Colorado Capitol Report

In this Capitol Report:

• Colorado State Legislative Election Results Slowly Becoming Clearer . . . .
• Election Brings Dramatic Change To Congress

Colorado State Legislative Election Results Slowly Becoming Clearer . . . .

NOTE:  The following was written by Loren Furman, CACI Senior Vice President, State and Federal Relations.

Election Day results in Colorado are traditionally hazy, and this year is no different.  We can confidently identify the statewide winners but control of the Colorado General Assembly is still unofficial.

The delay in knowing all the answers is due to the hours of counting thousands of ballots in counties that were either submitted late on Election Day or included write-in candidates.  In Adams County for example, more than 25,000 ballots included a write-in candidate, which required a determination and validity of the candidates’ signatures, thereby delaying the processing time of the ballots.  As of this morning, our results are based on the latest reporting by the State Secretary of State and various County Clerk offices:

Congressional and Statewide Race Results:

U.S. Senate:

Cory Gardner (R) – Fought a tough fight against sitting Senator Mark Udall (D)

U.S. House:

• Diana DeGette (D – District 1)  – Re-elected
• Jared Polis (D – District 2) – Re-elected
• Scott Tipton (R – District 3) – Re-elected
• Ken Buck (R – District 4) – Won election to seat that was held by Congressman Cory Gardner
• Doug Lamborn (R – District 5) – Re-elected
• Mike Coffman (R – District 6) – Re-elected
• Ed Perlmutter (D – District 7) – Re-elected

Governor:

John Hickenlooper (D) – Prevailed in his re-election bid to the Governor’s seat and will serve another four years.

Secretary of State:

Wayne Williams (R) – Won election to office currently held by Scott Gessler.

State Treasurer:

Walker Stapleton (R) – Re-elected

Attorney General:

Cynthia Coffman (R) – Won election to office currently held by John Suthers, who is term-limited

State Legislative Endorsements: CACI Nets .857 Batting Average!

This election season, CACI conducted an exhaustive process of legislative candidates, both new and incumbent, and endorsed 49 candidates.

Based on the election results as of this morning, only seven of these candidates lost their elections, thereby giving CACI an .857 batting average!  Below are the Colorado General Assembly results:

Senate:

A common saying in Colorado politics is: “as goes Jefferson County, so goes Colorado.”  This proved to be very true in this election cycle for the Senate.

As of this morning, the Senate has dramatically shifted control to Republicans, who now hold a one seat (18 to 17) majority.  Prior to Election Day, Democrats held a one-seat majority.  The three Republicans that prevailed in the targeted seats were:

• Laura Woods (R – Senate District 19) – Jefferson County
• Beth Martinez Humenik (R – SD 24) – Adams County
• Tim Neville (R – Senate District 16) – Jefferson County)

House:

The results in the House have significantly changed the dynamics in that chamber.  Republicans have picked up three seats, making them short two seats of holding a majority.  Democrats will continue to hold a majority in the House, making it a 34-to-31 split.  Republican winners in the House that narrowed the margin include:

• Kit Roupe (R – House District 17) – El Paso County
• JoAnn Windholz (R – House District 30) – Adams County
• Paul Brown (R – House District 59) – Archuleta, Gunnison, La Plata, Hinsdale, Ouray and San Juan Counties

Generally, CACI strongly supports a balanced legislature, and these results would make it very challenging for any anti-business legislation to pass through the legislative process which is advantageous to all CACI members.

CACI will update its members on any changes from these projections.  For more information about CACI’s legislative candidate endorsements and the election outcome, contact Loren Furman, CACI Senior Vice President, State and Federal Relations, at 303.866.9642.

Minority House Republicans Elect Leaders

This afternoon, the House Republican Caucus met and elected the following Representatives as its leaders:

• Minority Leader–Brian DelGrosso (R-Loveland)
• Assistant Minority Leader–Libby Szabo (R-Arvada)
• Whip–Polly Lawrence (R-Littleton)
• Caucus Chair–Lois Landgraf (R-Fountain)

For recent news media coverage of the elections, read:

“Colorado GOP concedes majority in state House to Democrats,” by John Aguilar, The Denver Post, November 7^th.

“Democrats win Colorado House but may have to seek a compromise agenda,” by Ed Sealover, The Denver Business Journal, November 7^th.

“Control of Colorado Senate down to one seat in Adams County,” by John Aguilar, The Denver Post, November 7^th.

“Election 2014: Hickenlooper says he’ll work with Republicans on job-creation bills,” by Ed Sealover, The Denver Business Journal, November 5^th.

Election Brings Dramatic Change To Congress

Election night brought a “wave of change” to both Colorado and the rest of the country’s Congressional representation.

The U.S. Senate leadership switched from Democrats to Republicans as the GOP won several previously Democratic-held seats, in addition to maintaining must-hold seats in Kansas and Kentucky.

Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will now likely ascend to the position of Majority Leader in January and Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) will retain his leadership role for his party, taking up the position as Minority Leader in the new Congress.

In all, while New Hampshire stayed Democratic, Colorado, Georgia, Montana, Iowa, Arkansas, Kansas and Kentucky went Republican.  It is possible the seven new seats could become nine as Louisiana’s Senate race will go to a run-off in early December with numbers favorable to Representative Cassidy (R-LA), and final results from Alaska have still not come in.

In the U.S. House, Republicans will remain in control, having added an unexpected 13 seats to their majority.  On November 5^th, The Wall Street Journal printed an op-ed by House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader McConnell, laying out combined proposals for next Congress’ agenda along with how to work bicamerally and with the Obama Administration.

This week, President Obama remarked on the dramatic Congressional changes, putting Congress and the American people on notice that he will work with the House and Senate to enact meaningful legislation, but he is not afraid to veto and would not hesitate to enact changes without Congress.  This last point may be a hat tip to a rumored December 2014 Executive Order on immigration.

In the meantime, sitting Senators and House members will have roughly four weeks (November 12 – 20 and December 1-12) left of the 113^th Congressional session before adjourning.  Look to see the “lame duck” session focused on Senator Reid’s high profile priorities (fair pay, minimum wage) and Democrat nominations, as well as bipartisan items such as a tax extenders package or an U.S. Ex-Im Bank revamp.  Additionally, in both the House and Senate, committee assignments will receive overhauls in coming weeks as their memberships are re-aligned to reflect Democratic vs. Republican representation across the country.  CACI will be watching this shift in assignments, particularly on the Senate Finance Committee, as Congress begins work to address tax reform.