Lois Court

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.

Joshua Sharf, a longtime political blogger who won the 6th state House District Republican nomination Tuesday, has found being inside the political arena is a lot different than it seems from an outside viewpoint.

"When you're looking at a campaign from the outside, you consider well-considered and well-thought-out intent in everything that everyone does," Sharf said. "When you're looking at it from the inside, you realize that much of what you're doing is what you're able to do at that time, so you're always setting priorities.

"Then you realize that everything is not always part of the strategy: a lot of times it's just what you're able to do that day, whether that's walking or talking to people or making calls," he said.

Sharf now faces Democrat Lois Court in the general election.

CourtAsked why she won Tuesday's state House District 6 Democratic primary, Lois Court  didn't hesitate.

"I rejected special interest money and I accepted the spending limit," Court told PolitickerCO.com. "And I made it very clear to the people of this district that I was to represent their interests - not special interests - and that I want people to always be more important in my representation than money. It's just a real basic concept."

Court won handily in a three-way race many had said beforehand was too close to call. Court, a former City of Denver department head, won 44 percent of the vote. Former legislative policy analyst Liz Adams received 38 percent of the vote; Entrepreneur and philanthropist Josh Hanfling came in third with 18 percent.

Hanfling had raised $108,049 for the race, campaign finance reports showed - easily topping Court's $65,902 and Adams' $60,676.

Court is favored to win the seat over Republican Joshua Sharf in November, given the district's heavy Democratic slant.

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.