The Home Front: Local primary election results across Colorado

“U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, the Republican incumbent representing Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, knows which Democrat he will face off against in the mid-term general election Nov. 6 – former state Rep. Diane Mitsch Bush of Steamboat Springs,” reports The Glenwood Springs Post-Independent. “As the final results were coming in Tuesday night, Mitsch Bush had a comfortable lead with 64.2 percent of the vote to 28 percent for Glenwood Springs attorney Karl Hanlon and 8 percent for former Eagle County Commissioner Arn Menconi.”

“Republican voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly nominated incumbent at-large Weld County Commissioner Steve Moreno, and they picked Johnstown Mayor Scott James as the Republican nominee in county commissioner District 2,” reports The Greeley Tribune. “For Moreno, who outpaced challenger Sandi Elder 70 percent to 30 percent, the win was a confirmation voters approve of how he’s doing his job — in essence, an ode to the status quo.”

“Sen. Ray Scott had little difficulty holding off a challenge to his Senate District 7 seat in Tuesday’s primary race,” reports The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. “As the polls closed at 7 p.m., the Grand Junction Republican took an early lead with 12,970 votes, 63 percent, compared to 7,477 votes for his opponent, Rep. Dan Thurlow.”

“In a political tug-of-war spread over three counties, Republican challenger Don Bendell appeared to be headed to victory Tuesday night in the GOP primary contest against state Rep. Judy Reyher in state House District 47,” reports The Pueblo Chieftain. “At press time, Bendell had 3,635 votes to Reyher’s 2,678. The winner of the GOP race will take on Democrat Brianna Buentello of Pueblo in November. As votes were counted Tuesday evening, one trend seemed to be holding — Reyher, from La Junta, was winning in Otero County, but Bendell held the lead in both Pueblo County and his home county, Fremont.”

“Larimer County real estate agent Sean Dougherty will be the Republican nominee for Larimer County commissioner,” reports The Coloradoan in Fort Collins. “He had about 15,000 votes, or 57.5 percent, to Chalon Kintzley’s 11,000, or 42.5 percent, at the 9:30 p.m. count by the Larimer County Clerk and Recorder. Dougherty will face state Sen. John Kefalas for the seat. Kefalas was unchallenged in the Democratic primary.”

“The Steamboat Springs City Council has asked staff to begin exploring the possibility of asking voters to approve a new sales tax on packaged alcohol, marijuana and tobacco products. Council members directed city attorney Dan Foote to draft an ordinance that would place the tax on the November ballot,” reports The Steamboat Pilot. “The ordinance is slated for first reading at City Council’s July 17 meeting. Council did not determine at what rate alcohol, marijuana and tobacco would be taxed.”

“Joe Neguse cruised to victory in the Democratic primary race for the 2nd Congressional District on Tuesday night, setting the stage to become Colorado’s first African American congressman should he defeat his Republican and independent challengers this fall,” reports The Loveland Reporter-Herald. “‘I’m very excited, very honored to be the Democratic nominee into the general election and carry the torch through the rest of the election,’ Neguse, a Lafayette resident, said at an election watch party at the Rayback Collective in Boulder.”

“Longmont veterinarian Karen McCormick on Tuesday night declared victory over her opponent Chase Kohne in the Democratic primary for the 4th Congressional District,” reports The Longmont Times-Call. “The Colorado Secretary of State had McCormick with about 65 percent of roughly 54,000 votes that had been tallied as of about 3 a.m. Wednesday. Kohne, also a veterinarian, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. The historically conservative 4th Congressional District is currently represented by Republican Ken Buck, who is running unopposed in the Republican primary. McCormick said that the district has not been properly represented for the past four years.”

“An ex-Fort Carson soldier facing the death penalty in a 2016 double slaying was convicted Tuesday of first-degree murder and second-degree murder – marking a jury’s rejection of allegations that both killings were premeditated,” reports The Gazette in Colorado Springs. “Although Glen Law Galloway, 46, remains eligible for the death penalty, prosecutors now face an uphill battle as they lobby his jury to impose it, legal observers say.”

“The city of Durango on Thursday will open a temporary site for homeless campers displaced by fire restrictions,” reports The Durango Herald. “City councilors, on a 4-0 vote with Councilor Chris Bettin absent, passed an emergency ordinance allowing a temporary, sleep-only evacuation site to open for two months. Homeless campers will occupy about an acre of a 3-acre city open-space parcel near Greenmount Cemetery. The Greenmount site, with space for 40 tents, would be open to homeless campers who were moved from a La Plata County homeless camp to the Red Cross evacuation site at Escalante Middle School.”

“Michael Dougherty secured his place as Boulder County district attorney Tuesday night by handily beating opponent Mike Foote in the Democratic primary in a race that will see no Republican challenger this November,” reports The Boulder Daily Camera. “More than 52,000 votes had been counted as of the Boulder County clerk and recorder’s 3:15 a.m. Wednesday update. Of those, Dougherty held a 10,000-vote lead, having won just over 60 percent of the vote while Foote won just under 40 percent. Dougherty, 46, gave a speech at his election night party at the Madelife Gallery in downtown Boulder shortly after the 8:15 p.m. results were posted online and showed he was still leading in the race.”

“An audio interview with former Fremont County Sheriff’s Office Detective Robert Dodd and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation was played Tuesday during day two of Dodd’s jury trial,” reports The Cañon City Daily Record. “Dodd was asked by CBI agent Julie Petterson in the interview that was conducted in January 2017 about him allegedly storing murder evidence in a personal storage unit that later was sold at auction when his payment defaulted. “I took this stuff, I was trying to be more thorough — I wanted to take more photos, I didn’t get around to it, nothing more — I swear to God,” Dodd said in the interview.”

“Phil Weiser, a former University of Colorado Law School dean and ex-Obama administration official, appeared to be overcoming a major name ID gap in the Democratic primary for the Colorado attorney general’s race on Tuesday night, as he led state Rep. Joe Salazar in the closely watched contest that remained too close to call,” reports The Denver Post. “Weiser was up with 51 percent of the vote to Salazar’s 49 percent, with 463,000 ballots counted as of 9:30 p.m. — a stunning turnaround from what looked like an uphill battle for the first-time candidate. “We started this campaign with no donors, no volunteers, no name recognition,” Weiser told The Denver Post on Tuesday night.”