I am providing Election Night coverage here, including quotes and photos as available. I am working with a collaborative of organizations on this project — including Independence Institute, People’s Press Collective, Complete Colorado, Who Said You Said, Mothers Against Debt and National Review Online. Go here for the relevant details (including links and a live video feed), and stay tuned for the best in Colorado grassroots conservative political coverage!
11:55 PM: Jefferson County is counting provisional ballots in the Ramirez race, and according to his campaign manager Walt Blankenship it’s overwhelmingly working in the Republican’s favor. I’m feeling very confident that the GOP will win the state house. It remains to be seen whether a recount will be avoided, but it’s looking unlikely. As for the state senate, it now hinges on District 11 and Owen Hill’s race, who currently trails by 100 votes. In other words, nothing in the state legislature will be decided clearly before most of the people here go to bed. Finally, Walker Stapleton just a few moments ago joined Scott Gessler as statewide victors. In fact, Stapleton learned for sure he would be the new state treasurer while I was interviewing him for the People’s Press Collective. Look for the footage later.
11:15 PM: Ramirez (HD 29) has expanded his lead, which makes a GOP majority in the state house look more likely. Some are still holding out hopes for Bob Boswell in HD 50 to add to the majority. Still nothing definitive.
10:30 PM: I’m hearing now that it looks like the Robert Ramirez results in House District 29 are final, which if they survive the possible recount would mean a Republican majority in the state house.
10:25 PM: Make that 5 state house seats, not 4, gained by the Republicans. One away from a majority. Meanwhile, let me get it off my chest: I was wrong about Colorado’s U.S. Senate race. It’s going to be a real nail-biter.
10:15 PM: At long last, after lending a power cord to the Republican state house staff and doing a Backbone America radio interview, I’m back to blogging again from the Republican state legislative war room. It looks like the GOP has picked up four seats already (Libby Szabo, Keith Swerdfeger, Don Beezley, Mark Barker) and may have a couple more coming their way. A net gain of six equals a majority. On the state senate side, a net-two gain so far with a possiblity of a net-four gain and the majority.
8:00 PM: Reporting on Colorado’s statewide races leaves a very murky picture at this point. The Denver Post election results have been down awhile, and some of the aggregate results from 9News don’t seem to fit with results being reported by the counties. This may be a long night after all. I will report back later on from a different location.
7:25 PM: Early voting trends from Jefferson County, more than 150,000 from one of Colorado’s bellwethers, might give Republicans some pause: Bennet 48, Buck 46; Hickenlooper 51, Tancredo 42, Maes 6
6:53 PM: On video, Kelly Maher shows how it’s easier to vote in Denver than to get a library card.
6:45 PM: Michael Sandoval reports Colorado’s first election-related legal challenge may be underway, as Arapahoe County apparently has run out of provision ballots.
6:15 PM: After panicky emails sent out from the Democratic campaigns of John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet, and the Lefty activists at Progress Now, about lower than expected voter turnout on their side, cautious optimism is creeping in. I’m starting to believe Tom Tancredo just might be able to pull it off. We’ll wait and see. I’ll check back in from the Libby Szabo election party.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.