State Sen. Don Coram, a Montrose Republican, defeated Democratic challenger Guinn Unger, a Bayfield Democrat, with 55.13 percent of voters favoring the incumbent and 44.87 percent preferring the challenger, according to partial, unofficial results.
The results, reported on the Secretary of State Office’s election results website, come from all seven counties in Senate District 6.
In La Plata County, Unger claimed 55 percent of the vote, 15,281 votes, to Coram’s 45 percent, 12,285 votes, according to results from La Plata County Clerk and Recorder’s election website.
Across the district, Coram earned 38,411 votes to Unger’s 31,911 as of 1:10 a.m. Wednesday.
“I wish other races could be run in the same manner we conducted our race,” Coram said after Unger called to concede. “We disagreed on the issues, but we were respectful of each other and never attacked each other personally. I wish more races could be run that way.”
Unger agreed the race maintained a high tone throughout.
“I’m grateful we were able to run a clean race. We debated the issues,” he said.
Ultimately, Unger said he was unable to overcome the 11,000-voter advantage the GOP holds in state Senate District 6.
“I’m grateful for a whole lot of volunteers who worked for us across the district. I think that bodes well for Democrats in the district,” Unger said.
Coram is a longtime businessman involved in mining and agriculture. Unger is on the La Plata Electric Association Board of Directors and is a retired engineer.
Senate District 6 covers Archuleta, Dolores, La Plata, Montezuma, Ouray, San Juan and San Miguel counties.
Coram said his top priority would be to find funding for ideas identified in the Colorado Water Plan, which stems from his predecessor, Ellen Roberts, who championed an effort to examine water policy in nine river sub-basins in Colorado by bringing stakeholders together to identify best practices to guide policy.
In addition, Coram’s priorities would include:
Pushing for measures that increase school security.
Pushing for measures that improve security on the electrical power grid to harden it against terrorist attacks.
Pushing for measures that improve mental health and suicide-prevention efforts in Colorado.
Pushing for measures that help Coloradans caught in the opioid crisis.
Coram said he expected Democrats to take control of the state Senate on a 19-16 count. He said he has a good relationship with state Sen. Sen. Leroy Garcia, D-Pueblo, whom he expects to be the next Senate president.
“I’ve never had a bad session in eight years, and I don’t expect that to change,” he said.
Coram is quick to note he sponsored 69 bills in the last session of the Colorado General Assembly – almost 10 percent of all bills.
Colorado Civil Rape Shield Law, House Bill 2018-1234, which gives victims of sexual assault similar protections in civil court proceedings that they now have in criminal proceedings, was the measure Coram said he’s proudest of from the 2018 session.
Unger had described himself a progressive “in the best sense of the word” and said he was an active supporter of Amendment 69, the single-payer health initiative that was soundly defeated in the 2016 election.
The Democrat believes support is mounting nationwide for a Medicare-for-all model, and he expects it will soon be adopted at the federal level as Democrats gain the upper hand in Washington in the next four years
The candidate committee for Coram raised a total of $41,549 and has spent $23,533, according to the latest campaign-finance documents filed with the secretary of state on Oct. 29. He had $18,016 cash on hand.
The candidate committee for Unger had raised a total of $31,896 and spent $39,651. His campaign listed a deficit of $7,755.
parmijo@durangoherald.com
