Dan Jablan, CMS lobbyist

Colorado voters acted yesterday during the primaries delivering two different signals. Democrats pushed toward the party’s sharpest-elbowed challengers, rejecting Washington insiders, while Republicans may have steadied around establishment candidates, hoping safer bets can finally end their drought. Given the way many districts around the state are drawn, the winners of many of the primaries are expected to go on to take the general election in November. COMPAC actively supported pro-physician, pro-patient candidates, notching some important wins, but also losing some current champions. Highlights include:

• Gubernatorial – Attorney General Phil Weiser won by a lot. Weiser ran a grassroots campaign against the more establishment-driven Senator Bennett. As of press time, Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer has a slim lead in the Republican primary, but that race has yet to be called.
• Federal races – Evidence of the anti-establishment furor played out in the defeat of 28-year Congresswoman Dianna DeGette by Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) candidate Melat Kiros, and Rep. Manny Rutinel taking out our friend Shannon Bird. Sen. John Hickenloper beat DSA challenger Julie Gonzales.
• Attorney General – As expected Jena Griswald won the democrat AG’s race. Oddsmakers peg her as the next AG when she squares off against Michael Allen (R) in November, but who knows for sure.
• State house and senate races – The competitive D primaries where business spent millions supporting more moderate candidates went decidedly left, with key races like Rep. Sean Camacho (HD6) and Rep. Jacque Phillips (HD31) losing to DSA candidates. Interestingly more moderate Republicans won their primaries including Terri Carver besting Sen. Lynda Zamora Wilson and Jill Haffley beat Jamie Koch in HD16. It’s likely that there will be a narrative that this election demonstrated that DSA is ascending. While I get the contention, I think it’s more anti-establishment.

These results set up for an interesting November.