DENVER--The Colorado House Democratic Caucus on Thursday was all smiles and handshakes for incoming Democratic freshman legislators, but they reserved special praise for Dennis Apuan.

Apuan won state House District 17 in southeastern Colorado Springs by 381 votes over Republican opponent Kit Roupe last Tuesday; the only GOP-held state House seat to flip over to the Democrats this year.

The incoming Democrat isn't a typical Colorado Springs politician. A community organizer for Colorado Progressive Coalition, Apuan emigrated to America from the Philippines when he was 20.

Apuan said being elected to the Colorado House of Representatives is "a natural progression of my profession of advocating for social change."

As legislators swirled about him Thursday in a basement hallway of the State Capitol during the first day of orientation, Apuan said, "It's a little overwhelming."

"But I think I'm a quick study," he added. "I've been on the front lines of change in Colorado Springs -- activism and advocacy are part of my work as a community organizer. So I think that I can catch up pretty quickly."

House District 17 has been in Republican hands since redistricting in 2002. But southeastern Colorado Springs, an area of post-World War II bungalows, and a large transient population thanks to nearby Fort Carson, has long been the most Democratic area of Colorado Springs, said Colorado College political science professor Bob Loevy.

"If you were going to pick the next seat in El Paso County that would go Democratic after Mike Merrifield's seat, it certainly would've been that one," Loevy said. "I'd say it was a surprise that it happened when it did, but not a surprise that it happened where it did."

Loevy said Apuan was helped by running in a year that was very good to Democrats; Barack Obama's presidential victory and other top-ticket races helped down-ticket legislative races, he said.

"This is the kind of thing you expect to have when you have a Democratic sweep - the party sweeps (and) they win seats you're not expecting to win," Loevy said.

El Paso County Republican Party Executive Director Nathan Fisk agreed.

"Frankly, there was a lot of excitement about an Obama candidacy," Fisk said.

But Apuan said that Obama's coattails only extended so far in El Paso County. "We had a historic slate of 11 Democratic candidates (in the Colorado Springs area), and I was the only one who actually won my race (besides Merrifield), and so I couldn't say that they all - that Obama's coattails worked for the rest of the other candidates," Apuan said.

"I think it was really a lot of hard work and voter engagement above anything else," he said. "We just made sure that we were working from fresh, current voter lists. So there would be a turnover of voters (in the district), but we would still rewalk precincts which we've already rewalked in the past."

As for his narrow victory margin, Apuan said he's not concerned.

"Historically, it's been won or lost by just a couple of hundred, so I think 381 is just a good margin," he said.