Election |

Five takeaways from Colorado’s primaries as voters give Lauren Boebert new life, pick a Denver DA and more

Primary voters set major-party matchups for three open congressional seats, chose a challenger for an incumbent in a battleground district, and weighed in on state and local races across Colorado in Tuesday’s elections.

It was all a prelude to the November general election — though voters also selected likely winners in areas dominated by one party. And in the 4th Congressional District in eastern Colorado, they gave U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert new political life by selecting the formerly Western Slope-based congresswoman as the Republican nominee in an even more GOP-favored district.

Without a U.S. Senate seat up for election this year, turnout was lower in the state’s open primaries, which allow unaffiliated voters to cast a Democratic or Republican ballot. As of late Wednesday morning, the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office reported that 1,001,720 ballots had been returned, amounting to about 22% turnout among registered voters — or nearly 26% of voters whose status is active.

Not all of those ballots had been counted, and those turnout figures may still rise in coming days as processing continues in some counties. But ballot returns have paced behind the state’s primaries in 2022 and 2020.

Here are five takeaways from the results:

Boebert is likely headed back to Congress

Boebert, who now represents the 3rd Congressional District, barely won reelection in 2022 in a district that leans Republican. Now she will be the nominee in the 4th, which favors the GOP by nearly three times as much, according to an analysis produced for Colorado’s redistricting commission a few years ago. (The Democratic nominee will be Trisha Calvarese, who won her primary but lost a special election Tuesday to fill the vacant seat for the rest of this year.)

But not only that: Boebert’s move opened up the 3rd District race. And on Tuesday, Jeff Hurd’s Republican primary victory there showed, he said, that voters who backed the more moderate nominee were “serious about keeping this district Republican” against Democrat Adam Frisch, who nearly defeated Boebert two years ago.

In other contested primaries, Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams lost big to conservative activist Jeff Crank in the Republican primary for a Colorado Springs-based congressional district. And in the 8th Congressional District north of Denver — potentially one of the most competitive in the nation — Republicans picked state Rep. Gabe Evans to challenge U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo, a freshman Democrat who was unopposed in her primary.

Progressive Dem legislators lose seats

It wasn’t a good night for some outspoken progressives in the statehouse. Two of the most visible left-wing Democrats, Denver Reps. Elisabeth Epps and Tim Hernández — both of whom have been vocal in their support of Palestinians and a failed assault weapons ban — lost their primaries.

But dynamics were less clear cut in other Democratic state House and Senate races, including several in safe districts, even if the impact of big outside spending was apparent across many primary contests. In Fort Collins, Yara Zokaie beat more moderate candidate Ethnie Groves Treick for the nomination for a vacant House seat. In Aurora, Rep. Mike Weissman defeated Idris Keith, a more business-friendly lawyer, in the primary for an open Senate seat.

The winners of those primaries likewise overcame mountains of dark money spent against them.

A familiar name is Denver’s likely next DA

One of the fall elections almost certainly determined by the primary outcome is the Denver district attorney’s race, where John Walsh defeated Leora Joseph. No Republican is set to be on the fall ballot, making the November election a formality for Walsh, barring a surprise. Walsh is a lawyer and former prosecutor who served as the U.S. attorney for Colorado for six years under President Barack Obama.

Many Colorado GOP endorsees lose

The Colorado Republican Party broke with its general tradition of neutrality in primaries this year, backing candidates in contested nomination contests up and down the ballot (starting with former President Donald Trump in the March presidential primary). In four contested Republican congressional primaries Tuesday, Boebert won with the party’s endorsement — while the other three party-backed Republicans lost. Those included Williams, the party chair who pushed for the more aggressive tack as he embraced Trump’s political style, sparking divisions within the party.

In 18 contested Republican primaries in which the state party issued endorsements, just four of the endorsed candidates won or were leading.

On Wednesday, a group of party insiders, led by El Paso County Republican Party vice chair Todd Watkins, renewed efforts to oust Williams, requesting a Central Committee special meeting.

State Board of Ed candidate overcomes big money

Nearly $1 million spent by a group supporting charter schools failed to keep a former Boulder school board president from winning her Democratic primary for the Colorado State Board of Education. Kathy Gebhardt, who currently faces no Republican opponent in November, defeated Marisol Lynda Rodriguez, who had backing from the charter schools group as well as Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.

“It shows that money can’t buy an election,” Gebhardt told The Denver Post on Tuesday night. She is running for the board seat representing the 2nd Congressional District.

Staff writers John Aguilar, Shelly Bradbury, Jessica Seaman and Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton contributed to this story.

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