Republican incumbent Wayne Allard has narrowly won a second term -- shrugging off Democratic challenger Tom Strickland on the strength of the GOP vote in heavily Republican counties including El Paso, Douglas and Jefferson.

Strickland maintained leads in the heavily Democratic Pueblo, Denver and Boulder counties -- while Allard maintained strong leads in Larimer, Weld and Teller counties.

Neither Allard nor Strickland mustered a decisive lead in the months leading to Election Day. But Allard's win added strength to the G-O-P's attempt in yesterday's elections nationwide to gather the strength to retake control of the U.S. Senate.

Five congressional incumbents in Colorado have captured victory.

Democrats Diana DeGette of Denver and Mark Udall of Boulder have been re-elected -- and Republicans Tom Tancredo, Joel Hefley and
Scott McInnis easily defeated their opponents. In addition, Republican Marilyn Marilyn Musgrave defeated Democrat Stan Matsunaka in the race to replace the retired Bob Schaffer.

The state's new Seventh Congressional District pitted Republican Bob Beauprez and Democrat Mike Feeley against each other -- and neither forged a significant lead through much of the evening's vote-counting. With 88% of the precincts reporting, Beauprez held a narrow lead over Feeley.