Beauprez wins by 122 in Colorado U.S. House race, but recount ordered

DENVER – An automatic recount was ordered Nov. 21 in that closest-ever U.S. House race for the state's 7th Congressional district after rural ballots showed Colorado bank executive Bob Beauprez, a Republican and opposed by the Colorado Credit Union League, winning the contest by 122 votes. Election officials said the recount process might keep the race dragging on until December. By the official count released by the Colorado secretary of state's office, Beauprez, CEO of Heritage Bank of Lewisville and a past president of the Independent Bankers of Colorado, defeated Mike Feeley, the Democrat and a Lakewood attorney. Beauprez, a former state GOP Chairman, had drawn bitter opposition from the Colorado Credit Union League during the campaign following his heavy lobbying against CUs accepting public funds and against formation of a CU-run trust company. After the election, Feeley had filed a lawsuit seeking to count so-called "provisional" ballots involving absentees or lost registrations that had been disqualified in Adams County with a Denver district judge on Wednesday ruling they should be tabulated. For the past two weeks, Beauprez had led Feeley by 400 votes with the margin shaved on Wednesday.