Littleton’s State Senate D16 Race Could Swing The Statehouse

LITTLETON, CO – By John Herrick for The Colorado Independent. Tim Neville is about as red as they come in Colorado. The Republican senator from Littleton has pushed to loosen gun laws, limit abortions and offer private school vouchers during his four years in the state Senate.

But the red wave he rode to the upper chamber in 2014 has receded, and today in Senate District 16, registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 32 percent to 27 percent, with 40 percent unaffiliated.
Those numbers don’t seem to faze Neville. “If you’re asking if I’ll change my principles,” he told The Colorado Independent in a recent interview, “my answer is no.”

In what’s expected to be a blue wave year in which voters repudiate President Trump’s policies, Neville is facing a challenge from a Democratic opponent who in many ways embodies discontent with Trump’s brand of conservatism: Tammy Story, a 59-year-old mother of two from Conifer with deep ties to the education community.

SD 16 lies on the western fringes of the suburban Front Range where new subdivisions fade into the foothills. Flipping this district is part of Democrats’ strategy to regain control of the state Senate, where Republicans have a one-seat majority. Outside groups have already poured over $1 million into the contest.

Images via John Herrick

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