This month’s election reminded former Colorado Republican Party chairman Dick Wadhams of 2010. The ground game and turnout carried down-ballot candidates when the top of the ticket was, well, a drag.

That was the year Dan Maes was the Republican nominee. Through controversies and fractures within his party, Maes got just 11.1 percent of the vote and John Hickenlooper had a cake walk into a first term and Ken Buck lost to Michael Bennet in the Senate race by 2 points.

“We turned out 100,000 more Republicans than Democrats which was no small reason for unseating two Democratic incumbent members of Congress (Betsy Markey and John Salazar) for the first time since 1964 and unseating two statewide Democratic elected officials (Secretary of State Bernie Buescher and State Treasurer Cary Kennedy) for the first time since 1974,” Wadhams recalled.

Republicans also won a 33-32 majority in the state House, their first time in the majority in 12 years.

But ground game is an ever-refining practice for the GOP, Wadhams said.

“Social media and technology have dramatically improved the ability to target specific voters,” he said. “The 2000 Bush campaign was the first Republican campaign to really harness this potential.”