Colorado 2012 Election Results — MultiState Elections

Colorado held its general election on November 6, 2012, deciding 85 legislative seats. Control shifted: the House moved from a 33-32 Republican majority to a 37-28 Democratic majority.

Highlights

Democrats already held the governorship and a Senate majority that stayed at 20-15, so the new House majority gave them full control of state government for 2013.
The House fight ran through civil unions. Under Speaker Frank McNulty (R), a civil unions bill stalled at the end of the regular session and then died in committee on the first day of a May special session, a fight that Democrats and even some Republicans warned could cost the GOP in November. Once in the majority, House Democrats chose minority leader Mark Ferrandino (D) as the state's first openly gay speaker. In March 2013, Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) signed the civil unions bill the new majority passed.
Colorado voted on its first post-2010 maps, and Democrats netted five House seats on them. Four Republican incumbents lost:
- Tony Exum Sr. (D) beat Mark H. Barker (R) in House District 17.
- Tracy Kraft-Tharp (D) beat Robert Ramirez (R) in House District 29.
- John Buckner (D) beat Cindy Acree (R) in House District 40.
- Mike McLachlan (D) edged J. Paul Brown (R) by about 900 votes in House District 59.
Democrats also took open Republican seats with Brittany Pettersen (D) in District 28 and Dianne Primavera (D) in District 33, while Tim Dore (R) won the open District 64, which a Democrat had held.
Across the 85 legislative races, 9 seats changed party compared with each district number's previous holder. Each party picked up one Senate seat on the new lines, and Sen. Evie Hudak (D) held Senate District 19 by fewer than 600 votes over Lang Sias (R).
Voters passed all 3 statewide measures. Amendment 64 made Colorado, along with Washington, the first state to legalize recreational marijuana, over the governor's opposition. Amendment 65 told the congressional delegation to back a federal amendment limiting campaign spending, and Amendment S revised the state personnel system.

Legislature

House (65 seats): 32 D, 33 R before the election, 37 D, 28 R after; control moved from Republicans to Democrats.
Senate (35 seats): 20 D, 15 R before the election, 20 D, 15 R after; control stayed with Democrats.

Legislative races

Race	Winner	Others	Notes
House 1	Jeanne Labuda (D) 62.13%	John Kidd (R) 33.6%, Mike Law (L) 4.28%
House 2	Mark Ferrandino (D) 70.31%	TJ Tyrrell (R) 24.14%, Desiree A. Maikranz (L) 5.54%
House 3	Daniel Kagan (D) 50.76%	Brian Watson (R) 44.51%, David P. Jurist (L) 4.72%
House 4	Dan Pabon (D) 81.02%	David W. Dobson (R) 18.98%
House 5	Crisanta Duran (D) 74.3%	Ronnie Nelson (R) 21.86%, Victor Forsythe Villacres (G) 3.84%
House 6	Lois Court (D) 66.54%	Robert Hardaway (R) 30.34%, Morton Brooks (L) 3.11%
House 7	Angela Williams (D) 83.13%	Travis French (R) 16.87%
House 8	Beth McCann (D) 83.15%	Alan Johnson (R) 13.31%, Maury B. Mingle (L) 3.55%
House 9	Paul Rosenthal (D) 63.97%	Celeste R. Gamache (R) 36.03%
House 10	Dickey Lee Hullinghorst (D) 80.14%	William H. Eckert (R) 19.86%
House 11	Jonathan Singer (D) 56.8%	Ellyn Hilliard (R) 43.2%
House 12	Mike Foote (D) 64.45%	Russ Lyman (R) 30.46%, Matthew A. Webber (L) 5.08%
House 13	Claire Levy (D) 67.08%	Adam Ochs (R) 27.42%, Howard P. Lambert (L) 5.5%
House 14	Dan Nordberg (R) 76.31%	R. David Lucero (L) 16.88%, Thomas O'Dell (American Constitution Party) 6.81%
House 15	Mark Waller (R) 72.38%	Larry Reedy (L) 16.12%, Michael Edstrom (American Constitution Party) 11.5%
House 16	Janak Joshi (R) 68.19%	Michael J. Giallombardo (L) 17.95%, David Rawe (American Constitution Party) 13.86%
House 17	Tony Exum Sr (D) 54.57%	Mark H. Barker (R) 37.76%, Susan Quilleash (L) 4.9%	Flipped R to D; Incumbent defeated
House 18	Pete Lee (D) 53.07%	Jennifer George (R) 40.7%, Robert "Bob" Melamede (L) 3.97%
House 19	Amy Stephens (R) 82.28%	Alan MacGregor Bassett (L) 11.59%, Timothy Shawn Biolchini (American Constitution Party) 6.13%
House 20	Bob Gardner (R) 66.89%	Michael Goldsborough (D) 33.11%
House 21	Lois Landgraf (R) 65.72%	Laticia Burns (L) 18.37%, Sean E. Halstead (American Constitution Party) 15.91%
House 22	Justin Everett (R) 52.32%	Mary K. Parker (D) 43.65%, Lynn L. Weitzel (L) 4.03%
House 23	Max Tyler (D) 50.16%	Rick Enstrom (R) 43.61%, Michael M. Beckerman (L) 6.23%
House 24	Sue Schafer (D) 58.55%	E. V. Leyendecker (R) 36.55%, Christian Althen (L) 4.91%
House 25	Cheri Gerou (R) 54.63%	Lorna Idol (D) 40.19%, Jack J. Woehr (L) 5.18%
House 26	Diane E. Mitsch Bush (D) 55.79%	Chuck McConnell (R) 44.21%
House 27	Libby Szabo (R) 52.63%	Tim Allport (D) 42.43%, G.T. "Bud" Martin (L) 4.93%
House 28	Brittany Pettersen (D) 52.71%	Amy Attwood (R) 42.94%, Niles Aronson (L) 4.35%	Flipped R to D
House 29	Tracy Kraft-Tharp (D) 51.27%	Robert Ramirez (R) 43.1%, Hans Romer (L) 5.64%	Flipped R to D; Incumbent defeated
House 30	Jenise May (D) 55.21%	Mike Sheely (R) 40.09%, Shea Lantz (L) 4.71%
House 31	Joseph A. Salazar (D) 60.45%	Beth Martinez Humenik (R) 39.55%
House 32	Dominick Moreno (D) 67.53%	Paul "Boots" Reimer (R) 27.17%, Brett Halbert (L) 5.3%
House 33	Dianne Primavera (D) 50.07%	David J. Pigott (R) 44.85%, W. Earl Allen (L) 5.08%	Flipped R to D
House 34	Steve Lebsock (D) 60.61%	Jodina B. Widhalm (R) 39.39%
House 35	Cherylin N. Peniston (D) 56.21%	Brian Vande Krol (R) 43.79%
House 36	Su Ryden (D) 57.71%	James W. Parker III (R) 38.2%, Wes Long (L) 4.09%
House 37	Spencer Swalm (R) 52.39%	Jan Spooner (D) 43.9%, Jeffrey J. Kicia (L) 3.71%
House 38	Kathleen Conti (R) 57.45%	Donovan O'Dell (D) 38.73%, Jonathan Barber (L) 3.82%
House 39	Polly Lawrence (R) 64.62%	Carla J. Turner (D) 30.32%, Donna Price (L) 5.06%
House 40	John Buckner (D) 57.17%	Cindy Acree (R) 42.83%	Flipped R to D; Incumbent defeated
House 41	Jovan Melton (D) 58.92%	Art Carlson (R) 35.38%, JM (Maria J) Fay (I) 5.7%
House 42	Rhonda Fields (D) 73.35%	Mike Donald (R) 26.65%
House 43	Frank McNulty (R) 62.29%	Gary R. Semro (D) 37.71%
House 44	Chris Holbert (R) 73.55%	Jarrod C. Austin (L) 26.45%
House 45	Carole Murray (R) 66.62%	Tony Stoughton (D) 28.77%, Hanna Kjerengtroen (L) 4.61%
House 46	Leroy Garcia Jr. (D) 61.32%	Jerry Denney (R) 38.68%
House 47	Clarice Navarro-Ratzlaff (R) 51.74%	Chuck Rodosevich (D) 48.26%
House 48	Stephen Humphrey (R) 74.41%	John R. Gibson (L) 25.59%
House 49	Perry L. Buck (R) 58.39%	James Shelton (D) 41.61%
House 50	Dave Young (D) 62.09%	Skip Carlson (R) 37.91%
House 51	Brian DelGrosso (R) 54.18%	Mark R. Shaffer (D) 41.42%, Michael Renker (L) 4.4%
House 52	Joann Ginal (D) 56.1%	Bob Morain (R) 43.9%
House 53	Randy Fischer (D) 63.74%	Jon Fye (R) 36.26%
House 54	Jared Wright (R) 59.04%	Tim Menger (L) 40.96%
House 55	Ray Scott (R) 58.22%	Dan Robinson (D) 37.8%, Virgil Fenn (L) 3.98%
House 56	Kevin Priola (R) 58.78%	Dave Rose (D) 37.14%, Will Hiltscher (L) 4.08%
House 57	Robert E. Rankin (R) 56.87%	Jo Ann Baxter (D) 38.78%, Dan Enright (L) 4.34%
House 58	Don Coram (R) 62.08%	Tammy Theis (D) 32.02%, Jeff P. Downs (L) 5.89%
House 59	Mike McLachlan (D) 51.08%	J. Paul Brown (R) 48.92%	Flipped R to D; Incumbent defeated
House 60	James Wilson (R) 60.41%	Pier Cohen (D) 34.2%, M. Bruce Waters (L) 4.63%
House 61	Millie Hamner (D) 47.4%	Debra Irvine (R) 34.12%, Kathleen Curry (I) 13.85%
House 62	Edward Vigil (D) 60.69%	Tim Walters (R) 39.31%
House 63	Lori Saine (R) 58.58%	Tim Erickson (D) 41.42%
House 64	Tim Dore (R) 75.85%	Nick Schneider (L) 24.15%	Flipped D to R
House 65	Jerry Sonnenberg (R) 100%	Unopposed
Senate 4	Mark Scheffel (R) 63.85%	Holly Gorman (D) 31.77%, Chris Grundemann (L) 4.37%
Senate 8	Randy L. Baumgardner (R) 51.06%	Emily Tracy (D) 44.34%, Sacha L. Weis (L) 4.6%
Senate 10	Owen Hill (R) 73.45%	Brandon Hughes (L) 17.04%, Christopher Mull (American Constitution Party) 9.51%
Senate 12	Bill L. Cadman (R) 67.94%	Dave Respecki (L) 16.86%, James Michael Bristol (American Constitution Party) 15.21%
Senate 14	John Kefalas (D) 57.95%	Syndi Anderson (R) 35.85%, Jeff Johnston (L) 3.93%
Senate 17	Matt Jones (D) 62.01%	Charlie Plagainos (R) 32.74%, Ken Bray (L) 5.25%
Senate 18	Rollie Heath (D) 78.33%	Barry P. Thoma (R) 21.67%
Senate 19	Evie Hudak (D) 47.02%	Lang Sias (R) 46.25%, Lloyd A. Sweeny (L) 6.73%
Senate 21	Jessie Ulibarri (D) 64.93%	Francine R. Bigelow (R) 35.07%
Senate 22	Andy Kerr (D) 52.6%	Ken Summers (R) 47.4%	Flipped R to D
Senate 23	Vicki Marble (R) 56.2%	Lee Kemp (D) 43.8%
Senate 25	Mary Hodge (D) 55.12%	John Sampson (R) 40.03%, Ronald G. Schweizer (L) 4.85%
Senate 26	Linda Newell (D) 54.09%	Dave Kerber (R) 45.91%
Senate 27	David Balmer (R) 54.82%	David Paladino (D) 45.18%
Senate 28	Nancy Todd (D) 57.99%	John S. Lyons (R) 38.17%, Robert Harrison (L) 3.84%
Senate 29	Morgan Carroll (D) 58.75%	William "Bill" D. Ross II (R) 36.53%, Michele Poague (L) 4.72%
Senate 31	M. Patrick Steadman (D) 69.9%	Michael Carr (R) 30.1%
Senate 32	Irene Aguilar (D) 70.07%	Roger D. Logan (R) 29.93%
Senate 33	Mike Johnston (D) 82.31%	Jason DeBerry (R) 13.55%, Courtney Kolva (L) 4.13%
Senate 35	Larry W. Crowder (R) 49.24%	Crestina Martinez (D) 46.87%, William Stuart Bartley (L) 3.89%	Flipped D to R

Ballot measures

Measure	Description	Result
Amendment 64	Allow the possession and use of marijuana by those over 21 and establish regulations for marijuana.	Passed (55% yes)
Amendment 65	Require Colorado Congress members to support a federal constitutional amendment on campaign spending and contributions.	Passed (74% yes)
Amendment S	Increase the positions that are exempt from the state personnel system and make other amendments to the state personnel system.	Passed (56% yes)

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