Democratic candidates vying for 6th Judicial District Attorney are going into Saturday’s La Plata County assembly uncertain about how delegates will vote.
The two candidates, Ben Lammons and Christian Champagne, need at least 30 percent of the vote to appear on the primary ballot. If a candidate gets between 10 to 29 percent, he will have to petition to get on the ballot. If a candidate fails to garner 10 percent of the vote, he will be blocked from getting on the ballot.
Candidates generally have a good idea about how they will perform at the assembly, because they know how much support they received in caucuses. But many of the 32 precincts in last week’s caucuses didn’t elect delegates to voice support for a DA candidate at this week’s the county assembly, said Jean Walter, chairwoman of the La Plata County Democrats.
Instead, delegates being sent to support presidential candidates Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders will have to weigh in on the district attorney’s race, she said.
Champagne said by his count, only 50 or 60 delegates have been selected to voice support for one candidate or another at Saturday’s assembly. That leaves 90 to 100 who are unspoken for. He’s been trying to make contact with those delegates and ask for their vote.
“I’m calling people and sending letters and sending emails, trying to contact all the delegates, and trying to win support,” Champagne said.
It’s frustrating, Champagne said, because it’s pretty clear he would have had the 30 percent needed to be on the ballot had the process played out the way it was supposed to.
“I feel like I had a big advantage on caucus night, and I had a lot of success on caucus night, and not all of those successes are going to be credited to me as a result of irregularities in the process,” he said. “But it’s reassuring to know I would have had a pretty good start on the process heading into the assembly.”
Lammons said the fair thing to do is put both candidates’ names on the primary ballot and let voters decide or postpone the assembly to give both candidates time to speak with delegates.
“It just puts the candidates in a tough position, and I think it’s pretty unfair,” Lammons said. “I don’t think the process ended up working out that well; at least not for the local candidates.”
In the future, Lammons said precincts should caucus for the local races before the presidential race, and that might also improve participation for local races.
“I don’t think it has been a great success for the candidates,” Lammons said. “I don’t think you can call it a smashing success, as Mr. Champagne said, when more than half of the precincts didn’t even select delegates for district attorney.”
shane@durangoherald.com
If you go
The La Plata County Assembly will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday in Room 130 Noble Hall at Fort Lewis College.
