Colorado Senate President Leroy Garcia talked to reporters at the Capitol on Thursday about the “summer of recalls,” a half-dozen fruitless attempts to oust House and Senate Democrats, as well as Gov. Jared Polis.

“It’s sad to say some Republicans took us to a new low,” said Garcia, making it clear later in his 20-minute talk that he did not mean all Republicans in the upper chamber.

RELATED: Recall group targeting Senate President Leroy Garcia needed 13,506 signatures. They turned in 4.

“… Some chose to take the high road, holding true to the Senate tradition of civility and being senatorial.”

Democrats controlled both chambers of the Legislature this year, with a new governor pushing an aggressive and progressive agenda on climate change and health care.

Garcia told reporters that, nonetheless, 96% of the 460 bills that were passed last session had bipartisan support.

“The narrative of overreach is just not true,” he said.

Garcia called Thursday for a “renewed commitment to work together” with Republicans when the next session begins in January.

“Despite the recalls, we will not be deterred from what we are doing,” he said.

RELATED: INSIGHTS | Colorado recall bids lacked powder and a spark

None of them got very far, even as politicos gathered, spent and redistributed campaign cash for the purpose.

Garcia was one of those the targets, though, as it turns out, the threat against him was small. Campaigners turned in four of the 13,506 valid signatures needed to even get the recall question on the ballot.

Garcia talked about how the Democrats took the majority in the Senate last November, flipping from a two-seat minority to a three-seat majority.

“It’s no secret Republicans struggled with the new majority, and quite frankly, I would argue, with the reality,” Garcia said. “Some reverted to political shenanigans, in addition to endless temper tantrums.”

He called the recalls a tactic that was better left to Washington politics. Garcia didn’t say it, but the notable difference is that in Washington, it’s Democrats trying to oust Republican President Donald Trump via impeachment.

Besides Garcia, Republicans tried to recall Sens. Brittany Pettersen of Lakewood and Pete Lee of Colorado Springs. 

Recall petitions against former state Rep. Rochelle Galindo, D-Greeley, and Rep. Tom Sullivan, D-Centennial, were withdrawn.

Galindo stepped down in May, after allegations surfaced of sexual misconduct involving a former campaign worker .

“Our state deserves better,” Garcia said of the recalls. “Our constituents expect more from us than partisan politics. They elected us to work together, to reach across the aisle, to have an open door and a working government, and to find solutions to help them live the American dream.”

RELATED: TEXT: 2019 opening day speech by Colorado Senate President Leroy Garcia

Sage Naumann, the spokesman for the Senate Republicans and a legislative pot-stirrer, sat among the reporters for Garcia’s comments Thursday afternoon.

“I hope what we saw today will be a regular occurrence next session,” he told Colorado Politics after. “Unfortunately we saw a Senate president last session who was probably the most closed-off that we’ve seen in recent history in any kind of legislative leader, so hopefully we see a change.

“He talked a lot about conversation and discourse and working together, and Republicans, of course, want that.”

Naumann cited Senate Bill 181, the sweeping oil-and-gas regulation bill, as an example of where Republican input was not welcomed in the last session.

“We would have liked to have been at the table early on,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll see more willingness for that. Hopefully this (Thursday) was indicative of that.”