Marc Snyder is set to win the close state Senate District 12 race, returning the moderate Democrat to the state legislature.

Snyder held a 1,110-vote lead over El Paso County Commissioner and Republican Stan VanderWerf in the final but uncertified election results from El Paso County released on Thursday. Snyder received 48.9% of the votes, and VanderWerf received 47.5% in the unofficial results.

“As the day goes on, I’m feeling better and better,” Snyder said Friday afternoon.

Final election results will not be certified until Nov. 27 but not enough ballots remain to be counted or cured to change the result. VanderWerf called Snyder on Friday morning to concede the race once he felt the result was no longer in doubt.

Snyder will be representing a recently redrawn district in the Senate. The district includes some areas Snyder knew as the former mayor of Manitou Springs and representative for House District 18, as well as new areas like Fountain, where Snyder went door-knocking for support.

“It still resonates with people when a candidate shows up at their door. They are usually pretty impressed,” Snyder said.

VanderWerf said he was disappointed by the race results, adding that he had wanted to bring some of the best ideas from El Paso County to the state legislature.

VanderWerf said attack ads leading into November were unlike anything he has seen in his previous county commissioner elections.

“Local government gets less political. It’s more practical and pragmatic. There were politics in my local races, but they didn’t rise to the insane level of a state race,” VanderWerf said.

The two candidates shared a view about how the statewide legislative races played out this year. On the House side, a handful of Republican wins, including a possible win by Rebecca Keltie in Colorado Springs’ razor-thin House District 16 race would end the supermajority that Democrats held in that chamber.

VanderWerf said he was grateful for Marc Catlin’s likely Senate seat in District 5 to probably keep the balance of power and maintain the current Republican 12-seat representation. It did not surprise VanderWerf that voters in many parts of the state wanted a more balanced legislature.

“I had heard from unaffiliated voters and Republicans, but also some Democrats, who have concerns about any one party having too much power,” VanderWerf said.

Snyder said he wanted to work on bills that would help blue-collar, working-class families who have been struggling financially.

“I’m a linear thinker and not a multitasker. It almost seemed improper to be working on bills for next year when I hadn’t gotten elected to the Senate yet,” Snyder said.

VanderWerf is term-limited as a county commissioner and will leave his seat at the end of the year. In November’s election, voters chose Republican Bill Wysong to fill VanderWerf’s seat representing District 3.