Republicans flipped three seats in Colorado’s House of Representatives, costing Democrats their supermajority in the chamber next year — a result that didn’t become clear until late Thursday night, when final votes were counted in a pair of narrowly-margined races like paper.

Republican defense contractor Rebecca Keltie defeated Democratic Rep. Stephanie Vigil by seven votes in House District 16 to win the Colorado Springs seat. In House Sector 19former state Rep. Dan Woog, a Republican from Frederick, defeated Longmont Democrat Jillaire McMillan by 123 votes, or 0.22 percentage points. This replaces a seat currently held by Democratic Rep. Jennifer Parenti, who dropped her re-election bid this summer.

Narrow margins in the Nov. 5 election triggered recounts in both races. If the results hold, they will cut the Democratic lead in the House to 43-22 from 46-19. (Democratic state Rep. Mary Young of Greeley also lost her re-election bid in House District 50 to Republican Ryan Gonzalez.)

The races, decided Thursday as local election officials finished counting ballots cast in the Nov. 5 election, were the last two legislative contests decided in the 2024 election, in which voters overwhelmingly reaffirmed the statewide dominance of Colorado Democrats. The party still has large majorities in the legislature.

Still, the results are a disappointment for Democrats, who had hoped to pick up another Senate seat and hold on to their House lead to secure a rare veto-proof supermajority on Capitol Hill.

“Colorado voters have spoken loudly in supporting two common-sense leaders in Dan Woog and Rebecca Keltie,” House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese of Colorado Springs said in a written statement. “The message is clear: Coloradans want a lower cost of living and a thriving economy. Democratic policies that push taxes and higher taxes are not the way forward for Coloradans across the state.”

However, Democrats remain in firm control of every branch of state government, controlling both houses of the legislature, the governorship, and other statewide offices.

And, because a number of moderate Democrats leaving the Senate this year will be replaced by more progressive members of the House, the net result of the November election could be a shift to the left for policies passed at the Capitol despite Republican gains.

The swing district race in House District 16 went to voters in Colorado Springs a choice of political extremespitting one of the most liberal members of the Legislature in Vigil against Keltie, a Republican who ran for an election denial group after the 2020 election.

The final margin in the district was 50.01% to 49.99%. Colorado law requires an automatic recount when the difference between the top candidates — seven votes, in this case — is less than 0.5 percent of the winner’s vote total.

Woog, a property manager and former Erie city manager, won by a margin just short of the automatic recount threshold. That means the votes will be contested in House District 19 as well.

Counts must be completed by December 6. The recounts typically change the results of a race by only a vote or two — if at all — not enough to change the outcome of the 16th or 19th district contests.

The electorate in the 16th and 19th districts leaned slightly Republican in 2021, when nonpartisan legislative staff conducted a review of past election results when district boundaries were redrawn as part of Colorado’s once-a-decade redistricting process. House District 50 tilted in favor of Democrats.

Thursday’s final tally also ends speculation that an incumbent Senate Democrat could lose the seat.

Commerce City Democrat Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet retained her Senate District 21 seat in a race that was much closer than expected, defeating Republican Frederick Alfred Jr. 51.1 percent to 48.9 %. That margin is outside the automatic threshold margin.

An analysis of past election results by nonpartisan legislative staff conducted when Senate District 21 was redrawn in 2021 found it tilted nearly 14 percentage points in favor of Democrats.

Michaelson Jenet’s victory maintains the Senate’s current partisan makeup, with Democrats controlling 23 seats to Republicans’ 12.

This is a developing story that will be updated.