La Plata County voters showed clear preferences in several of Tuesday’s closely watched primary races as the unofficial results were released around 7:20 p.m.
The initial count totaled 12,850 ballots, representing nearly 30% of the county’s registered voters.
La Plata County Clerk and Recorder Tiffany Lee said she expects the final turnout to reach about 35% of eligible voters – below her goal of 40% and lower than the roughly 42% turnout recorded during the 2022 midterm primary election.
“I’m actually surprised,” Lee said.
County voters largely mirrored statewide results, including in the races for governor, attorney general, U.S. Senate and Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District.
In the Democratic gubernatorial primary, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet trailed Attorney General Phil Weiser in the initial county returns. Of the 8,366 Democratic ballots counted, Weiser led Bennet by a whopping 40 percentage points.
The Associated Press called the race for Weiser about 8 p.m. With about 668,000 votes counted statewide, Weiser won by about 10 percentage points.
The Republican gubernatorial primary was considerably tighter and remained to be called as of 9 p.m. In La Plata County, Victor Marx held a lead of less than 2 percentage points over Barbara Kirkmeyer, while political newcomer and social media personality Scott Bottoms trailed both candidates by more than 10 percentage points.
Statewide, Kirkmeyer held a 1% lead over Marx.
The Associated Press called the Democratic attorney general primary for Jena Griswold about 7:45 p.m. Statewide, Griswold won with nearly 47% of the vote.
La Plata County voters largely mirrored the statewide results. Griswold received about 43% of the vote, while Michael Dougherty finished second with 29%. Hetal Doshi and David Seligman trailed by more than 10 percentage points behind Daugherty.
Republican Attorney General candidate Michael Allen, district attorney for El Paso County, landed the Republican nomination by a wide margin over Tina Peters supporter David Willson. Allen was the clear favorite in La Plata County as well, by about 10 percentage points.
Republican and Democratic primaries for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District were called by 8 p.m., as La Plata County voters continued to mirror statewide trends.
Incumbent U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd defeated Ron Hanks by about 34 percentage points in La Plata County. In the Democratic election, Dwayne Romero led Alex Kelloff by about 10 percentage points when the race was called.
Incumbent U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper easily won the Democratic nomination over Julie Gonzales. In La Plata County, Hickenlooper led by about 18 percentage points, compared with roughly 14 points statewide.
Amanda Gonzalez won the Democratic nomination for secretary of state over Jessie Danielson, receiving about 63% of the vote both statewide and in La Plata County.
Election staff will continue processing ballots into the evening. Lee said all ballots would likely be counted in the next several hours.
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