in the 6th Congressional District.

The suburban Denver district was reshaped after the 2010 census, and Democrats say they have an opportunity to take it from the GOP for the first time.

The district is now almost evenly divided among Democrats, Republicans and independents, and its also the states most ethnically diverse. Latinos make up about 20 percent, and blacks and Asians make up more than 13 percent of the district. Recent immigrants make up a sizable voting bloc in an area where Ethiopian and Korean restaurants share strip malls.

This district is to me the most exciting in the country, Romanoff said over lunch recently at a Thai restaurant in Aurora. Its home to people from so many different countries and who deserve a representative that celebrates our diversity.

The comment was a dig at Coffman, who was elected in 2008, when the district was 90 percent white and heavily Republican.

Coffman, a three-term incumbent, has recognized the changes and shifted his approach.

This is really my first re-election in what is arguably a new district, where 40 percent of the district is areas I havent had before, Coffman said after addressing job-seekers at an Aurora employment fair. The people in the district are very different. So, yeah, Ive had to refocus.

Coffmans new outreach strategy centers on personal interaction and includes taking Spanish classes, visiting Korean churches and working the counter at an Aurora convenience store to meet voters.

Hes even shifted his stance on core issues, such as immigration. Before the district was reshaped, Coffman sponsored a measure to require English-only ballots and said in 2010 that a proposal to allow permanent residency for some immigrants brought to this country illegally as children would be a nightmare for the American people.

Read more from the original source:
Democrat Andrew Romanoff seeks political revival