As ballot-counting winds up across the state, Democrats buttoned up a House win on Wednesday and both parties continued their nail-biting over a second race that will determine control of the lower chamber.
Democrat Roger Wilson of Glenwood Springs claimed a hard-fought victory against Rep. Kathleen Curry, who ran as a write-in candidate in the five-county House District 61 race.
Curry picked up more than 300 votes after a District Court judge ordered clerks to count ballots where voters wrote in her name but forgot to check the box beside it.
But the additional votes plus provisional ballots still left her about 300 votes behind, and she congratulated Wilson on his win Wednesday afternoon.
“I didn’t begin running until the first part of June,” Wilson said. “This has been almost a miracle turnaround going from nobody to being elected with a three-way race with an incumbent.”
Wilson’s win brings to 32 the number of Democrats in the 65-member House.
Curry could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon, but in previous interviews, she called her vote total a testament to the strength of unaffiliated candidates and predicted an eventual return to state politics.
The matchup between Republican Robert Ramirez and Democrat Rep. Debbie Benefield in Jefferson County’s House District 29, meanwhile, inched toward closure.
County election officials said that while all 535 provisional ballots have been counted, they must certify them before announcing a winner in the race.
The voting machines were successfully audited Wednesday and the canvassing board will meet to start certifying results at 8 a.m. today, said Deputy of Elections Josh Liss. Results could come as early as this afternoon.
Benefield trails by 208 votes, and Republicans have said repeatedly that it will be near impossible for the provisional count to favor the Democrat.
In the meantime, GOP legislators have elected a speaker of the House and appointed committees as though their majority is safe.
But Andy Kabza, head of the Democrat’s coordinated House campaign, begs to differ.
“Obviously we believe it’s possible there are more votes out there for Debbie,” he said. “It’s important that the process works itself out and every vote counts.”
In the Senate, Democratic Majority Leader John Morse of Colorado Springs claimed victory after his Republican opponent, trailing by 340 votes, called Tuesday to concede.
Jessica Fender: 303-954-1244 or jfender@denverpost.com
