Kit Roupe

DENVER--The Colorado House Democratic Caucus on Thursday was all smiles and handshakes for incoming Democratic freshman legislators, but they reserved special praise for Dennis Apuan.

Apuan won state House District 17 in southeastern Colorado Springs by 381 votes over Republican opponent Kit Roupe last Tuesday; the only GOP-held state House seat to flip over to the Democrats this year.

The incoming Democrat isn't a typical Colorado Springs politician. A community organizer for Colorado Progressive Coalition, Apuan emigrated to America from the Philippines when he was 20.

Democrat Dennis Apuan has beaten Republican Kit Roupe in state House District 17 by 380 votes, giving Democrats an unexpected pickup in traditionally conservative Colorado Springs.

El Paso County Republican Party Executive Director Nathan Fisk said he was surprised by Apuan's win, but said it was hard to hold onto a district that has a significant transient population thanks to low-income neighborhoods and Fort Carson.

"Frankly, there was a lot of excitement about an Obama candidacy," Fisk added.

In a year that looks pretty good for Democrats, Republicans will be hard-pressed to make a big dent in the Democrats' 15-seat majority in the state House of Representatives.

But that doesn't mean all is lost for the GOP. House District 40 looks virtually certain to return to the Republicans, one year after state Rep. Debbie Stafford turned rogue and delivered it into Democrats' hands.

There also appear to be a number of close races shaping up, the most interesting of these being House Districts 25, 27, 29, 30, 31, 37, and 56.

Other potentially interesting races include House Districts 17, 33, 39, 52, 55 and 57.

Colorado House District 40 will turn Republican this year, predicted state Rep. Mark Ferrandino (D-Denver), but he said Democrats should do well in other state legislative races.

"We have a lot of seats we need to protect," Ferrandino told PolitickerCO.com. "And when you get in the majority and you have this much of a margin of 40 to 25 -- and actually, really, 39 to 26 because the Debbie Stafford seat (in House District 40) is, you know, a pretty safe Republican seat -- we're spending a lot of time making sure our incumbents win."

Colorado has 15 competitive state House primaries tomorrow, though some are more competitive than others.

The most interesting and competitive Democratic races to watch are in the 6th and 8th state House Districts, while the 15th state House District race between Douglas Bruce and Mark Waller headlines the GOP primary battles.

Even less-competitive races are still intriguing: Take the HD-6 GOP race between Palestinian activist Rima Sinclair and Orthodox Jewish blogger Joshua Sharf, where foreign policy has become a major issue in a state legislative race.