When the 2013-14 state legislative session ended in May, House Democrats worried privately about whether they’d be able to retain their majority.
On Tuesday night, it appeared those concerns were well-founded, as control of the lower chamber of the legislature remained in doubt.
Some of the 65 seats up for grabs were yet to report results. But of the races that had, Republicans found themselves in front in a majority of them.
In 2013-14, the House Democrats had a nine-seat edge: 37-28.
However, four members of that majority — Daniel Kagan of Cherry Hills Village, Su Ryden of Aurora, Millie Hamner of Dillon and Tony Exum of Colorado Springs — were trailing their GOP opponents Tuesday night.
Kagan, whose district recently was reapportioned, trailed Candice Benge 51.4 percent to 48.6 percent in partial returns.
Ryden was behind Republican Richard J. Bowman 50.6 percent to 49.4 percent.
Kevin Priola, who incurred the wrath of some fellow Republicans and lost his position as the minority whip during the 2013-14 session, held a commanding lead over Vicki A. Snider, 65.6 percent to 34.4 percent.
Among the bright spots for Democrats: Angela Williams, Rhonda Fields and Lois Court held commanding leads in their contests.
Each seat in the House was up for re-election at the conclusion of the two-year term that ended in May.
In their worst-case scenario last spring, Democrats feared the House would flip over to the Republicans.
However, before Tuesday night’s results came in, the sense among Democrats was that while the Republicans stood to pick up a couple of seats, they would fall well short of gaining a majority.
Anthony Cotton: 303-954-1292, acotton@denverpost.com or twitter.com/anthonycottondp
