Colorado held its general election on November 6, 2018, deciding 82 legislative seats and 5 statewide offices led by the governorship. Control shifted: the Senate moved from a 18-16 Republican majority to a 19-16 Democratic majority.
Highlights
- Winning the Senate gave Democrats a trifecta under Gov.-elect Jared Polis (D), and they swept every statewide executive office on the same night.
- Democrats won nearly every competitive statehouse race, holding their vulnerable Senate seats, flipping two others, and widening their House majority.
- Polis beat Walker Stapleton (R) by about 11 points, becoming the first elected openly gay governor in the U.S. Down the ballot, Jena Griswold (D) pulled off perhaps the biggest upset, unseating Secretary of State Wayne Williams (R) by about 8 points. Phil Weiser (D) won the open attorney general's seat over George Brauchler (R), and Dave Young (D) beat Brian Watson (R) for treasurer, each by about 7 points.
- Every seat that changed party, in the Legislature and statewide, went from Republican to Democrat. Beyond the flips, the only race inside two points was House District 38, where Rep. Susan Beckman (R) held on by about 370 votes over Chris Kolker (D).
- Voters passed 5 of 13 statewide measures and rejected 8.
Legislature
- House (65 seats): 36 D, 29 R before the election, 41 D, 24 R after; control stayed with Democrats.
- Senate (35 seats): 16 D, 18 R, 1 other or vacant before the election, 19 D, 16 R after; control moved from Republicans to Democrats.
Statewide races
Legislative races
| Race | Winner | Others | Notes |
|---|
| House 1 | Susan Lontine (D) 64% | Alysia Padilla (R) 32%, Darrell Dinges (L) 4% | |
| House 2 | Alec Garnett (D) 100% | Unopposed | |
| House 3 | Jeff Bridges (D) 61.2% | Toren Mushovic (R) 38.8% | |
| House 4 | Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez (D) 82.7% | Robert John (R) 17.3% | |
| House 5 | Alex Valdez (D) 79.03% | Katherine E. Whitney (R) 17.87%, Rory Lamberton (L) 3.09% | |
| House 6 | Chris Hansen (D) 100% | Unopposed | |
| House 7 | James Coleman (D) 83.6% | Jay Kucera (R) 16.4% | |
| House 8 | Leslie Herod (D) 100% | Unopposed | |
| House 9 | Emily Sirota (D) 71.9% | Bob Lane (R) 28.1% | |
| House 10 | Edie Hooton (D) 86.8% | Murl Hendrickson IV (R) 13.2% | |
| House 11 | Jonathan Singer (D) 67.3% | Brian Donahue (R) 32.7% | |
| House 12 | Sonya Jaquez Lewis (D) 73.54% | Theresa Stets (Unity Party) 26.46% | |
| House 13 | KC Becker (D) 73.1% | Kevin Sipple (R) 26.9% | |
| House 14 | Shane Sandridge (R) 68.5% | Paul Haddick (D) 31.5% | |
| House 15 | Dave Williams (R) 61.4% | Brenda Krause (D) 38.6% | |
| House 16 | Larry Liston (R) 59.3% | Andy Smith (D) 36.7%, John Hjersman (L) 4% | |
| House 17 | Tony Exum Sr (D) 58.8% | Catherine Roupe (R) 41.2% | |
| House 18 | Marc Snyder (D) 57.5% | Mary Elizabeth Fabian (R) 35.6%, Maile Foster (Other) 6.9% | |
| House 19 | Tim Geitner (R) 75.9% | Asia Zanders (D) 24.1% | |
| House 20 | Terri Carver (R) 62.8% | Kent Jarnig (D) 37.2% | |
| House 21 | Lois Landgraf (R) 58.6% | Liz Rosenbaum (D) 41.4% | |
| House 22 | Colin Larson (R) 53.6% | Todd Kastetter (D) 46.4% | |
| House 23 | Chris Kennedy (D) 62.9% | Joan Poston (R) 37.1% | |
| House 24 | Monica Duran (D) 63.5% | Arthur Erwin (R) 36.5% | |
| House 25 | Lisa Cutter (D) 52.7% | Steve Szutenbach (R) 47.3% | Flipped R to D |
| House 26 | Dylan Roberts (D) 60.4% | Nicki Mills (R) 36.6%, Luke Bray (Other) 3% | |
| House 27 | Brianna Titone (D) 50.4% | Vicki Pyne (R) 49.6% | Flipped R to D |
| House 28 | Kerry Tipper (D) 58.7% | Kristina Joy Alley (R) 38%, Ross Klopf (L) 3.3% | |
| House 29 | Tracy Kraft-Tharp (D) 58.3% | Grady Nouis (R) 37.4%, Hans Romer (L) 4.3% | |
| House 30 | Dafna Michaelson Jenet (D) 58.1% | Susan Kochevar (R) 41.9% | |
| House 31 | Yadira Caraveo (D) 55% | Rico Figueroa (R) 38.6%, Bree Owens (L) 6.4% | |
| House 32 | Adrienne Benavidez (D) 100% | Unopposed | |
| House 33 | Matt Gray (D) 57.3% | Eric Rutherford (R) 35.7%, Jay Geyer (Other) 4.3% | |
| House 34 | Kyle Mullica (D) 60.3% | Alex Winkler (R) 39.7% | Flipped R to D; Incumbent defeated |
| House 35 | Shannon Bird (D) 59.3% | Bruce Baker (R) 37%, Ken Biles (L) 3.7% | |
| House 36 | Mike Weissman (D) 61% | Richard J. Bowman (R) 39% | |
| House 37 | Tom Sullivan (D) 54% | Cole Wist (R) 46% | Flipped R to D; Incumbent defeated |
| House 38 | Susan Beckman (R) 50.4% | Chris Kolker (D) 49.6% | |
| House 39 | Mark Baisley (R) 62.6% | Kamala Vanderkolk (D) 34.6%, Tony Gross (L) 2.8% | |
| House 40 | Janet Buckner (D) 63.1% | Richard Allen Bassett (R) 36.9% | |
| House 41 | Jovan Melton (D) 64.4% | Lynn Myers (R) 35.6% | |
| House 42 | Dominique Jackson (D) 73.3% | Mike Donald (R) 26.7% | |
| House 43 | Kevin Van Winkle (R) 53.36% | Barrett Rothe (D) 44.6%, Scott Wagner (Unity Party) 2.05% | |
| House 44 | Kim Ransom (R) 57.8% | Simone Aiken (D) 42.2% | |
| House 45 | Patrick Neville (R) 62.42% | Danielle Kombo (D) 37.58% | |
| House 46 | Daneya Esgar (D) 58.7% | Jonathan Ambler (R) 41.3% | |
| House 47 | Bri Buentello (D) 50.5% | Don Bendell (R) 49.5% | Flipped R to D |
| House 48 | Stephen Humphrey (R) 67.8% | Gbenga Ajiboye (D) 32.2% | |
| House 49 | Perry L. Buck (R) 59.2% | Conor Duffy (D) 40.8% | |
| House 50 | Rochelle Galindo (D) 53.4% | Michael Thuener (R) 46.6% | |
| House 51 | Hugh McKean (R) 56.2% | Joan Shaffer (D) 43.8% | |
| House 52 | Joann Ginal (D) 64.1% | Donna Walter (R) 35.9% | |
| House 53 | Jennifer Arndt (D) 100% | Unopposed | |
| House 54 | Matt Soper (R) 66.01% | Thea Chase (I) 33.99% | |
| House 55 | Janice Rich (R) 62.6% | Tanya Travis (D) 37.4% | |
| House 56 | Rod Bockenfeld (R) 56% | Dave Rose (D) 40.7%, Kevin Gulbranson (L) 3.4% | |
| House 57 | Robert E. Rankin (R) 62.1% | Colin Wilhelm (D) 37.9% | |
| House 58 | Marc Catlin (R) 62.8% | Seth Cagin (D) 37.2% | |
| House 59 | Barbara Hall McLachlan (D) 56.02% | Paul Irving Jones (I) 43.98% | |
| House 60 | James Wilson (R) 59.8% | Erin Kelley (D) 36.8%, Glenn Ingalls (L) 3.4% | |
| House 61 | Julie McCluskie (D) 63.6% | Mike Mason (R) 36.4% | |
| House 62 | Donald Valdez (D) 56.8% | Scott Honeycutt (R) 43.2% | |
| House 63 | Lori Saine (R) 59.7% | Brandon Bobian (D) 35.5%, Joseph Johnson (L) 4.8% | |
| House 64 | Kim Lewis (R) 75.1% | Teri Nilson Baird (D) 24.9% | |
| House 65 | Rod Pelton (R) 76.3% | Bethleen McCall (D) 23.7% | |
| Senate 1 | Jerry Sonnenberg (R) 79% | Debra Gustafson (D) 21% | |
| Senate 2 | Dennis Hisey (R) 65.3% | Beth Hart Harz (D) 34.7% | |
| Senate 3 | Leroy Garcia Jr. (D) 73.6% | John Pickerill (L) 26.4% | |
| Senate 5 | Kerry Donovan (D) 60.4% | Olen Lund (R) 39.6% | |
| Senate 6 | Don Coram (R) 54.7% | Guinn Unger Jr. (D) 45.3% | |
| Senate 7 | Ray Scott (R) 63.6% | Chris Kennedy (D) 36.4% | |
| Senate 9 | Paul Lundeen (R) 70.3% | Gil Armendariz (D) 29.7% | |
| Senate 11 | Pete Lee (D) 62% | Pat McIntire (R) 38% | |
| Senate 13 | John Cooke (R) 58.7% | Phil Kelley (D) 38.1%, Eric Joss (L) 3.2% | |
| Senate 15 | Rob Woodward (R) 53.1% | Rebecca Cranston (D) 46.9% | |
| Senate 16 | Tammy Story (D) 55.7% | Tim Neville (R) 41.3%, James Gilman (L) 3% | Flipped R to D; Incumbent defeated |
| Senate 20 | Jessie Danielson (D) 54.1% | Christine Jensen (R) 42.4%, Charles Messick (L) 3.5% | Flipped I to D |
| Senate 22 | Brittany Pettersen (D) 58.2% | Antonio Sanchez (R) 41.8% | |
| Senate 24 | Faith Winter (D) 52.3% | Beth Martinez Humenik (R) 39.8%, Adam Matkowsky (Other) 4.9% | Flipped R to D; Incumbent defeated |
| Senate 30 | Chris Holbert (R) 52.8% | Julia Varnell-Sarjeant (D) 41.6%, Steve Peterson (Other) 5.7% | |
| Senate 32 | Robert Rodriguez (D) 71.99% | Mark Calonder (R) 23.36%, Peter P. Smith (I) 4.65% | |
| Senate 34 | Julie Gonzales (D) 83.1% | Gordon Alley (R) 16.9% | |
Ballot measures
| Measure | Description | Result |
|---|
| Amendment 73 | Establishes income tax brackets and raises taxes to fund education | Failed (46.43% yes) |
| Amendment 74 | Requires that property owners be compensated for any reduction in property value caused by state laws or regulations | Failed (46.42% yes) |
| Amendment 75 | Changes campaign finance contribution limits and requirements | Failed (34.04% yes) |
| Amendment A | Repeals a constitutional exception on the ban of slavery that allowed for slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime | Passed (66.21% yes) |
| Amendment V | Reduces age qualification for legislative members from 25 to 21 | Failed (36.19% yes) |
| Amendment W | Shortens language on the Colorado ballot regarding judicial retention by consolidating questions | Failed (53.81% yes) |
| Amendment X | Changes the definition of industrial hemp from a constitutional definition to a statutory definition | Passed (60.64% yes) |
| Amendment Y | Establishes an independent commission for congressional redistricting | Passed (71.37% yes) |
| Amendment Z | Establishes an independent commission for state legislative redistricting | Passed (71.07% yes) |
| Proposition 109 | Authorizes bonds for transportation projects without raising taxes | Failed (39.28% yes) |
| Proposition 110 | Authorizes bonds for transportation projects and raises taxes to repay the debt | Failed (40.61% yes) |
| Proposition 111 | Restricts the charges on payday loans to a yearly rate of 36 percent | Passed (77.25% yes) |
| Proposition 112 | Mandates minimum setbacks for new oil and gas development projects, including fracking | Failed (44.88% yes) |