Democrat Robert “Bob” Marshall was officially declared the winner in the election for Colorado’s House District 43 on Monday, following a recount requested by Republican opponent Rep. Kurt Huffman. 

Results from the Secretary of State’s Office show that Marshall and Huffman each lost one vote in the recount, keeping Marshall’s margin of victory exactly the same as the uncertified election results. Marshall won by 405 votes, receiving 50.45% of ballots cast to Huffman’s 49.55%. 

“Colorado’s elections are safe, secure and accurate,” said Secretary of State Jena Griswold when announcing the recount results. “I commend the election workers from across the state and my office for conducting these recounts and for their continued work to make Colorado the best place to cast a ballot.”

The margin of victory was too large to mandate an automatic recount – which is triggered only when the margin between the two top-finishers is 0.5% or less of the leading candidate’s vote total. Huffman requested a recount on Dec. 5 and paid the $738 that the operation costed Douglas County. 

At Huffman’s request, the recount was conducted via readjudication, meaning only the ballots that needed to be reexamined by election judges during the initial count were examined in the recount, to ensure the human adjudications were accurate. 

House District 43 is one of five state House seats that flipped from Republican to Democratic representation in the November election. Democrats now control 46 of the 65 seats in the state House of Representatives. 

Republican Huffman is technically the district’s incumbent, though he only assumed the seat in June after a vacancy committee selected him to take over for Kevin Van Winkle, a Highlands Ranch Republican who moved from the state House to the state Senate to fill another vacancy.

Democrat Marshall is an attorney and Marine Corps veteran of 28 years. 

House District 43 is one of the most politically competitive districts in the state. The Douglas County district leans 7.4% Republican, making it the 15th most evenly split district, according to a report from the redistricting commission.

The district’s active registered voters are 45.3% unaffiliated, followed by 31.3% Republican and 22.1% Democrat.