2024 Election Results

We are very excited to announce the South Metro Denver Chamber acting upon the direction and vote of the Board of Directors worked diligently with our businesses and community in support of Arapahoe County to support a yes vote on 1A in November which allowed the County to DeBruce.  We are happy to announce 1A passed by a wide margin by the citizens of Arapahoe County.  We would like to thank the Arapahoe County citizens and our business members for their support and realization of the Counties need to maintain more of the tax dollars they are receiving to better serve everyone in the County.
 
COLORADO LEGISLATIVE STRATEGIES NEWSLETTER
 
2024 Election Results
 
November 6, 2024
 
Introduction
 
After a long election season of countless mailers, commercials, phone calls, and text messages, the day is finally here – the day after the election. Today’s the day we go back to watching the evening news without back to back candidate commercials, and checking the mail without an overflow of candidate mailers.
 
Although Colorado is a solid blue state, there was no shortage of commercials and mailers for some of the state’s biggest races – and those came with a big price tag. At the state level, over $8 million was spent on targeted races across Colorado, and it paid off for Republicans in the Senate. At the federal level, Colorado’s 8th Congressional District saw over $20 million in super PAC spending. Colorado didn’t have any major statewide seats up for election this year so all eyes were on three congressional races - CD 3, CD 4 and CD 8.
 
The stakes were high on both sides of the aisle this election cycle, especially at the state level. On the House side, every seat is up for election every two years with a limit of four total terms. In 2022, Democrats obtained a “supermajority” in the House after picking up several Republican seats. This year, Republicans needed to pick up three of their five targeted races to avoid another Democrat supermajority.
 
On the Senate side, seats are up every four years, with a limit of two terms. Senate seats that are up for election alternate every two years. This year, the Senate was in a similar position to the House. Republicans needed to either pick up or maintain three of their five targeted seats to avoid going into a Democrat supermajority. 
 
On top of the already high stakes, it wouldn’t be an election year in Colorado without some Secretary of State drama. About two weeks ago, the Colorado Republican Party drew attention to a public spreadsheet posted by the Colorado Secretary of State, Jena Griswold. The spreadsheet included a hidden tab with passwords for several of the state’s voting systems, affecting 34 out of 64 counties. The document had been posted for four months, and the passwords weren’t changed for five days after Griswold’s office discovered the error.
Griswold has consistently stated the document was mistakenly posted by a staff member who no longer works for the Secretary of State’s office, and that the state’s voting system had not been compromised after further investigation. That being said, Republican leadership still called for Griswold’s resignation, and the incident even got the attention of the Trump campaign. This is not the first time Griswold has been involved in a mishap during an election year. In 2022, Griswold appeared in a taxpayer funded commercial related to election integrity while she was running for reelection.
 
If the numbers hold the status quo will be the main takeaway from the election in Colorado. Some races are still too close to call but below is a summary of results as of 9 A.M.
 
Latest results from the Secretary of State can be found here.
 
Federal
 
Congressional District 3 – Republican Jeff Hurd defeated Adam Frisch (D) with 50.02 percent in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District to replace Congresswoman Lauren Boebert. This seat is historically a reliably red seat, but it was briefly considered to be a competitive toss-up seat when Boebert was running for reelection. Since Boebert moved to the 4th Congressional District and Hurd became the Republican candidate, the seat became less competitive. Frisch started his campaign almost immediately after he narrowly lost to Boebert in 2022 and raised more than $10 million. He dominated the airwaves and sent multiple mailers trying to paint Hurd as an out of touch candidate who wouldn’t represent the largely rural district’s voters. Hurd focused his campaign on being a less controversial figure than Boebert, stating he would focus on “making local headlines instead of national headlines.” 
 
Congressional District 4 – Republican Lauren Boebert defeated Trisha Calaverse (D) with 52.9  percent in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District. Up until this election cycle, Boebert has represented the 3rd Congressional District, but moved to the 4th Congressional District earlier this year. Boebert has made national headlines in her tenure in Congress, and even though it was expected that she would win the election in this reliably red district, the final outcome was almost 10 points less than what her predecessor won by in 2022.
 
Congressional District 5 – Republican Jeff Crank easily won his race against River Gassen (D) with 54.7 percent. Crank will replace Congressman Doug Lamborn (R), who announced earlier this year that he will not seek a 10th term representing Colorado’s 5th Congressional District.
 
Congressional District 8 – Democrat incumbent Yadira Caraveo defeated Gabe Evans (R) with 49.5 percent. Similar to 2022, there were two third party candidates which made up roughly 2.5 percent of the vote on Election Day, which could’ve made the difference for Evans. 
 
Other Congressional Districts – Dianna DeGette (D) won CD 1 by over 78 percent. Joe Neguse (D) won CD 2 by over 69 percent. Jason Crow (D) won CD 6 by over 59 percent. Brittany Pettersen (D) won CD 7 by over 55 percent.
 
Overall Federal Delegation – Out of the 10 federal seats (2 Senators and 8 Representatives), Colorado remains the same with three Republicans and seven Democrats total. 
 
State Senate
 
Overview 
 
Republicans were able to prevent a Democrat supermajority in the Senate this year. With 23 Democrats going into this election cycle, Republicans needed to hold onto 12 seats in order to avoid going into a super minority. Of the five closest races, Republicans needed to either maintain or pick up three seats, and they did.
 
Senate District 5 – In what was expected to be one of the closest state Senate races, current House member Marc Catlin (R) was able to maintain this seat for Republicans, defeating Cole Buerger (D) with 52 percent. This western slope district has a mixture of agriculture, tourism and energy development, and both candidates ran campaigns focused on being pragmatic problem solvers who would reach across the aisle to pass policies important to Western Colorado. Political observers believe that Catlin benefited from a strong “get out the vote” effort in local county commissioner races. 
 
Senate District 6 – Incumbent Cleave Simpson (R) was able to hold onto his seat in the Senate, defeating Vivian Smotherman (D) with 55.57 percent. This was another close race and a seat Republicans needed to maintain in order to avoid a Democrat supermajority. This was one of the earliest races to be called, with Smotherman conceding the race around 10:00 p.m. The district is located in southwest Colorado and also includes the San Luis Valley. Simpson has focused his efforts on agricultural and education issues and is considered to be one of the strongest experts on water policy.  
 
Senate District 12 – Current state House member Representative Marc Snyder (D) defeated El Paso County Commissioner Stan Vanderwerf with over 50 percent. This is another Republican seat picked up by Democrats.
 
Senate District 13 – Scott Bright (R) defeated Matt Johnston (D) with 56.4 percent. This is a big win for Republicans, who managed to take back this seat after it was held by Kevin Priola, a Republican who changed his party affiliation in 2022 thus giving the seat to the Democrats. Bright has a background in education and early childhood development. 
 
Senate District 16 – Incumbent Chris Kolker (D) defeated Robyn Carnes (R) with 52.42 percent. At the beginning of the summer, many thought this race could’ve been competitive because it’s the first election cycle that this seat has seen since redistricting made the district a true toss-up. But, suburban voters have trended towards Democrats in the last couple of cycles and this race extended that trend.  
 
State House
 
Overview 
 
In 2022, Democrats picked up enough seats to gain a supermajority in the House. Going into this election cycle, 46 Democrats and 19 Republicans held House seats. Republicans were unable to recover this year, and Democrats will continue to have a supermajority in the House for the next two years.
 
House District 16 – State Representative Stephanie Vigil (D) managed to hold onto her seat for two more years after defeating Republican challenger Rebecca Keltie with 50.72 percent.
 
House District 19 – In one of the biggest upsets, Jillaire McMillan (D) defeated former state representative Dan Woog (R) with 52 percent. This was Woog’s seat in the House until he was unseated by Jennifer Parenti (D) in 2022. This year would’ve been a rematch of 2022, but Parenti pulled out of this race over the summer and McMillan was designated to take her place as the Democrat candidate.
 
House District 25 – Incumbent Tammy Story (D) will hold onto her House seat after defeating challenger George Mumma (R) with 52 percent. While this was a targeted race, the support of unions helped Story keep this seat.
 
House District 43 – Incumbent Bob Marshall (D) will hold onto his House seat after defeating challenger Matt Burcham (R) with 51.7 percent. Marshall surprised everyone when he won this seat in 2022 given that the district leans 7 percent in Republican’s favor so this was considered to be one the Republicans could pick up. Voters showed that they appreciated Marshall’s independent streak and sent him back to the Capitol. 
 
House District 50 – This race is still too close to call as challenger Ryan Gonzales (R) narrowly leads incumbent Mary Young (D) by 37 votes. This is a rematch from 2022, when Gonzales lost to Young by roughly three hundred votes. This would be Young’s fourth and final term in the House. If Gonzales wins, this would be the biggest upset we see in state house races.
 
Ballot Measures
 
Amendment G – The ballot measure to expand the current property tax exemption for veterans to include disabled veterans passed with 72.4 percent.
 
Amendment H – The ballot measure to create an independent board to deal with judicial discipline procedures passed with 72.7 percent.
 
Amendment I – Fixing an oversight from when the death penalty was repealed in 2020, this measure passed with 69.3 percent to allow a judge to deny bail for people accused of first degree murder.
 
Amendment J – Voters overwhelmingly supported this measure to repeal the current definition of marriage in the state Constitution with 63.7 percent.
 
Amendment K – The ballot measure to push election deadlines back by a week for the Secretary of State failed, with 55.3 percent of voters voting against the measure. 
 
Proposition JJ – The ballot measure that allows the state to keep excess tax revenue from sports betting to go toward water projects overwhelmingly passed with 75.8 percent.
 
Proposition KK – Voters passed this measure with 54 percent to impose a 6.5 percent tax on guns and ammunition sales.
 
Amendment 79 – The ballot measure to allow state money to be used for abortion funding passed with 61 percent.
 
Proposition 80 – The ballot measure to enshrine the right to school choice in Colorado’s constitution failed, with 52 percent of voters voting against the measure.
 
Proposition 127 – The measure to ban the hunting of mountain lions, bobcats, and lynx in Colorado failed with 55 percent of voters voting against the measure.
 
Proposition 128 – The ballot measure to increase the parole eligibility requirement for individuals convicted of violent crimes passed with 62.3 percent.
 
Proposition 129 – Regardless of political party, Coloradans love their pets. The measure to create a new position in the veterinary field called a “veterinary professional associate,” passed with 52.3 percent.
 
Proposition 130 – Despite the state’s nearly $1 billion budget deficit situation, the ballot measure to increase funding for law enforcement by $350 million passed with 53 percent. 
 
Proposition 131 – The controversial measure to implement ranked choice voting in Colorado for most races at the federal and state level failed with 55 percent of voters voting against the measure.
 
Other Races
 
Board of Education – All of the State Board of Education candidates retained relatively comfortable margins. In Congressional District 2, Kathy Gebhardt (D) received 100 percent of the vote running unopposed. In Congressional District 3, Sherri Wright (R) won with 56 percent of the vote. In Congressional District 4, Kristi Burton Brown (R) won with 59 percent of the vote. In Congressional District 8, Yazmin Navarro (R) won with 51 percent of the vote.  
 
University of Colorado Regents – All of the University of Colorado regents also won with relatively comfortable margins. Elliot Hood (D) won the at large seat with over 50 percent of the vote. In Congressional District 3, Ray Scott (R) won with 56 percent of the vote. In Congressional District 5, Ken Montera (R) won with 58 percent of the vote.
 
Conclusion
 
In general, the theme in Colorado’s election results is “status quo.” The House Democrats remain in the super majority, while Senate Democrats have a simple majority. This means the Governor’s power stays the same, and the legislature won’t be able to override vetoes with supermajorities in both chambers. 
 
While there was a Republican sweep nationally, with the Presidential Election going to Republican Donald Trump, Republicans winning the majority in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House is still up for grabs but leaning Republican.That being said, the sweep didn’t influence voters in Colorado, who remained Democrat leaning and voted similarly to the 2022 election. While there looks to be a Republican trifecta at the federal level, the Democrat trifecta is still strong in Colorado.
 

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