Democrats seek to widen margins in Colorado statehouse, while GOP hopes to block supermajorities

Colorado Democrats and Republicans braced for election results Tuesday night that will help illuminate the depth and endurance of Democrats’ control of the state Capitol and whether Republicans here can find a toehold in a state that’s steadily turned blue.

Democrats entered Election Day just one Senate seat shy of a supermajority in each chamber of the state legislature, with an eye on flipping three seats in particular: Senate Districts 5 and 6, both in the southwestern part of the state; and Senate District 12, in El Paso County. The party was just short of having a supermajority in the Senate.

ELECTION RESULTS: Live Colorado election results for the 2024 election

Republicans, meanwhile, hope to defend those Senate seats and flip three Democratic House seats — thus breaking the supermajority in that chamber. The party has targeted House seats in El Paso County and in two rural districts just outside of the Denver metro — all of which Democrats won in surprise finishes two years ago — as their best bets to gain a toehold in the House.

Supermajorities allow the legislature to override the governor’s vetoes on a purely partisan vote — not necessarily a huge leverage point within a Democratic trifecta — but more importantly, they allow one party to send constitutional amendments directly to voters and to further stack committees with like-minded legislators.

All told, more than $17 million has been spent by outside groups alone, mostly from party-affiliated committees, to influence the outcome.

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