Nine state senators are up for re-election and nine Senate seats are up for grabs in November. Seven of those seats have fewer than 9,000 votes separating the parties in registration numbers, while two seats have under 800. The Senate is 18-17 to the Republicans, all of which explains why the Senate was a more bipartisan body than the House in the 2016 session.

Last session, every senator sponsored and passed bipartisan bills. Only 23 percent of senators had fewer than 50 percent bipartisan sponsored bills, compared to 32 percent of House members.

House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst sponsored 60 percent of her bills with Republicans. Senate President Bill Cadman shared bipartisan sponsorship with 87.5 percent of his bills. House Majority Leader Crisanta Duran and Senate Majority Leader Mark Scheffel tied at 95 percent.

The overall bill sponsor king from either chamber is Sen. John Cooke at 55 sponsored bills, with 36 passed, 18 failed, one vetoed, 43 bipartisan and 32 bipartisan passed. He was the go-to guy for House members at 44 sign-ons. He lost in the House on a bill to delay clean power plants, legislation important to Republicans, and saw his mental health bill sponsored with Democratic Rep. Tracy Kraft-Tharp vetoed by Gov. John Hickenlooper.

Sen. Tim Neville, R-16, who is not up for re-election, was the most partisan Senate Republican. Although he failed in his bid for the U.S. Senate nomination, he cinched his conservative credentials with only six bipartisan bills out of 17. He passed seven bills, six bipartisan, showing that help from across the aisle counts. At least eight of his bills carried a “message” on firearms, religion, or unions. All went down.

Sen. Vicki Marble softened the edges with her record of 13 bipartisan bills out of 20. She’s a strong supporter of firearms rights sponsoring two Second Amendment bills that died. Her bipartisan bills included providing indigent municipal court defendants with counsel if jail time is possible, passed; water management studies of surface and ground water, failed; revision of county salaries, passed; and changes to teacher evaluation, failed.

Sen. Larry Crowder lives in a district separated by 129 votes. Its registration has grown more Republican and unaffiliated since 2012. He’s running against Trinidad Sheriff James Casias. Crowder cinched his moderate bona fides by sponsoring with Hullinghorst HB-1420, the hospital provider fee enterprise bill. He was unable to push the bill through the Senate Finance Committee, as Senate leadership opposed it. Overall, Crowder sponsored 27 bills, with 22 bipartisan, and passed 18 bills, with 16 bipartisan.

Sen. Laura Woods is in a tight race against former Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, who lost to Woods in 2014. Only 763 votes separate the parties in the district, and the Democrats have the edge, although unaffiliated voters outnumber Democrats and Republicans by 5,000. Woods sponsored 15 bills with 10 bipartisan. She passed 10 bills with eight bipartisan.

Republicans need Crowder and Woods to hang on to their seats to have a good chance of retaining their one-seat Senate majority. Showing a willingness to work with the other side is a common sense play for the two Republicans, though common sense may not play at all in the coming election.