Rep. Faith Winter of Westminster was the first of at least five women to come forward and accuse former Rep. Steve Lebsock of Thornton of sexual harassment. Friday, she participated with, and listened to, fellow House members as they debated for seven hours on whether to expel Lebsock.

Friday marked the final chapter in a nearly three-month investigation, and the House, with 36 Democrats and 15 Republicans voting in favor, expelled Lebsock from his House District 34 seat. There were nine votes against the resolution, all from Republicans. Three members were excused, and Lebsock did not vote.

The Secretary of State’s Office said that Lebsock switched his party registration to Republican Friday afternoon, which will allow a GOP vacancy committee to fill the seat. The debate, which handed the decision to his new party, was ongoing.

“I never wanted to be here. I never wanted to expel one of our own,” Winter told Colorado Politics.

“I am just so happy that this chamber took action and told women that when there’s harassment in this building, there’s accountability,” Winter said. “So, to all those women out there that were scared to come forward, all those women that didn’t know if their voices were heard, all the women in this building that didn’t know if they could be treated for their minds and their ideas and their policy ideas – you won today. Your voices matter.”

House Assistant Majority Leader Alec Garnett made quite the admission from the floor of the House during the seven-hour debate over whether to expel Lebsock.

It solicited gasps in the room.

Garnett has been wearing a bullet-proof vest for several weeks. So has fellow Democrat Rep. Matt Gray of Broomfield. Both said after today they’ll leave the vests behind. Gray said there was no specific threat that prompted him to wear the vest, just a general concern about safety and the totality of circumstances. “I believe and trust all my other colleagues.”

Garnett told Colorado Politics that it was the most moving day in the House he’d ever been part of, or even for the last century. People were moved by what victims went through, he said, as well what members of this chamber went through. “That trumped process, which was what people talked about before today. But today was the most important process, that everyone would have a chance to address the body.”

The tide appeared to turn when House Assistant Minority Leader Cole Wist of Centennial became the first of at least a half-dozen Republicans to say they would also vote to expel. Wist cited Lebsock’s retaliation against the victims, including a YouTube video and a 28-page manifest that included graphic descriptions of the victims’ sex lives they allegedly told him about.

Garnett applauded Wist’s leadership and noted his attention to the retaliation issue. “I think through hearing from the members today and lackluster defense by Rep. Lebsock, it was clear serious retaliation had taken place and probably wouldn’t have stopped.”

“It’s just a very sad day,” Wist told Colorado Politics. “I think if you have reverence for the institution, like we all have, it’s a very sad day. I’m confident in the vote that I cast, and I’m confident we’ll be able to find a way to move forward from here and work in a constructive, bi-partisan way to continue to work on the problems the state has.”

Rep. Paul Lundeen, R-Monument, said Lebsock’s vindictive behavior toward his accusers and members of his own party drove him to vote for expulsion.

“This is unlike the he said/she said information in the sexual harassment aspect of this complaint, and in the other cases that were considered earlier in the Senate,” Lundeen said of three Republican senators facing accusations there.

“We must continue to work here at the Capitol and society at large to assure we treat every individual regardless their sex or station in life as equally precious and deserving of respect and dignity.”

Winter said the expulsion could free other victims of harassment from other people to come forward. “We’ve had a culture [at the Capitol that] if you came forward … you were scared of retaliation and thought there would be no accountability. We’ve shown there’s accountability, and now there’s a reason to come forward.”

Speaker of the House Crisanta Duran of Denver, who noted during the debate she also has been a victim of sexual harassment, said after the vote that the House “will move on, and we will make sure we bring people together to make sure that we deliver results to the people of Colorado on so many of the pressing issues they are facing every day.”

“I am so thankful that the representatives – Republicans and Democrats – today showed to people across the country that it is a new day for women, where women must be evaluated on their hard work, qualifications and merit in the workplace, and we will not – we will not – tolerate harassment,” Duran said.

Among those who voted no: House Minority Leader Patrick Neville of Castle Rock, who said his vote was based on what he knew, which wasn’t much, more than what he felt, which he said was a lot. He noted on the floor that he has three daughters who are his world. “I still haven’t processed it,” he said, repeating that he didn’t tell any of his Republican caucus members how they should vote, instead leaving it to their own conscience.

“I just thought we should have a more thorough process before taking such a drastic measure,” he said. “I wasn’t willing to do that without thinking through it for quite a time, reflecting and praying on it.”

Members only saw the official report, redacted, this week, and Republicans on Thursday asked for more time before taking the vote.

Numerous members, Republican and Democratic, said they needed a better process, but they also felt Lebsock clearly crossed line of honorable conduct a state representative should be held to.

Gov. John Hickenlooper issued a statement shortly after the vote, which took place around 4:10 p.m. Friday. “Today’s vote by Colorado’s House of Representatives was important and necessary to address well-documented instances of sexual harassment in the workplace. This has been a painful chapter and it is our sincere hope that we all learn from the bravery of the women who came forward.”

So what happens now? “We get back to work,” Winter said. “We pass bills and fight over legislation and we policy ideas and represent the people of Colorado. That’s what we do.”

On Monday, for the first time in nearly two years, I’m going to come to a building where I’m not going to be worried about retaliation from someone I stood up to.”