Democrat Linda Newell has likely won, by the thinnest of margins, an Arapahoe County state Senate seat held by Republicans for decades.
Lauri Clapp, the Republican candidate in District 26, conceded Wednesday afternoon and offered Newell her congratulations.
Late Tuesday night, the Arapahoe County clerk and recorder posted the final tally in the race after counting all the remaining mail-in and provisional ballots. The final vote margin in the Senate District race is 191, with 30,405 votes for Newell and 30,214 votes for Clapp.
“While an election that is decided by less than 200 votes can at times be divisive,” Clapp said in a statement. “I extend my sincere congratulations to Linda, and wish her the very best.”
Despite Clapp’s concession speech, the election is headed for a triggered recount, and official results might not be available until December.
Newell said that her margin of victory was 0.36 percent, below the 0.5 percent mark that triggers a recount under state law.
“I still don’t know for sure,” Newell said, but based on the current lead, “it’s a good sign that I can anticipate a victory speech in our future.”
Clapp, 45, said she did not think a recount would be in the interest of the public or taxpayers. She said she was sure the canvass board and the county clerk did a good job.
Republican leaders admitted it was unlikely Clapp would close the gap.
“Obviously, we continue to hope that the election falls the other way, but almost always at this point it’s extremely unusual for the results to change,” said Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction. “It was a classic headwind loss. Obama won that district by a healthy margin, which, in the end, was the difference.”
Arapahoe County Clerk Nancy Doty said the recount would begin Monday.
