Colorado State Legislature Results In 2022

Democrats did well in Colorado this year. 

The Colorado General Assembly results were no exception. Democrats will be about one seat short of a two-thirds majority in the state senate, and will have a two-thirds majority in the state house. Democrats held exactly two-thirds of the eighteen seats not up for re-election this year, and this year's state senate races split 11-6 in favor of the Democrats.

So, for example, to propose a state constitutional amendment, Democrats need to win over just one Republican state senator in a political climate in which, unlike Congress, historically at least, bipartisan compromise has been fairly common.

Of 100 state legislative seats between the state house and the state senate, Democrats will hold 69 of them. They managed to do this even though the 2020 redistricting process for the state legislature was handled by an independent redistricting commission that greatly reduced gerrymandering relative to a legislatively drawn map.

This is still a better performance than Democrats had in the popular vote in any statewide race. Even Governor Polis got only 58% of the vote. But, any system involving single member districts inherently will disproportionately favor the political party with a larger share of the popular vote - the federal Electoral College works the same way.

This is in addition to holding every statewide elected office, and at least five out of eight seats in Congress (the third Congressional district could still go either way).

Going into Tuesday's election, Democrats held a 21-14 advantage in the state Senate. Of the 18 seats not up for election, Democrats hold a 12-6 Republicans advantage.

If the results of every race hold, Democrats would gain two seats to hold a 23-12 advantage in the state Senate and gain five seats to hold a 46-19 advantage in the state House. Winners had not been called in all the state Senate and House races yet.

While Democrats weren't at risk of losing control of the state House, enjoying a 41-24 majority before the election, Republican candidates had hoped to flip a substantial number of seats.

From 9News.