Colorado House Republicans celebrate election of Keltie, Woog in elimination of Dems’ supermajority

By / / Top Stories, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice

Colorado House Republicans are celebrating the election of Rebecca Keltie and Dan Woog in their close District 16 and 19 races, which would erase Democrats’ supermajority in the House.

As of Friday morning, Keltie held a 7-vote lead over Democrat Steph Vigil in the District 16 race in El Paso County. Also, Woog has a 123-vote lead over Democrat Jillaire McMillan in the District 19 race in Boulder and Weld counties.

The victories would give Republicans 22 seats in the 65-seat Colorado House of Representatives.

“Colorado voters spoke loudly, supporting two common-sense leaders in Dan Woog and Rebecca Keltie,” House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese said in a statement, declaring both races as Republican wins. “After we saw the people of Colorado defeat Prop HH last year and now three House districts flipping back to Republicans, the message is clear: Coloradans want a lower cost of living and a thriving economy. The Democratic policies pushing higher taxes and fees are not the way forward for Coloradans across the state.”

Both races would be subject to automatic recounts. The trigger for an automatic recount is a margin between leading candidates of less than one-half of 1 percent, or 0.50%. Keltie presently has 50.01% of the 41,273 votes to Vigil’s 49.49%, a race split by two one-hundredths of a percent (0.02%). In District 19, Woog holds 50.11% of the 56,711 votes to McMillan’s 49.89%, a difference of 22 one-hundredths of a percent (0.22%),

In a Twitter/X post late Thursday, Woog said, “Final numbers are in: I have been elected to represent you in House District 19. Thank you to everyone for your support throughout the election!”

Rocky Mountain Gun Owners celebrated the victory, noting McMillan as a “radical gun-grabber” and Woog as a “champion for the 2A”.

Keltie’s last post on Twitter/X was on Nov. 5.

“It’s time we return to Colorado’s roots as a pro-business and pro-liberty state,” Assistant Minority Leader Ty Winter said in a statement, also celebrating victory. “With the growth of the Republican caucus, voters have rejected the leftward drift of the Colorado Legislature and Colorado voters have now given us a louder voice to make that stand. House Republicans are committed and remain united in opposing legislation that will make it harder for families and small businesses to make ends meet and will be committed to pursuing efforts to lower taxes, cut costs or reduce burdensome and unnecessary regulations that are holding back this state.”