Republican officials conceded Friday morning that they won’t be able to gain enough seats to take majority control of the Colorado House.

Hours after conceding, House Republicans met at the Capitol to pick leadership for the coming term. House Minority Leader Brian DelGrosso, R-Loveland, and House whip Polly Lawrence, Douglas County, kept their posts.

Rep. Libby Szabo of Arvada was selected for assistant minority leader. The only contested race came for caucus leader, where Lois Landgraf of Fountain ousted Rep. Kathleen Conti of Littleton from the post.

DelGrosso said he was gratified the party picked up at least three seats after being down 37-28 in the last legislative session.

“This election we had an uphill battle,” DelGrosso said in a statement. “Democrats gerrymandered the House district maps, rammed through their highly partisan election laws, and outspent us 3-1.”

The Republican concession came as ballots from two House races in Adams County are still being counted — one is being led by a GOP candidate and the other by a Democrat.

The Republicans also appear to have prevailed in a very tight House District 59 race in southwest Colorado, where J. Paul Brown beat Democratic Rep. Mike McLachlan by a little more than 200 votes.

But that wasn’t enough to overcome two close Democratic victories in Arapahoe County, where Reps. Dan Kagan and Su Ryden will be headed back to the statehouse.

A final party line breakdown in the House won’t be known until the last few remaining races are called.

In the Colorado Senate, all eyes remain on a race in Adams County that is too close to call while there are still thousands of ballots to be counted. The outcome of that race will more than likely determine which party controls the Senate starting in January.

John Aguilar: 303-954-1695, jaguilar@denverpost.com or twitter.com/abuvthefold