BY FREDA MIKLIN
STAFF WRITER
Going into the November election, Republicans held only 24 out of 65 seats in the state House. They hoped to pick up some more but didn’t think they would likely get to 33, the number they’d need to take control. In the state Senate, they had 15 out of 35 seats, so they only needed to flip three to control that chamber and thereby wrestle total control from the Democrats, who had the governor’s office, as well. It sounded very plausible since everyone, locally and nationally, was predicting the same “red wave.”
The Secretary of State’s office told The Villager that Colorado election results cannot be officially certified until Dec. 5 at the earliest. However, based on posted results as of Nov. 14 at 1:33 p.m., all the changes in the 2023 Colorado general assembly will benefit the Democrats. In the Senate, where 17 seats were up for election, seven remained Republican, eight remained Democratic, and two will change from Republican-held to Democrat-held.
State Senate District 8 was represented by state Sen. Bob Rankin (R) of Carbondale until 2021, when the Independent Legislative Redistricting Commission’s work resulted in his residence being located in SD5. Since his term does not expire until 2024 (he was re-elected in 2020), Rankin automatically became the state senator for district five for the duration of his term, and SD8 became an open seat. Dylan Roberts (D), who had been in the state House, beat Matt Solomon (R) in that election by an 11-point margin, flipping the seat from the GOP to the Democrats.
In Larimer County State Senate District 15, incumbent Rob Woodward (R) appears to have lost his bid for re-election by 448 votes out of 83,558 votes cast to systems engineer and former vice-president of the Thompson School Board Janice Marchman (D).
All 65 seats in the state House were up for election on Nov. 8. Republicans have ceded five of the 24 of those they held going to the Democrats, based on current results.
In Colorado Springs State House District 16, represented by Andrew Pico (R) from 2020 to 2022, there was no incumbent in the 2022 race. Stephanie Vigil (D) bested Dave Donelson (R) by two points.
United States Air Force veteran Jennifer Lea Parenti (D) beat Dan Woog (R) in HD19 by three points. Woog was redistricted into HD19, having represented HD63 in the previous term.
Bob Marshall (D), retired U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Colonel, barely won over Kurt Huffman (R) in Highlands Ranch HD43. Huffman was an incumbent by having been appointed to the seat on June 4 by a GOP vacancy committee after Kevin Van Winkle, who was in that seat, was appointed to finish out the term of Sen. Chris Holbert in SD30 after Holbert resigned to move to Florida. Van Winkle was elected to a full term in SD30 on Nov. 8.
In HD 49, Judy Amabile (D) beat Kathryn Lehr (R) by a whopping 30 points. Amabile had represented HD13 before the 2021 redistricting.
Glenwood Springs’ Elizabeth Velasco (D), trained as a wildland firefighter, bested incumbent Perry Will (R) in HD57 by over seven points.
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