Denver Primary Results 2018: DeGette, Gonzales-Gutierrez, Sirota

DENVER, CO – Voters exercised their franchise Tuesday in the Democrat and Republican primaries throughout Colorado.

All the vote tallies had been posted by Wednesday afternoon, except for those in far-western Montrose County, where bar code problems meant Clerk staff had to count by hand.

Attorney General Race

The final counts made it clear that former CU Law professor Phil Weiser had won the primary in a very close race with Joe Salazar. Once the 99% tallies were in, Weiser was top vote-getter with 281,764, or 50.77 percent of the vote, with Salazar receiving 49.23 percent, or 273,218.

Weiser posted a message of unity on his campaign Facebook page.

"My focus as Attorney General will be on building partnerships to solve problems together, working to strengthen community bonds."

Governor race

Walter Stapleton was declared the winner of the Republican primary for Governor, Colorado Politics reported. Stapleton was almost 18 points ahead of the second highest vote-getter, Victor Mitchell, with 82 percent of counties counted.

Jared Polis was top vote-getter for the Democrats with 44.75 percent of the vote, or 264,464. Cary Kennedy had 24.69 percent, or 145,908 votes, and Mike Johnston got 137,617, or 23.39 percent of the votes. Lt. Governor Donna Lynne received 7.28 percent of the votes.

Congressional races

Among the Democrats, congressional primaries popped up as first-time candidates who challenged the "establishment" jumped into the ring. But in Denver, and nearby in Aurora's 6th District, more established (and better funded) candidates prevailed to challenge their GOP counterparts in November.

U.S. Congress Dist. 1 Democratic Primary – Winner DeGette

Ten-term Congresswoman Diana DeGette, House Chief Deputy Whip, easily beat challenger Saira Rao, a Wall Street banker who ran as an anti-establishment Democrat and hoped to be the first woman of color sent to Congress from Colorado. DeGette, who got around 73 percent of the vote, was first elected in 1997 to the seat formerly held by groundbreaking female Colorado Congresswoman Pat Schroeder. She will face unopposed Republican Charles Stockham in November.

Statehouse Races

In statehouse races, a combination of term limits and lawmakers jumping from one race to another caused a number of multi-candidate Denver-area primaries, especially among Democrats.

Colorado House Dist. 4 Democrat Primary – Winner Gonzales-Gutierrez

Three Democrats ran to replace Don Pabon, who was term-limited out, in Denver's House Dist. 4. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, daughter of Denver 1960s Chicano activist Corky Gonzalez won the three-way race with around 58 percent of the vote, in early tallies. She's worked many years with juveniles in the criminal justice system, but taking part in Emerge Colorado trained her to run for office, she said. She was outspent two to one by Amy Beatie, executive director of the Colorado Water Trust, who ended up with 32 percent of the vote. Ed Britt, an admin at University of Colorado Got about 9 percent. The winner will face unopposed GOP candidate Robert "Dave" John in November.

Colorado House Dist. 9 Democratic Primary/ Republican Party – Winners Sirota/ Lane

Dubbed the #MeToo district, Dist. 9 lost its long-time incumbent Paul Rosenthal after he was one of several Colorado lawmakers accused of sexual harassment last fall. Rosenthal failed to get enough delegate votes in early district assembly meetings, opening the ballot to two women, Ashley Wheeland and Emily Sirota.

Sirota, who got around 53 percent of the vote in early tallies, raised hundreds of small donations from individual donors. Wheeland, a former senior policy and political director for Planned Parenthood Votes Colorado, got a $20,000 donation in June from her former employer, which pushed her cash on hand into the triple digits.

Sirota will face GOP winner Robert Jude Lane, who got about 70 percent of the vote.

Here are updated results for 2018 primary races June 26.

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