COLORADO SPRINGS — After El Paso County posted its final unofficial election results late Thursday night, Rebecca Keltie couldn’t believe it. She had (unofficially) won her election by just seven votes.
And those seven votes in central Colorado Springs are poised to shake up the state legislature, costing Democrats their House supermajority.
“It was around 9pm last night. And I was just refreshing, refreshing, refreshing. And it popped up and it was just kind of surreal,” said Keltie on Friday. “It was just like ‘Okay, now what?’”
Keltie, a Republican, was seeking to unseat Democratic incumbent Steph Vigil in House District 16 (HD16). The race had flipped back and forth the past ten days as votes were tabulated.
State law requires an automatic recount if the winner and the runner-up are within a half percentage point of each other, which is easily the case in HD16.
“I never count my chickens before they hatch,” said Keltie. “I may lose a vote. She may gain one. Vice versa. I don't see it changing more than maybe one or two.”
The recount won’t occur until after a risk-limiting audit and the canvas board certifies the election results. That’s expected to happen the week of Thanksgiving, according to El Paso County election officials.
The deadline for the recount is December 6. Both candidates will have watchers as the recount takes place. Keltie said she’ll request a hand count, but it could be done via a machine tabulation.
The recount is unlikely to change the result, with many Republicans already celebrating the victory Thursday night and Friday.
In a Friday statement, Vigil said she’d honor the results of the recount and, if the tally stands, will continue to be active in the community.
“I have proudly run a positive, people-centered campaign, and even if we ultimately fall a few votes short, we did it battling an onslaught of dark money attacks, and opposition that relied on conspiracy theories, fear, and division,” Vigil said.
Democrats had a supermajority going into this election with 46 of the 65 seats in the House. But two other districts, House District 19 in east Boulder and south Weld counties, and District 50 in Greeley, both flipped from blue to red.
Like Vigil and Keltie’s race, HD19 is also set for a recount; but the Democrat in that race has already conceded.
In the Colorado House, a supermajority occurs when 44 seats, or two-thirds of the House, are held by one party. It allows that party to easily override governor vetoes and refer constitutional amendments to the ballot without the other party’s support.
Assuming Keltie’s victory holds after recount, Republicans will have flipped three seats and Democrats will be one seat shy of a supermajority in both the House and Senate.
Tyler Sandberg, chief strategist for the House Republicans political efforts, said this election should also lead to more balance and bipartisanship in committee assignments.
“Minority Leader Rose Pugliese (R-Colorado Springs) accomplished what no Republican predecessor of hers in the State House had done for 10 years - she flipped seats. And not just one but three seats, ending the Democrats’ supermajority,” Sandberg said.
“The only question now is whether Democrats will heed the lesson that voters delivered this year and begin to come back to the political middle. Colorado is not a far left state and its legislature shouldn’t govern as if it is one,” he added.
Though Republicans might have a slightly easier time in the state legislature come January, Democrats still hold a majority in both chambers along with the major state leadership positions including governor, attorney general, and secretary of state.
Email Senior Reporter Brett Forrest at brett.forrest@koaa.com. Follow @brettforrestTVon X and Brett Forrest News on Facebook.
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Two 14-year-olds arrested for a string of smash-and-grab burglaries in Colorado Springs
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