Colorado State Senate elections, 2018

Elections in Colorado, 2018

• General election: Nov. 6
• Voter registration deadline: Oct. 29
• Early voting: Mail ballots available Oct. 5
• Absentee voting deadline: Nov. 6

• Online registration: Yes
• Same-day registration: Yes
• Voter ID: Non-photo ID required for in-person voting
• Poll times: 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

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2018 Colorado Senate elections
General	November 6, 2018
Primary	June 26, 2018

Past election results

2016・2014・2012・2010・2008 2006・2004・2002・2000

2018 elections
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Democrats gained a majority in the 2018 elections for the Colorado State Senate, as after the election, they controlled 19 seats to Republicans' 16. Seventeen of the 35 Senate seats were up for election. At the time of the election, Republicans held 18 seats to Democrats' 16, with one seat held by an independent.

Ballotpedia identified six of the races as battlegrounds, including three Democratic-held districts, two Republican-held districts, and the one independent-held district. Democrats won all six battleground elections.

Heading into the election, Colorado had been under divided government since 2014 when Republicans took control of the state Senate. This broke the state's Democratic trifecta that first formed after the 2012 elections when Democrats won the Colorado House of Representatives after losing it to Republicans in 2010.

Democrats needed to win the state Senate to have a trifecta, while Republicans needed to win the state House and the governorship. The last Republican trifecta in Colorado lasted from 2003 to 2004. Had the Republican Party maintained control of the chamber, it would have prevented a Democratic trifecta from forming in Colorado.

Because state senators in Colorado serve four-year terms, winning candidates in this election served through 2022 and played a role in Colorado's redistricting process. Congressional district boundaries are drawn by the state legislature and subject to gubernatorial veto, while the majority and minority leaders of the state Senate are each responsible for selecting one member to sit on the eleven-member commission responsible for drawing state legislative district boundaries.

The Colorado State Senate was one of 87 state legislative chambers with elections in 2018. There are 99 chambers throughout the country. Colorado state senators serve staggered, four-year terms and half of the Senate is up for election every two years. The Colorado State Senate was one of 22 state legislative battleground chambers identified by Ballotpedia in the 2018 elections. Read more below.

Colorado state senators serve staggered, four-year terms and half of the Senate is up for election every two years.

For more information about the Democratic primaries, click here.
For more information about the Republican primaries, click here.

Post-election analysis

See also: State legislative elections, 2018

The Democratic Party gained control of both chambers of the Colorado General Assembly in the 2018 election after flipping the Colorado State Senate. Both chambers of the Colorado General Assembly were identified as battleground chambers. In the state Senate, 17 out of 35 seats were up for election. Democrats gained a majority in the Colorado State Senate by gaining three net seats. Before the election, Democrats held 16 seats, Republicans held 18 seats, and an independent held one seat. Following the election, Democrats held 19 seats and Republicans held 16 seats. Two Republican incumbents were defeated in the general election.

The Colorado House of Representatives held elections for all 65 seats. The Democratic majority in the House of Representatives increased from 36-29 to 41-24. Two Republican incumbents were defeated in the primary and two Republican incumbents were defeated in the general election.

National background

On November 6, 2018, 87 of the nation's 99 state legislative chambers held regularly scheduled elections for 6,073 of 7,383 total seats, meaning that nearly 82 percent of all state legislative seats were up for election.

• Entering the 2018 election, Democrats held 42.6 percent, Republicans held 56.8 percent, and independents and other parties held 0.6 percent of the seats up for regular election.
• Following the 2018 election, Democrats held 47.3 percent, Republicans held 52.3 percent, and independents and other parties held 0.4 percent of the seats up for regular election.
• A total of 469 incumbents were defeated over the course of the election cycle, with roughly one-third of them defeated in the primary.

Want more information?

• Incumbents defeated in 2018's state legislative elections
• 2018 election analysis: Partisan balance of state legislative chambers
• 2018 election analysis: Number of state legislators by party
• 2018 election analysis: State legislative supermajorities

Districts

See also: Colorado state legislative districts

Use the interactive map below to find your district.

Candidates

See also: Statistics on state legislative candidates, 2018

General election candidates

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Primary election candidates
The candidate list below is based on a candidate filing list provided by the Colorado Secretary of State on May 3, 2018. The filing deadline for the March primary was on March 20, 2018. (I) denotes an incumbent.

2018 Colorado State Senate primary candidates
District	Democrat	Republican	Other
1	Debra Gustafson a	Jerry Sonnenberg (I) a
2	Beth Harz a Dennis Obduskey	Dennis Hisey a Stephanie Luck
3	Leroy Garcia Jr. (I) a
5	Kerry Donovan (I) a	Olen Lund a
6	Guinn Unger Jr. a	Don Coram (I) a
7	Chris Kennedy a	Ray Scott (I) a Daniel Thurlow
9	Gil Armendariz a	Paul Lundeen a
11	Pete Lee a	Pat McIntire a
13	Phil Kelley a	John Cooke (I) a
15	Rebecca Cranston a	Rob Woodward a
16	Tammy Story a	Tim Neville (I) a
20	Jessie Danielson a	Christine Jensen a
22	Brittany Pettersen a	Tony Sanchez a
24	Faith Winter a	Beth Martinez Humenik (I) a
30	Julia Varnell-Sarjeant a	Chris Holbert (I) a
32	Robert Rodriguez a Zach Neumann Hazel Gibson	Mark Calonder a
34	Julie Gonzales a Alan Kennedy-Shaffer Milo Schwab	Gordon Alley a
Notes	• An (I) denotes an incumbent.
	• Candidate lists can change frequently throughout an election season. Ballotpedia staff update this list monthly. To suggest changes, click here to email our Elections Project.

Margins of victory

See also: Margin of victory analysis for the 2018 state legislative elections

A margin of victory (MOV) analysis for the 2018 Colorado State Senate races is presented in this section. MOV represents the percentage of total votes that separated the winner and the second-place finisher. For example, if the winner of a race received 47 percent of the vote and the second-place finisher received 45 percent of the vote, the MOV is 2 percent.

The table below presents the following figures for each party:

• Elections won
• Elections won by less than 10 percentage points
• Elections won without opposition
• Average margin of victory

Colorado State Senate: 2018 Margin of Victory Analysis
Party	Elections won	Elections won by less than 10%	Unopposed elections	Average margin of victory
Democratic	9	0	0	29.1%
Republican	8	2	0	25.5%
Other	0	0	0	N/A
Total	17	2	0	27.3%

The margin of victory in each race is presented below. The list is sorted from the closest MOV to the largest (including unopposed races).

Colorado State Senate: 2018 Margin of Victory by District
District	Winning Party	Losing Party	Margin of Victory
Colorado State Senate District 15	Republican	Democratic	6.2%
Colorado State Senate District 6	Republican	Democratic	9.4%
Colorado State Senate District 30	Republican	Democratic	11.2%
Colorado State Senate District 20	Democratic	Republican	11.8%
Colorado State Senate District 24	Democratic	Republican	12.5%
Colorado State Senate District 16	Democratic	Republican	14.4%
Colorado State Senate District 22	Democratic	Republican	16.3%
Colorado State Senate District 13	Republican	Democratic	20.6%
Colorado State Senate District 5	Democratic	Republican	20.9%
Colorado State Senate District 11	Democratic	Republican	23.9%
Colorado State Senate District 7	Republican	Democratic	27.2%
Colorado State Senate District 2	Republican	Democratic	30.6%
Colorado State Senate District 9	Republican	Democratic	40.6%
Colorado State Senate District 3	Democratic	Libertarian	47.2%
Colorado State Senate District 32	Democratic	Republican	48.6%
Colorado State Senate District 1	Republican	Democratic	58.0%
Colorado State Senate District 34	Democratic	Republican	66.3%

Seats flipped

See also: State legislative seats that changed party control, 2018

The below map displays each seat in the Colorado State Senate which changed partisan hands as a result of the 2018 elections, shaded according to the partisan affiliation of the winner in 2018. Hover over a shaded district for more information.

State legislative seats flipped in 2018, Colorado State Senate
District	Incumbent	2018 winner	Direction of flip
Colorado State Senate District 16	Tim Neville	Tammy Story	R to D
Colorado State Senate District 20	Cheri Jahn	Jessie Danielson	Independent to D
Colorado State Senate District 24	Beth Martinez Humenik	Faith Winter	R to D

Incumbents retiring

Eight incumbents did not run for re-election in 2018. Those incumbents were:

Name	Party	Current Office
Kevin J. Grantham	Republican	Senate District 2
Kent Lambert	Republican	Senate District 9
Michael Merrifield	Democratic	Senate District 11
Kevin Lundberg	Republican	Senate District 15
Cheri Jahn	Independent	Senate District 20
Andrew Kerr	Democratic	Senate District 22
Irene Aguilar	Democratic	Senate District 32
Lucia Guzman	Democratic	Senate District 34

2018 battleground chamber

See also: State legislative battleground chambers, 2018

Ballotpedia identified the Colorado State Senate as one of 22 battleground chambers in 2018. These were chambers that we anticipated to be, overall, more competitive than other chambers and had the potential to see significant shifts in party control.

The chamber was selected because it met the following conditions:

• Competitive seats: These seats were last up in 2014. Two seats won by Republicans had a margin of victory that was less than 10 percent. Five seats won by Democrats had a margin of victory that was less than 10 percent. At least two of the Democratic seats were open because the incumbents were term-limited. See the 2018 races to watch here.

• Competitive statewide race: Gov. John Hickenlooper (D), who has served as governor since 2010, was term-limited in 2018. Electoral ratings organizations expected the race to succeed Hickenlooper to be competitive between the two parties. The governor's office was previously controlled by a Republican from 1999 to 2006. Read more about the 2018 gubernatorial race here.

• Majority held less than 55 percent of seats: Republicans controlled 18 of 35 seats, which is 51.4 percent of the total.

• Partisan balance of seats up for election: 10 of the 17 seats up in 2018 were controlled by Republicans, six were controlled by Democrats, and one was held by an independent.

• 2016 presidential election results: Hillary Clinton (D) won five districts that elected Republicans to the state Senate, including two districts that were up in 2018. Donald Trump (R) did not win any Democratic-controlled districts. See the 2016 presidential results in state legislative districts here.

• Recent party control switches: The chamber switched from Democratic to Republican control in 2014.
  
  

Party control: 2006 - 2016
Election Year:	2006	2008	2010	2012	2014	2016
Winning Party:	D	D	D	D	R	R

Battleground races

Colorado State Senate Battleground races
Democratic seats
District 5
District 11
District 22
Republican seats
District 16
District 24
Independent seats
District 20

Ballotpedia identified six battleground races in the Colorado State Senate 2018 elections: three Democratic seats, two Republican seats, and one seat held by an independent. Based on analysis of these districts' electoral histories, these races had the potential to be more competitive than other races and could possibly have led to shifts in a chamber's partisan balance.

To determine state legislative battleground races in 2018, Ballotpedia looked for races that fit one or more of the four factors listed below:

1. If the incumbent won less than 55 percent of the vote in the most recent election prior to 2018
2. If the presidential candidate opposite of the incumbent's party won the district in the 2016 elections and the incumbent’s margin of victory in the previous election was 10 percentage points or less
3. If the presidential candidate opposite of the incumbent's party won the district in the 2016 elections and the incumbent did not file to run for re-election
4. If the presidential candidate opposite of the incumbent's party won the district in the 2016 elections by 20 points or more

Other factors could also cause a race to be classified as a battleground. For example, Ballotpedia may have considered an election to be a battleground race if an outside group or a national or state party announced that they were targeting a specific seat in order to flip it. We may have also determined a race to be a battleground if it received an unusual amount of media attention. Two additional factors were open seats and districts impacted by redistricting.

District 5

Who won this race?

Democratic incumbent Kerry Donovan defeated Republican Olen Lund.

What party controlled the seat heading into the election?

The Democratic Party

Who were the candidates running?

Kerry Donovan (incumbent) Olen Lund

What made this a battleground race?

This was a district where the incumbent won less than 55 percent of the vote in 2014. Incumbent Kerry Donovan (D) was first elected in 2014. She received 49.0 percent of the vote and defeated her Republican challenger by 2.3 points. A Libertarian candidate received 4.2 percent of the vote. District 5 was one of 21 Colorado Senate districts that Democrat Hillary Clinton won in the 2016 presidential election. Clinton carried District 5 by 5.0 points. Barack Obama (D) won the district in the 2012 presidential election by 4.5 points.

District 11

Who won this race?

Democrat Pete Lee defeated Republican Pat McIntire.

What party controlled the seat heading into the election?

The Democratic Party

Who were the candidates running?

Pete Lee Pat McIntire

What made this a battleground race?

This was a district where the incumbent won less than 55 percent of the vote in 2014. Incumbent Michael Merrifield (D) was first elected in 2014. He received 52.2 percent of the vote and defeated Republican incumbent Bernie Herpin by 10.7 points. A Libertarian candidate received 6.3 percent of the vote. District 11 was one of 21 Colorado Senate districts that Democrat Hillary Clinton won in the 2016 presidential election. Clinton carried District 11 by 10.9 points. Barack Obama (D) won the district in the 2012 presidential election by 21.6 points.

District 16

Who won this race?

Democrat Tammy Story defeated incumbent Republican Tim Neville and Libertarian James Gilman.

What party controlled the seat heading into the election?

The Republican Party

Who were the candidates running?

Tammy Story Tim Neville (incumbent) James Gilman

What made this a battleground race?

This was a district where the incumbent won less than 55 percent of the vote in 2014 and was won by the presidential candidate of the opposite party. Incumbent Tim Neville (R) was first elected in 2014. He received 51.4 percent of the vote, defeating Democratic incumbent Jeanne Nicholson by 2.8 points. District 16 was one of 21 Colorado Senate districts that Democrat Hillary Clinton won in the 2016 presidential election. Clinton carried District 16 by 8.6 points. Barack Obama (D) won the district in the 2012 presidential election by 2.8 points. Tammy Story announced that she would challenge Neville in 2018 and picked up support from California billionaire Tom Steyer. She was also endorsed by U.S. Reps. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.).

District 20

Who won this race?

Democrat Jessie Danielson defeated Republican Christine Jensen and Libertarian Charles Messick.

What party controlled the seat heading into the election?

Independent

Who were the candidates running?

Jessie Danielson Christine Jensen Charles Messick

What made this a battleground race?

This was a district where the incumbent won less than 55 percent of the vote in 2014 and was term-limited in 2018. Incumbent Cheri Jahn (D) was first elected in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014. She received 46.8 percent of the vote in 2014 and defeated her Republican challenger by 0.6 points. A Libertarian candidate received 7.0 percent of the vote. Jahn could not run for re-election in 2018 due to term limits. In December 2017, Jahn left the Democratic Party and became an independent. District 20 was one of 21 Colorado Senate districts that Democrat Hillary Clinton won in the 2016 presidential election. Clinton carried District 20 by 8.9 points. Barack Obama (D) won the district in the 2012 presidential election by 5.7 points. Westword named this as a battleground race in January 2018.

District 22

Who won this race?

Democrat Brittany Pettersen defeated Republican Tony Sanchez.

What party controlled the seat heading into the election?

The Democratic Party

Who were the candidates running?

Brittany Pettersen Tony Sanchez

What made this a battleground race?

This was a district where the incumbent won less than 55 percent of the vote in 2014 and was term-limited in 2018. Incumbent Andy Kerr (D) was first elected in 2012 and was re-elected in 2014. He received 51.1 percent of the vote in 2014 and defeated his Republican challenger by 2.2 points. Kerr could not run for re-election in 2018 due to term limits. District 22 was one of 21 Colorado Senate districts that Democrat Hillary Clinton won in the 2016 presidential election. Clinton carried District 22 by 8.7 points. Barack Obama (D) won the district in the 2012 presidential election by 8.2 points.

District 24

Who won this race?

Democrat Faith Winter defeated incumbent Republican Beth Martinez Humenik.

What party controlled the seat heading into the election?

The Republican Party

Who were the candidates running?

Faith Winter Beth Martinez Humenik (incumbent) Adam Matkowsky Donald Osborn

What made this a battleground race?

This was a district where the incumbent won less than 55 percent of the vote in 2014 and was won by the presidential candidate of the opposite party. Incumbent Beth Martinez Humenik (R) was first elected in 2014. She received 50.9 percent of the vote, defeating her Democratic challenger by 1.8 points. District 24 was one of 21 Colorado Senate districts that Democrat Hillary Clinton won in the 2016 presidential election. Clinton carried District 24 by 5.0 points. Barack Obama (D) won the district in the 2012 presidential election by 9.2 points. Faith Winter announced that she would challenge Humenik in 2018 and picked up support from California billionaire Tom Steyer.

Campaign activity

League of Conservation Voters involvement

The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) committed to spend $20 million on state-level races on February 8, 2018. "LCV and our affiliates will also focus resources in states like Colorado, where once again winning just one seat in the state Senate would flip the chamber to a pro-environment majority," LCV senior vice president Pete Maysmith wrote.

Tom Steyer involvement

In January 2018, Western Wire reported that California billionaire Tom Steyer was supporting Faith Winter, a Democratic state representative running against Sen. Beth Martinez Humenik (R) in District 24, and Tammy Story, a Democrat running against Sen. Tim Neville (R) in District 16.

Colorado political history

See also: Partisan composition of state senates and State government trifectas

Party control

2018

In the 2018 elections, Democrats gained a majority in the Colorado State Senate.

Colorado State Senate
Party		As of November 6, 2018	After November 7, 2018
	Democratic Party	16	19
	Republican Party	18	16
	Independent	1	0
Total		35	35

2016

In the 2016 elections, Republicans maintained their 18-17 majority in the Colorado State Senate.

Colorado State Senate
Party		As of November 7, 2016	After November 8, 2016
	Democratic Party	17	17
	Republican Party	18	18
Total		35	35

Trifectas

A state government trifecta is a term that describes single-party government, when one political party holds the governor's office and has majorities in both chambers of the legislature in a state government. Following the 2016 elections, Colorado was one of 19 states under divided government. Democrats controlled the governor's office and the state House while Republicans controlled the state Senate. Colorado was under Democratic trifecta control from 2007 to 2010 and 2013 to 2014. It was under Republican trifecta control from 1999 to 2000 and 2003 to 2004.

Colorado Party Control: 1992-2025
Thirteen years of Democratic trifectas  •  Four years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25
Governor	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
Senate	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
House	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D

Impact of term limits

See also: Impact of term limits on state senate elections in 2018 and Impact of term limits on state legislative elections in 2018

The Colorado State Senate has been a term-limited state Senate since Colorado voters approved Issue 5 in 1990. The affirmative vote by Colorado's electorate in Issue 5 altered Section 3 of Article V on the Colorado Constitution to say that Colorado state senators could serve no more than two four-year terms in office.

A total of 17 out of 35 seats in the Colorado State Senate were up for election in 2018. In the 2018 elections, seven senators were ineligible to run because of term limits. The following state senators were term-limited in 2018:

Democratic: (4)

• Lucia Guzman
• Irene Aguilar
• Cheri Jahn
• Andy Kerr

Republicans (3):

• Kevin Lundberg
• Kent Lambert
• Kevin J. Grantham

Of the 87 state legislative chambers that held elections in 2018, 24 of them—12 senate chambers and 12 house chambers—included incumbents who were unable to run for re-election due to term limits. In the 24 chambers affected by term limits in 2018, 1,463 seats were up for election. The Nevada Senate, Arkansas House, and Arkansas Senate are impacted by term limits, but no incumbents were term-limited in 2018. There are 99 chambers throughout the country.

A total of 271 state legislators—96 state senators and 175 state representatives—were ineligible to run in the 2018 elections because of term limits. This represented 4 percent of the 6,066 total seats up for election in November 2018. Republicans had twice as many state legislators term-limited in 2018 than Democrats. A total of 86 Democrats were term-limited, while 177 Republicans were term-limited.

Wave election analysis

See also: Wave elections (1918-2016)

The term wave election is frequently used to describe an election cycle in which one party makes significant electoral gains. How many seats would Republicans have had to lose for the 2018 midterm election to be considered a wave election?

Ballotpedia examined the results of the 50 election cycles that occurred between 1918 and 2016—spanning from President Woodrow Wilson's (D) second midterm in 1918 to Donald Trump's (R) first presidential election in 2016. We define wave elections as the 20 percent of elections in that period resulting in the greatest seat swings against the president's party.

Applying this definition to state legislative elections, we found that Republicans needed to lose 494 seats for 2018 to qualify as a wave election.

The chart below shows the number of seats the president's party lost in the 10 state legislative waves from 1918 to 2016. Click here to read the full report.

State legislative wave elections
Year	President	Party	Election type	State legislative seats change	Elections analyzed
1932	Hoover	R	Presidential	-1,022	7,365
1922	Harding	R	First midterm	-907	6,907
1966	Johnson	D	First midterm	-782	7,561
1938	Roosevelt	D	Second midterm	-769	7,179
1958	Eisenhower	R	Second midterm	-702	7,627
2010	Obama	D	First midterm	-702	7,306
1974	Ford	R	Second midterm	-695	7,481
1920	Wilson	D	Presidential	-654	6,835
1930	Hoover	R	Presidential	-640	7,361
1954	Eisenhower	R	First midterm	-494	7,513

Candidate and office information

Process to become a candidate

See also: Ballot access requirements for political candidates in Colorado

See statutes: Title 1, Article 4 of the Colorado Revised Statutes

There are different types of candidates in Colorado: major party candidates, minor party candidates, Qualified Political Organization (QPO) candidates, unaffiliated candidates, and write-in candidates. Ballot access methods differ according to the type of candidate.

Requirements for all candidates

There are a number of requirements that all candidates must follow. These include the following:

1. A candidate must publicly announce his or her intention to run for office by means of a speech, advertisement, or other communication reported or appearing in public media or in any place accessible to the public. This includes a stated intention to explore the possibility of seeking office.
2. Each candidate must submit an audio recording of the correct pronunciation of his or her name. If nominated by an assembly, the candidate must submit the audio recording to the Colorado Secretary of State within 10 days of the close of the convention. If nominated by petition, the candidate must submit the recording by the end of the petition filing period.

The qualification of any candidate may be challenged by any eligible elector within five days of the candidate qualifying for the ballot.

Major party candidates

In order to run as a major party candidate, one must have been affiliated with his or her party by the first business day in January of the year of the election, unless party rules say otherwise. The candidate must be nominated in the primary election to move on to the general election as the nominee of the party. There are two methods by which a major party can place candidates on the primary election ballot: nomination by an assembly and nomination by petition.

Nomination by an assembly

Major parties may hold party assemblies to nominate candidates. At these assemblies, delegates vote on possible candidates and may place up to two candidates per office on the primary ballot. Delegates to party assemblies are chosen at yearly precinct caucuses. The process by which assemblies are held is determined by the individual parties.

A major party must hold a nominating assembly no later than 73 days before the primary election. A candidate must receive 30 percent of votes cast by assembly delegates for that office. If no candidate receives 30 percent, a second vote must be taken. If no candidate receives 30 percent at the second vote, the top two vote-getters will be nominated. Within four days of the assembly, a successful candidate must file a written acceptance of candidacy with the presiding officer of the assembly. The presiding officer of the assembly must file a certificate of designation by an assembly, along with the written acceptance of candidacy, with the Colorado Secretary of State. This certificate must state the name of the political party, the name and address of each candidate, and the offices being sought. It must also certify that the candidates have been members of the political party for the required period of time.

Nomination by petition

A candidate who attempted to be nominated by assembly and failed to receive at least 10 percent of the delegates' votes may not be nominated by petition for that same party.

The nominating petition must be signed by eligible electors who have been registered with the candidate's political party for at least 29 days and who reside in the district the candidate seeks to represent. Candidates who collect the required number of signatures are placed on the primary election ballot. The signature requirements are as follows:

Petition signature requirements for political party candidates
Office sought	Number of signatures required
Member of the United States Senate or state executive official	1,500 from each congressional district
Member of the Colorado State Legislature or United States House of Representatives	1,000, or 30 percent of the votes cast in the district in the most recent primary election for the same party and the same office, whichever is less. If there was no primary election, general election numbers should be used.

Minor party candidates

In order to run as a minor party candidate, one must have been affiliated with his or her party by the first business day in January of the year of the election, unless party rules say otherwise. Minor parties nominate their candidates for placement on the general election ballot. If there is more than one candidate nominated for a given office, those candidates are placed on the primary ballot.

There are two methods by which minor parties can nominate candidates to be placed on the ballot.

Nomination by assembly

The minor party must hold an assembly no later than 73 days before the primary election. A successful candidate must receive at least 30 percent of the delegates' votes for that office at the assembly.

Nomination by petition

A minor party candidate may be nominated by petition. The petition must be signed by eligible electors in the same district the candidate seeks to represent. The signature requirements are listed in the table below.

Petition signature requirements for minor party candidates
Office sought	Number of signatures required
Member of the United States Senate or state executive official	1,000, or 2 percent of the total votes cast for that office in the last general election, whichever is less
Member of the United States House of Representatives	800, or 2 percent of the total votes cast for that office in that congressional district in the last general election, whichever is less
Member of the Colorado State Senate	600, or 2 percent of the total votes cast for that office in that senate district in the last general election, whichever is less
Member of the Colorado House of Representatives	400, or 2 percent of the total votes cast for that office in that house district in the last general election, whichever is less

Qualified Political Organization (QPO) candidates

In order to run as a Qualified Political Organization (QPO) candidate, one must have been affiliated with the QPO for one year. Alternatively, if the organization has not been qualified for one year, the candidate must have been registered as unaffiliated for one year. QPO candidates must petition to be placed on the general election ballot. Each petition must include an affidavit signed under oath by the chairperson and secretary of the QPO and approved by the Colorado Secretary of State. Signature requirements are the same as those for minor party candidates, which are listed above.

Unaffiliated candidates

In order to run as an unaffiliated candidate, one must be registered as unaffiliated by the first business day in January of the year of the election. An unaffiliated candidate must petition to be placed on the general election ballot. Signature requirements are the same as those for minor party candidates, which are listed above.

Write-in candidates

Write-in candidates are permitted in both the primary and general elections. A write-in candidate must file an affidavit of intent with the Colorado Secretary of State no later than the close of business on the 67th day before a primary election and the 110th day before a general election. No write-in vote will be counted unless the candidate filed an affidavit of intent.

Qualifications

See also: State legislature candidate requirements by state

Article 5, Section 4 of the Colorado Constitution states: No person shall be a representative or senator who shall not have attained the age of twenty-five years, who shall not be a citizen of the United States, who shall not for at least twelve months next preceding his election, have resided within the territory included in the limits of the county or district in which he shall be chosen; provided, that any person who at the time of the adoption of this constitution, was a qualified elector under the territorial laws, shall be eligible to the first general assembly.

Salaries and per diem

See also: Comparison of state legislative salaries

State legislative salaries, 2024
Salary	Per diem
$43,977/year for legislators whose terms began in 2023. $41,449/year for legislators whose terms began in 2021.	For legislators residing within 50 miles of the capitol: $45/day. For legislators living more than 50 miles from the capitol: $237/day.

When sworn in

See also: When state legislators assume office after a general election

Colorado legislators assume office on the first day of the legislative session after their election. The legislative session must begin no later than 10:00 AM on the second Wednesday of January. The state constitution requires the newly elected governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, treasurer, and secretary of state to take office on the second Tuesday of January. In the year after those offices are elected, the legislative session must begin before the second Tuesday of January to declare the winners of those races.

Competitiveness

Every year, Ballotpedia uses official candidate lists from each state to examine the competitiveness of every state legislative race in the country. Nationally, there has been a steady decline in electoral competitiveness since 2010. Most notable is that the number of districts with general election competition has dropped by more than 10 percent.

Results from 2016

Click here to read the full study »

Historical context

See also: Competitiveness in State Legislative Elections: 1972-2014

Uncontested elections: In 2014, 32.8 percent of Americans lived in states with an uncontested state senate election. Similarly, 40.4 percent of Americans lived in states with uncontested house elections. Primary elections were uncontested even more frequently, with 61 percent of people living in states with no contested primaries. Uncontested elections often occur in locations that are so politically one-sided that the result of an election would be a foregone conclusion regardless of whether it was contested or not.

Open seats: In most cases, an incumbent will run for re-election, which decreases the number of open seats available. In 2014, 83 percent of the 6,057 seats up for election saw the incumbent running for re-election. The states that impose term limits on their legislatures typically see a higher percentage of open seats in a given year because a portion of incumbents in each election are forced to leave office. Overall, the number of open seats decreased from 2012 to 2014, dropping from 21.2 percent in 2012 to 17.0 percent in 2014.

Incumbent win rates: Ballotpedia's competitiveness analysis of elections between 1972 and 2014 documented the high propensity for incumbents to win re-election in state legislative elections. In fact, since 1972, the win rate for incumbents had not dropped below 90 percent—with the exception of 1974, when 88 percent of incumbents were re-elected to their seats. Perhaps most importantly, the win rate for incumbents generally increased over time. In 2014, 96.5 percent of incumbents were able to retain their seats. Common convention holds that incumbents are able to leverage their office to maintain their seat. However, the high incumbent win rate may actually be a result of incumbents being more likely to hold seats in districts that are considered safe for their party.

Marginal primaries: Often, competitiveness is measured by examining the rate of elections that have been won by amounts that are considered marginal (5 percent or less). During the 2014 election, 90.1 percent of primary and general election races were won by margins higher than 5 percent. Interestingly, it is usually the case that only one of the two races—primary or general—will be competitive at a time. This means that if a district's general election is competitive, typically one or more of the district's primaries were won by more than 5 percent. The reverse is also true: If a district sees a competitive primary, it is unlikely that the general election for that district will be won by less than 5 percent. Primaries often see very low voter turnout in comparison to general elections. In 2014, there were only 27 million voters for state legislative primaries, but approximately 107 million voters for the state legislative general elections.

Pivot Counties

See also: Pivot Counties by state

Four of 64 Colorado counties—6 percent—are Pivot Counties. Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.

Counties won by Trump in 2016 and Obama in 2012 and 2008
County	Trump margin of victory in 2016	Obama margin of victory in 2012	Obama margin of victory in 2008
Conejos County, Colorado	3.56%	9.22%	12.93%
Huerfano County, Colorado	6.61%	8.27%	11.23%
Las Animas County, Colorado	15.60%	2.65%	7.04%
Pueblo County, Colorado	0.50%	13.99%	14.97%

In the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton (D) won Colorado with 48.2 percent of the vote. Donald Trump (R) received 43.3 percent. In presidential elections between 1900 and 2016, Colorado voted Republican 63.3 percent of the time and Democratic 36.7 percent of the time. Colorado voted Republican in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, but voted Democratic in the 2008, 2012, and 2016 elections.

Presidential results by legislative district

The following table details results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections by state Senate districts in Colorado. Click [show] to expand the table. The "Obama," "Romney," "Clinton," and "Trump" columns describe the percent of the vote each presidential candidate received in the district. The "2012 Margin" and "2016 Margin" columns describe the margin of victory between the two presidential candidates in those years. The "Party Control" column notes which party held that seat heading into the 2018 general election. Data on the results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections broken down by state legislative districts was compiled by Daily Kos.

In 2012, Barack Obama (D) won 20 out of 35 state Senate districts in Colorado with an average margin of victory of 24.2 points. In 2016, Hillary Clinton (D) won 21 out of 35 state Senate districts in Colorado with an average margin of victory of 23.1 points. Clinton won five districts controlled by Republicans heading into the 2018 elections.

In 2012, Mitt Romney (R) won 15 out of 35 state Senate districts in Colorado with an average margin of victory of 18.5 points. In 2016, Donald Trump (R) won 14 out of 35 state Senate districts in Colorado with an average margin of victory of 22.7 points.

2016 presidential results by state Senate District
District	Obama	Romney	2012 Margin	Clinton	Trump	2016 Margin	Party Control
1	27.92%	69.67%	R+41.7	19.73%	74.03%	R+54.3	R
2	36.40%	60.75%	R+24.4	27.88%	64.06%	R+36.2	R
3	58.31%	39.38%	D+18.9	47.96%	43.61%	D+4.4	D
4	33.81%	64.51%	R+30.7	32.65%	58.54%	R+25.9	R
5	51.04%	46.49%	D+4.5	48.51%	43.49%	D+5	D
6	43.94%	53.27%	R+9.3	39.84%	52.03%	R+12.2	R
7	32.69%	65.08%	R+32.4	27.98%	64.10%	R+36.1	R
8	47.48%	50.06%	R+2.6	43.74%	48.23%	R+4.5	R
9	28.34%	69.73%	R+41.4	27.84%	62.77%	R+34.9	R
10	36.38%	60.89%	R+24.5	32.30%	56.96%	R+24.7	R
11	59.16%	37.56%	D+21.6	50.20%	39.30%	D+10.9	D
12	38.68%	58.87%	R+20.2	33.40%	56.85%	R+23.5	R
13	47.56%	49.70%	R+2.1	39.31%	51.50%	R+12.2	R
14	59.50%	37.47%	D+22	57.52%	31.58%	D+25.9	D
15	44.84%	52.46%	R+7.6	39.15%	51.64%	R+12.5	R
16	50.24%	47.48%	D+2.8	49.94%	41.33%	D+8.6	R
17	62.27%	35.32%	D+27	62.10%	29.22%	D+32.9	D
18	76.45%	21.02%	D+55.4	78.10%	15.20%	D+62.9	D
19	52.11%	45.25%	D+6.9	47.61%	42.81%	D+4.8	R
20	51.62%	45.97%	D+5.7	49.95%	41.09%	D+8.9	D
21	64.48%	32.71%	D+31.8	55.97%	35.25%	D+20.7	D
22	52.95%	44.71%	D+8.2	49.85%	41.15%	D+8.7	D
23	44.23%	53.42%	R+9.2	40.45%	50.24%	R+9.8	R
24	53.34%	44.18%	D+9.2	47.95%	42.98%	D+5	R
25	55.19%	42.20%	D+13	46.66%	44.89%	D+1.8	R
26	53.44%	44.30%	D+9.1	54.13%	37.11%	D+17	D
27	46.87%	51.35%	R+4.5	48.87%	42.33%	D+6.5	R
28	57.45%	40.30%	D+17.1	53.31%	37.69%	D+15.6	D
29	60.24%	37.57%	D+22.7	54.87%	37.44%	D+17.4	D
30	38.89%	59.70%	R+20.8	40.86%	50.60%	R+9.7	R
31	69.75%	28.01%	D+41.7	71.51%	21.05%	D+50.5	D
32	68.99%	28.72%	D+40.3	70.25%	21.72%	D+48.5	D
33	83.89%	14.35%	D+69.5	81.83%	11.99%	D+69.8	D
34	77.39%	20.14%	D+57.3	76.04%	16.09%	D+60	D
35	45.52%	52.02%	R+6.5	35.61%	56.92%	R+21.3	R
Total	51.49%	46.13%	D+5.4	48.16%	43.25%	D+4.9	-
Source: Daily Kos

See also

• Colorado State Senate
• Colorado State Legislature
• State legislative elections, 2018
• Colorado state legislative Democratic primaries, 2018
• Colorado state legislative Republican primaries, 2018

External links

Suggest a link

• Colorado State Legislature

Footnotes

[show]

Current members of the Colorado State Senate

Leadership

Senate President:James Coleman

Majority Leader:Robert Rodriguez

Minority Leader:Paul Lundeen

Senators

District 1

Byron Pelton (R)

District 2

Lisa Frizell (R)

District 3

Nick Hinrichsen (D)

District 4

Mark Baisley (R)

District 5

Marc Catlin (R)

District 6

Cleave Simpson (R)

District 7

Janice Rich (R)

District 8

Dylan Roberts (D)

District 9

Paul Lundeen (R)

District 10

Larry Liston (R)

District 11

Thomas Exum (D)

District 12

Marc Snyder (D)

District 13

Scott Bright (R)

District 14

Cathy Kipp (D)

District 15

Janice Marchman (D)

District 16

Chris Kolker (D)

District 17

Vacant

District 18

Judy Amabile (D)

District 19

Lindsey Daugherty (D)

District 20

Lisa Cutter (D)

District 21

Dafna Jenet (D)

District 22

Jessie Danielson (D)

District 23

Barbara Kirkmeyer (R)

District 24

Kyle Mullica (D)

District 25

Faith Winter (D)

District 26

Jeff Bridges (D)

District 27

Tom Sullivan (D)

District 28

Mike Weissman (D)

District 29

Iman Jodeh (D)

District 30

John Carson (R)

District 31

Matt Ball (D)

District 32

Robert Rodriguez (D)

District 33

James Coleman (D)

District 34

Julie Gonzales (D)

District 35

Rod Pelton (R)

Democratic Party (22)

Republican Party (12)

Vacancies (1)