Four of the six legislative leaders are retiring: Democratic House Speaker Dickie Lee Hullinghorst, Senate President Bill Cadman, Senate Majority Leader Mark Scheffel and House Minority Leader Brian DelGrosso. House Majority Leader Crisanta Duran and Senate Minority Leader Lucia Guzman, both from Denver, will return. With four members of leadership waving goodbye, perhaps it’s not surprising that they achieved a remarkably high level of agreement once they maneuvered bills to their final vote.

The four majority leaders voted almost exactly the same way on 385 bills signed by Gov. John Hickenlooper. They were within two yes votes of each other on the signed bills, ranging from 379 yes votes for Cadman to 381 yes votes for Hullinghorst.

The four majority leaders were also kind to bills in their opposite chamber. Cadman voted yes on all signed House bills and Scheffel voted no just once. Duran voted yes on all but one Senate bill and Hullinghorst voted no only twice.

The two minority leaders, DelGrosso in the House and Guzman in the Senate, no surprise, were the outside leaders in the 2016 session. He voted yes 320 times and she voted yes 358 times.

Leadership accord wasn’t universal. The most no votes came out of House Republicans, with 17 legislators giving fewer than 300 yes votes to the 385 signed bills. Rep. Justin Everett came in 100th place – or last among legislators – for the fewest yes votes with 213.

In the Senate, three Republicans had fewer than 300 yes votes: Tim Neville, Vicki Marble and Jerry Sonnenberg. Despite the voting record among leadership, Republicans still took negative stands more often than Democrats this session.

Democrats pursued their tradition of voting almost the same way on signed bills. Not a single House Democrat had more than ten no votes, and nary a Senate Democrat had more than 20 no votes.

One interesting fact: Cadman and Bernie Sanders supporter Rep. Joe Salazar, a Thornton Democrat, had the same number of yes votes on signed bills, both at 379. Sen. Laura Woods, an Arvada Republican and a wild card in 2015, supported her leadership more often in 2016, voting no on only eight signed Senate bills. It could be that the parties are coming together on issues that aren’t automatically contentious.

It may also be that traditional, pro-business Republicans are regaining some strength in the state. Former Rep. Bob Gardner won the Republican primary for Cadman’s seat, Senate District 12, defeating controversial Rep. Gordon Klingenshmitt. Klingenschmitt accused Gardner of being liberal, which must have shocked the former House member, known as a strong conservative who was also willing to look at the big picture.

Former Rep. Larry Liston likewise thumped incumbent Rep. Janak Joshi, his fellow Colorado Springs Republican, one of the most prominent “message bill” legislators in the House. Liston, much to his surprise, was accused of being a crossdressing liberal by Sen. Kent Lambert, a Joshi supporter, because Liston had donned a dress to tease Democrats in the annual House variety show known as the Hummers. He didn’t vote as a liberal when he was in the House.

Since both Gardner and Liston are going to win their seats, the chambers will have two pro-business Republicans replacing two tea partiers. Senate Republicans currently break roughly 10-8, with tea party leaners in the minority, according to their voting records. This election may tell whether a discernible Republican trend toward supporting the so-called “establishment” is emerging.