As apparent anti-Democrat sentiment was displayed across the nation Nov. 2, the outcome of the race in Colorado’s 6th Congressional District hardly was in doubt.

Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman handily won his re-election bid, garnering about 66 percent of the vote in a district that reaffirmed its “traditionally conservative” label.

Coffman has been outspoken against what he believes is reckless spending in Washington. In his first term, he formed the bipartisan Balanced Budget Amendment Caucus.

Colorado’s former secretary of state showed a firmer hold on the district this year than when he won election to the U.S. House in 2008. He took about 60 percent of the vote then, when he was chosen to replace Tom Tancredo.

In a prepared statement the day after the election, the Aurora resident said he aims to build even more support over his second term.

“To all who did not vote for me, please know that I hope to earn your confidence over the next two years in knowing that my focus will be on restoring jobs and rebuilding our economy.”

A national partisan shift that once gave a glimmer of hope to Coffman’s main challenger, Democrat John Flerlage, had swayed back to the incumbent’s favor in 2010.

Flerlage, an airline pilot from Jefferson County, was seeking his first public office. Like Coffman, he has served in the U.S. Marines.

Flerlage began his campaign 20 months ago, on the heels of the Democrats’ 2008 wave of success with voters.

“I believed then, as I do now, that my strong convictions, to stand on principle, compromise on complex problems and implement solutions, would be embraced by the voters and business community of CD 6,” Flerlage said in a prepared statement. “But the political climate over the ensuing months was too much to overcome.”

The district encompasses Douglas and Elbert counties and portions of Arapahoe, Jefferson and Park counties.

Coffman dominated in two of his larger constituencies. He took about 62 percent of the vote in Arapahoe County, where Democratic voters slightly outnumber Republicans. In staunchly conservative Douglas County, more than 70 percent of voters chose the incumbent.