Aadland wins 7th District GOP nomination as incumbents hold off primary challengers

Unofficial results released Tuesday night showed few surprises in some of Colorado’s lower-profile congressional primaries.

Erik Aadland, an Army veteran and former oil and gas executive, is projected to win the Republican nomination for the 7th District, defeating economist Tim Reichert and far-right candidate Laurel Imer.

With nearly 75,000 votes counted Tuesday night, Aadland was well ahead of his opponents with about 48% of the vote. He will face state Sen. Brittany Pettersen, who was unopposed in the Democratic primary, in a general-election contest to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter.

Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette of Denver soundly defeated progressive primary challenger Neal Walia in the 1st District, winning nearly 85% of the vote. In the 4th District Republican Rep. Ken Buck defended long-shot challenger Robert Lewis by a similarly wide margin.

Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado Springs also appeared to have held off a more serious challenge from far-right state Rep. Dave Williams in the 5th District. With nearly 80,000 votes counted as of late Tuesday night, Lamborn led Williams by a 49% to 33% margin.