Mike Coffman was seemingly invincible — until he wasn’t.

In the weeks since President Donald Trump’s unpopularity in Colorado resulted in across-the-board misfortune for Republican candidates Nov. 6, including Coffman, the five-term suburban Denver congressman has been pondering his next step. One option is close to home.

“I’ve been getting calls to run for mayor of the city of Aurora — but I’m going to hold off on even thinking about that” until next year, he said during an exit interview with The Denver Post last week.

Coffman, 63, has served almost continuously in elected office since 1989, except during overseas military service in the Persian Gulf and Iraq wars.

He had survived three consecutive strong Democratic challenges in his redrawn swing district. On Jan. 3, he will pass the 6th Congressional District’s baton to Jason Crow, the well-supported Democrat who defeated Coffman by 11 percentage points.

Recently divorced from outgoing Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman, Mike Coffman says he may consider not only a run for Aurora mayor but also private-sector possibilities. Aurora’s top office is up in the November 2019 election, and it’s expected to be an open race.

But Coffman said he has ruled out seeking another partisan office like those he occupied in the state legislature and as Colorado treasurer, secretary of state and, finally, representative for the 6th District.

“Washington, D.C., was hyper-partisan, and I just want a change,” he said.

Here are excerpts from his comments, which have been edited for clarity and slightly condensed.

Feelings about leaving Congress

“Well, I’m glad I had the experience. I worked hard to get re-elected. It didn’t happen, but I’m just ready to move on. It’s odd: I think that for members who are there for a shorter period of time, and they don’t get re-elected, it’s hard on them. But 10 years is longer than I’ve been in any office.”

Thinking about what’s next

“First I want to do something that is not political. I want to do some fundraising, just as a volunteer. I’m looking at some veterans groups or (groups for) first responders. A lot of people would like my help, and there are going to be some hard choices. I can’t spread myself too thin.”

Appeal of the Aurora mayor’s office

“Well, it’s nonpartisan. I grew up here. I’ve spent my whole life here. My business was here. The frustration of Washington is you have to concentrate on just a few areas to really make a difference, and then so much of the power is at the top, at the committee chairman level.

“I think at the local level, you’re just directly in contact with the people. You’re not removed. And you see the results of your politics very directly. One of the things I love about (being congressman) is the constituent work.”

President Trump as a major factor in his race

“I was told at the beginning, by the (National Republican Congressional Committee), that you have to try and localize this race. You have to make this race a referendum on you. If it’s nationalized and it’s a referendum on the president, you’re not going to win.

“And, it was nationalized. I couldn’t help that. I’m trying to look at this historically — the first midterm for a new president, particularly when they control the House and Senate, is always problematic (for his party).

“Now I kind of look back and say, ‘It was inevitable,’ given the nature of the district and the way the president campaigned, too. I mean, he campaigned in red states for Senate candidates, but every rally that he held consumed the news cycle. It didn’t matter where he was, he might as well have been here.

“You know, I always thought that somehow I could win. But I remember walking into a restaurant one morning, in Greenwood Village. And this suburban mom comes up, and she says, ‘I’m really scared about what’s happening in the country.’ This was last year, I think. And it was really (about) the president’s tone. She wasn’t an activist. It wasn’t some planted thing. It was something that was really genuine.”

His prediction about a Trump effect in 2020

Last month, Coffman told Vox.com that he was pessimistic about Republicans’ chances of taking back the House majority in 2020, given Trump’s impact on 2018 races. But he says he has re-evaluated that view.

“That was my first inkling — ‘Well, since Trump is on the ballot, why wouldn’t it be the same?’ But I don’t think it will be. Midterms behave very differently than presidential elections. Midterms, for a federal candidate, often times are a referendum on the president, where in presidential years, voters make two separate choices: one for president and one for a federal officeholder.

“There’s a pressure valve in a presidential year that doesn’t exist in a midterm.”

No hunger for a rematch with Crow

“I’m just not eager for another two years. If they gave it to me … no, I’m not going to say that. I think 10 years has been a great experience. I got things done that were important to me and, I think, important to the country. But you know, I don’t want to go back.”

Changing views on immigration, social issues post-redistricting

“I’ll tell you what, I think the experience has been so extraordinary in this district — forcing me to reach out, forcing me to really expand my views — where the (previous) district was not diverse. I think I really grew as a result of that, and I think I not only became a better congressman, I became a better person.

“I voted against a DREAM Act bill (in 2010). And then in the new district, of course I’m meeting these people, and I’m sitting across the table from them and listening to their stories. It really changed me. Whereas before it was just like it was on paper, and now it was just real, and in front of me.”

What Coffman has found fulfilling in Congress

“Early on, putting together a bipartisan caucus on rare earth metals. When I got the new district, in 2013, I got on the Veterans Affairs Committee and became the subcommittee chairman for oversight and investigation and began to look at the (Aurora) hospital. We certainly found out that things were going in the wrong direction fairly quickly, and I was able to lead the effort to bring the Army Corps of Engineers on the project and get the VA off of it.

“I did a lot of things in the mental health area, both for veterans and the active-duty side. I worked to prevent sexual assaults in the military, which continues to be a problem. One of the big wins was with the Ethiopians,” involving the passage of a resolution condemning that country’s government, a move cheered by Ethiopian immigrants in his district.

Frustration and disappointment

“There’s the level of partisanship, but also how difficult it is even to work with your own leadership to get things done. In the majority, the power is so centralized between the committee chairs, the majority leader and the speaker of the House that you literally have to have their support to get something through.”

Where he finds personal fulfillment

“Are you kidding, it’s just been (about) work. I’m going to have to start working out more. I worked out twice yesterday, and it felt good.”