State Rep. Steve Lebsock, verbose and eager to defend himself against allegations of sexual harassment for months, raced from the state Capitol, after the House voted 52-9 Friday afternoon to expel him.

While the debate was going on, the Thornton Democrat switched his party affiliation to Republican, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.

That means a vacancy committee of Republicans, not Democrats, will fill the seat.

Lebsock is the first Colorado lawmaker to be expelled since 1915 and the second legislator nationwide to be dismissed in the wake of the #MeToo movement. He joins Arizona Republican Rep. Don Shooter, who was voted out 56-3 on Feb. 1.

Lebsock pleaded to keep his job Friday. He was at times defiant and emotional during the seven hours of testimony on the House floor.

“Some of the things that were said were totally inappropriate in the well today,” he said.

He said he was not asking for a sympathy vote.

“Vote what you think is right,” Lebsock said.

Lebsock was accused by five women, led by Rep. Faith Winter, D-Westminster, who accused him of 11 incidents of inappropriate conduct. Winter said a drunk Lebsock pressured her for sex at an end-of-the session party with other lawmakers in May 2016. She filed her formal complaint last November, setting in motion Friday’s vote.

Winter called the outcome historic.

“I am just so happy that this chamber took action and told women that when there’s harassment in this building, there’s accountability,” she said. “So, to all those women out there that were scared to come forward, all those women that didn’t know if their voices were heard, all the women in this building that didn’t know if they could be treated for their minds and their ideas and their policy ideas — you won today. Your voices matter.”

She said it also was courageous. Two male legislators who had stood up to Lebsock, Democratic Reps. Alec Garnett of Denver and Matt Gray of Broomfield, said they wore bulletproof vests because they feared retaliation from Lebsock.

“I love my job, but I love my family more,” Garnett said.

House Speaker Crisanta Duran of Denver said she was thankful to all the legislators, Democrats and Republicans, who “showed to people across the country that it is a new day for women, where women must be evaluated on their hard work, qualifications and merit in the workplace, and we will not — we will not — tolerate harassment.”

House Minority Leader Patrick Neville of Castle Rock said he voted against expulsion, but it was based on what he knew, which wasn’t much, more than what he felt, which he said was a lot.

He has three daughters who are his world, he said.

“I still haven’t processed it,” he said, repeating that he didn’t tell any of his Republican caucus members how they should vote, instead leaving it to their own conscience.

“I just thought we should have a more thorough process before taking such a drastic measure,” he said. “I wasn’t willing to do that without thinking through it for quite a time, reflecting and praying on it.”

Members only saw the official redacted report this week, and Republicans on Thursday asked for more time before taking the vote.

Numerous members, Republican and Democratic, said they needed a better process for such a serious conclusion. They also said Lebsock crossed the line of honorable conduct.

Rep. Dave Young, a Democrat from Greeley who is running for state treasurer in a primary with Lebsock, said politics had nothing to do with the vote. He said he had no opinion on whether Lebsock should drop out of the race.

“This is not about politics,” he said. “We heard compelling stories today. We read all the evidence that was presented by an investigator who I think did a quality job, and he saw his documents that looked like retaliation. I don’t think there was any doubt left.”

Rep. Paul Lundeen, R-Monument, said Lebsock’s vindictive behavior toward his accusers and members of his own party drove him to vote for expulsion.

“This is unlike the he said-she said information in the sexual harassment aspect of this complaint, and in the other cases that were considered earlier in the Senate,” Lundeen said of three Republican senators facing accusations there.

“We must continue to work here at the Capitol and society at large to assure we treat every individual regardless their sex or station in life as equally precious and deserving of respect and dignity.”