Colorado Legislative Update – 2014 Election Recap
by John Karakoulakis
Colorado’s status as a swing state and political trendsetter made races this cycle some of the most expensive and closely followed across the country. The U.S. Senate race was the nation’s second most expensive with over $95 million spent. Both the U.S. Senate and Governor’s races were tied in polls until Election Day. Uncertainty surrounded polling numbers due to past inaccuracies over the last few cycles and because this was the state’s first all-mail-in election, making it only the third state to move in this direction.
Congressman Cory Gardner (R) came out with a big win against incumbent U.S. Senator Mark Udall (D), 49% to 45%. All incumbent members of Congress from Colorado won, most notably Congressman Mike Coffman (R) against challenger Andrew Romanoff (D) by over 10 points. As expected, Ken Buck (R) won CD-4, Cory Gardner’s current seat. Governor Hickenlooper managed to hold on in an extremely tight race that was not called until this morning. Most recently, Hickenlooper was at 48.3% over Beauprez’s 47.1% with a small percentage of votes still to be counted. Republicans claimed the Attorney General, Treasurer, and Secretary of State statewide races. Several State House and State Senate races are still being counted and will very likely go to recounts because margins are so narrow. Either party could control both chambers by as little as one seat.
Please do not hesitate to contact a member of Holland & Hart's Colorado Governmental Affairs practice group if we can answer specific questions. Holland & Hart provides clients with a full range of legislative and regulatory services in Colorado which includes establishing a legislative strategy, lobbying specific legislation, and multi-state legislative and regulatory monitoring.
Click on the link below for full Colorado election results and check back for periodic updates.
Colorado Election Results
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