Colorado 2016 Election Results

Colorado held its general election on November 8, 2016, deciding 83 legislative seats. No chamber changed party control.

Highlights

• The legislature stayed split: Democrats widened their House majority from 34-31 to 37-28, and Republicans kept the Senate at 18-17.
• The parties swapped the two Senate seats that changed hands:
  • Former Sen. Rachel Zenzinger (D) unseated Sen. Laura J. Woods (R) by about 1,500 votes in District 19.
  • State Rep. Kevin Priola (R) beat former Rep. Jenise May (D) by about 4 points for the open District 25 seat, which Democrats had held.
• Democrats unseated three House Republicans:
  • Dafna Michaelson Jenet (D) beat Rep. JoAnn Windholz (R) by about 8 points in District 30. Windholz had called Planned Parenthood the "real culprit" in the 2015 Colorado Springs clinic shooting.
  • Tony Exum Sr. (D) beat Rep. Kit Roupe (R) by about 8 points in District 17.
  • Barbara Hall McLachlan (D) edged Rep. J. Paul Brown (R) by fewer than 700 votes in District 59.
• Voters approved 5 of 9 measures:
  • Proposition 106, allowing physician-assisted death
  • Amendment 70, a $12 minimum wage
  • Amendment 71, making citizen-initiated constitutional amendments harder to pass
  • Proposition 107, creating a presidential primary
  • Proposition 108, letting unaffiliated voters cast ballots in party primaries
  They rejected Amendment 69, which would have created the ColoradoCare health system; Amendment 72, a tobacco tax increase; Amendment T, which would have removed the exception to the slavery ban for criminal punishment; and Amendment U, a property tax exemption for some possessory interests.

Legislature

• House (65 seats): 34 D, 31 R before the election, 37 D, 28 R after; control stayed with Democrats.
• Senate (35 seats): 17 D, 18 R before the election, 17 D, 18 R after; control stayed with Republicans.

Legislative races

Ballot measures