PHOTO: Republican candidate for Governor of Colorado, Heidi Ganahl.
Heidi Ganahl appears to have won the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Colorado, after fending off primary opponent Greg Lopez, who benefited from roughly $1.5 million in spending by Democrats, aimed at preventing Ganahl from advancing to the general election. The Associated Press called the race in Ganahl’s favor an hour after the polls closed.
Ganahl will face current Colorado Governor Jared Polis, who ran unopposed in the Democratic Party primary.
In one the two contested primary races in Archuleta County, Republican Veronica Medina has apparently defeated incumbent County Commissioner Alvin Schaaf. Medina gathered about 54% of the 3,360 Archuleta votes cast yesterday, in the District 3 Commissioner race.
The other contested Republican contest showed County Sheriff candidate Mike Le Roux with about 64% of the vote, against about 36% cast for challenger Boyd Neagle.
According to Colorado election records, Veronica Medina had spent about $9,300 on her campaign as of the most recent reporting period, while Alvin Schaaf had spent about $3,400. Medina will face Unaffiliated candidate Rachel Suh in November.
During the same period, current Undersheriff Mike Le Roux outspent his opponent by a significant margin, expending about $14,000, compared to Boyd Neagle’s $4,400. Running against Le Roux in November will be Unaffiliated candidates Wayne Bryant, Monica Medina, and Rob Keating. (Monica Medina is not related to Veronica Medina.)
None of the other county-level races were contested. Archuleta County Democrats did not field candidates for any local office.
About 43% of Archuleta County’s 11,000 active voters participated in the election. The results are unofficial, pending late-arriving ballots from military and overseas voters.
In state-level elections, U.S. Representative Lauren Boebert defeated her more moderate challenger, State Senator Don Coram, in the Republican primary race for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, according to NBC News. With virtually all of the expected vote counted, Boebert led Coram by nearly 30 points.
Boebert has positioned herself as one of the most far-right members of Congress, winning national attention for herself in the process.
In November, she will be facing Adam Frisch, who won the three-candidate Democratic primary contest in the 3rd Congressional District, narrowly defeating Soledad Sandoval Tafoya.
Denver construction CEO Joe O’Dea appears to the the winner as the Colorado Republican Party’s nominee for U.S. Senate in November, after prevailing in a head-to-head primary contest with far-right State Representative Ron Hanks.
With nearly 500,000 ballots counted, O’Dea led Hanks by a 10-point margin, according to unofficial results. The Associated Press called the race for O’Dea a little over half an hour after polls closed.
O’Dea will face Democratic incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet in November in a key race that could help decide which party controls the Senate.
Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, who was barred from overseeing elections after she was indicted on charges of tampering with election equipment, lost the GOP secretary of state primary to former Jefferson County Clerk Pam Anderson, according to NBC News projections. With about 80 percent of the expected vote counted, Anderson held a 15-point lead over nonprofit executive Mike O’Donnell and a 17-point lead over Peters.
Anderson will face off against Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold later this fall.
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.