Legislative primary results: March leads Epps, Holtorf keeps seat

As of just before 10 p.m. Tuesday, county clerks across the state had thousands of votes left to tally in state legislative primary races.

But in most of the contested primaries, a likely winner had begun to emerge based on ballot counts displayed on the Colorado secretary of state’s website. Those included four races in state House and Senate districts where one major party holds a definitive advantage over the other — meaning the primary winner is very likely, if not certain, to emerge victorious in the November general election.

In House District 63, which covers a wide swath of northeast Colorado, Republican Jessie Vance’s campaign to oust incumbent Rep. Richard Holtorf earned an endorsement from the Colorado Chamber of Commerce and support from the state Association of Homebuilders. It wasn’t nearly enough to defeat Holtorf, who was leading with 71.3% of votes counted by 9 p.m. Having won the primary, Holtorf is nearly assured to win reelection, since no Democrats are on the November ballot in the deep-red, rural district.

Meanwhile, Denver’s Democratic primary in House District 6 was still too close to call as of 9 p.m. Katie March, a former aide for state House Speaker Alec Garnett, led Elisabeth Epps, a criminal justice reform advocate, by just over 3 percentage points with about 10,500 votes counted. March enjoys support from powerful business interests and moderate Democrats, while Epps has rallied the party’s progressive wing. The district stretches southeast from North Broadway and East 20th Avenue to South Havana Street and East Mississippi Avenue. Democrats had a 66.9 percentage-point advantage in the district — but the Democratic primary winner will need to defeat Republican candidate Donald Howell.

Democratic State Rep. Mandy Lindsay, who was appointed earlier this year by a vacancy committee, defeated longtime city employee Gail Pough in Aurora’s House District 42. Lindsay was ahead by 15 points as of 9 p.m. Tuesday, meaning she’ll be the one to face Republican Cory Parella in the fall. Since Democrats have a 45.8 percentage-point advantage in the district, stretching from South Airport Boulevard west to Yosemite Street, she’s likely to hold on to her seat.

Despite securing the top spot on the ballot in the GOP county assembly, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Lynda Zamora Wilson fell to incumbent state Sen. Paul Lundeen of Monument in the Senate District 9 primary race. As of 9 p.m. Tuesday, Lundeen had 69.5% of the vote compared with Wilson’s 30.5%. Based on results from recent statewide elections, Republican candidates enjoy a 33.4 percentage-point lead over Democrats in the El Paso County district. That means Lundeen is likely to win in November against Democrat Arik Dougherty.