Residents of Colorado’s House District 16 didn’t know who would represent them in the state legislature for weeks in 2024. After Republican Rebecca Keltie defeated incumbent Rep. Steph Vigil by just six votes, Secretary of State Jena Griswold ordered a recount. The recount results, announced in December, showed Keltie won by just three votes, one of the closest margins in state history.
Two years later, Vigil is running again — this time against Jill Haffley, a former teacher and member of the Colorado Springs School District 11 School Board.
Remains a battleground
House District 16, which includes the central Colorado Springs neighborhoods of Patty Jewett, Knob Hill, and Papeton, was redrawn as part of the state’s redistricting process following the 2020 election.
According to El Paso Democratic Party chair John Jarrell, the district was expected to be reliably red, but Vigil won the first election after redistricting. Then, when Keltie narrowly defeated her in 2024, “it was like, okay, this is clearly a competitive race,” Jarrell said. “The demographics are shifting in this part of town.”…