There are 18 different races that will be on the ballot here in Delta County in the November 2022 election. Currently there are over 70 candidates. Seven races are at the County level, nine are at the State level and two are at the Federal level. The County races include Assessor, Clerk & Recorder, Commissioner District 1, Coroner, Sheriff, Surveyor and Treasurer. The State races are Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Treasurer, State Board of Education at-Large Seat, State Senate District 7 seat, State House District 54 seat and State House District 58 seat. The two Federal seats are U.S. Senate seat and Congressional District 3 seat. I’m going to try to pull together information that will help keep track of all the races and help figure out who all these candidates are. This blog will focus on what seats are open and who is currently running for the nomination to these offices. I hope this information will be useful in knowing whom our delegates that we elect at the Precinct Caucuses are going to support.
Delta County Races: There are seven open seats at the County level this year. Currently six of those races have one Republican candidate running in each race, and one seat does not have a Republican candidate. At present, there are no Democrat candidates for any of these races. The seven seats are:
1) County Assessor – Jolene George (R) New candidate, current employee in Assessors office. Incumbent Debbie Griffith has announced her retirement.
2) County Clerk and Recorder – Teri Stephenson (R) Incumbent.
3) County Commissioner District 1 – Mike Lane (R) Incumbent.
4) County Coroner – Lance Boren (R) Incumbent.
5) County Sheriff – Mark Taylor (R) Incumbent.
6) County Surveyor – No declared candidate at present.
7) County Treasurer – Lisa Tafoya (R) Incumbent.
Delegates who are elected at the Precinct Caucuses next Tuesday evening, March 1, 2022, will be voting on these candidates at the County Assembly at the Delta Center for the Performing Arts on March 19, 2022. Candidates who receive at least 30% of the vote at the County Assembly will be placed on the ballot for the Colorado Republican Primary Election on June 28, 2022. While the above listed candidates are currently unopposed, someone could nominate another Republican candidate from the floor of the Assembly. No Democrats are currently registered with the Colorado Secretary of State as candidates for these elections, but that could change at the Delta County Democrat County Assembly. We’ll keep watching to see if Democrats nominate any candidates.
Colorado State races: I’ll go though the State races one at a time. The first race is for Governor.
Governor:
Twenty-six candidates are currently running for Governor in 2022 – Two Democrats, including the incumbent, Jared Polis, 15 Republicans and 8 Unaffiliated candidates and one Libertarian. Those candidates are:
1) Jared Polis (D) Incumbent, P.O. Box 36066. Denver, CO 80236.
2) Dustin Rorex (D) 731 East Laporte Dr., Pueblo West, CO 81007.
1) Laurie Clark (R). Active. 15882 Maple Hill Road, Monument, CO 80132.
2) Jeffrey Fry (R). 32250 County Road 37 Hayden, CO 81639.
3) Jon Gray-Ginsberg (R) Active. 35 West Main Street, Frisco, CO 80443
4) Greg Lopez (R) 36792 View Ridge Drive, Elizabeth, CO
5) Danielle Neuschwanger (R) P.O. Box 371, Elbert, CO
6) Christopher Allen Tackett (R). 424 32 Road, Trailor 134, Clifton, CO 81520.
7) Heidi Ganahl (R 5950 S. Willow Dr., Ste. 308, Greenwood Village, CO 80111.
8) Darryl Gibbs (R). 4845 S. Pagosa Cir, Aurora, CO 80015.
9) Jack Percy Dillender, Jr. (R). Active. 362 East Birch Trail, Crestone, CO 81131.
10) Jason Lopez. (R) 7763 S. Surrey Dr., Morrison, CO 80465.
11) Nathaniel Cameron Marshall, Sr. (R). 2758 South Knoxville Way, Denver, CO 80227.
12) Jason Wilkat 11150 Coal Mine St., Firestone, CO 80504.
13) William Purdy 12028 First St., Appt. 1218, Aurora, CO 80012.
14) Zachariah Burck P.O. Box 745729, Arvada CO 80006.
15) Matthew Hart 10214 Tall Oaks Rd., Parker, CO 80134.
1) Ralph Tingle, Jr. (UA) 1001 E. 62nd Ave., Denver CO 80216.
2) Christopher Dean Salgado (UA). 691 S. Union Ave. #4, Pueblo CO 81004.
3) Zachary Varon (UA) P.O. Box 220, Avon, CO 81620.
4) Jim Rundberg (Gold Party)P.O. Box 574, Antonito, CO 81120.
5) Jarred Ahrend (UA) 5325 Alturas Dr., Colorado Springs, CO 80911.
6) William Redmon 29853 County Rd. 361, Buena Vista CO 81211.
7) Chadwick Bowman (UA) 3650 South Broadway A223 , Englewood CO 80113.
8) Michael Fowler (UA) 1859 28th St. Apt 536, Denver CO 80216.
1) Kevin Ruskusky (Libertarian) 2322 S. Salem Cir., Aurora CO 80014.
This is a nearly overwhelming number of candidates. However, I believe there are only a few who are truly serious. I am only focusing on the Republican candidates, as those are the ones our delegates who are elected at the Precinct Caucuses will be voting on, if they become delegates to the Colorado State Assembly or one of the other District Assemblies. We have seen Greg Lopez and Dannielle Neuschwanger here in Delta County several times since last May and received a video from John Gray-Ginsberg that we viewed at one of our DCRCC meetings. Heidi Ganahl is scheduled to be here on March 5th at our Percs & Politics session. Obviously, we need to do more vetting of these candidates.
Lieutenant Governor: There are currently three candidates, who have declared for Lieutenant Governor of Colorado and none are Republicans. The candidates are:
1) Diane Primavera (D) P.O. Box 36066, Denver CO 80236.
2) Larry Schneider (UA) 840 E. Prentice 150, Greenwood Village CO 80111.
3) Roger Evans (UA) 1614 E. Orman Ave., Pueblo, CO.
Attorney General: There is currently one candidate who has declared for Attorney General of Colorado. That candidate is the incumbent:
1) Phillip Weiser (D) P.O. Box 13644, Denver CO 80201.
Secretary of State: There are currently five candidates who have declared for Secretary of State for Colorado. Those candidates are:
1) Jena Griswold (D) Incumbent, P.O. Box 270281, Louisville, CO 80027.
2) David Winney (R) 3472 Research Parkway, Ste. 104-554, Colorado Springs, CO 80920.
3) Pam Anderson (R) P.O. Box 916, Wheat Ridge, CO 80034.
4) Tina Peters (R) P.O. Box 128, Grand Junction, CO 81503.
5) Francis (Mike) O’Donnell (R) P.O. Box 56, Kirk, CO 80824.
Incumbent Jena Griswold (D) has over 1.3 Million dollars in her campaign chest. Obviously she is well funded. Pam Anderson is the best-funded Republican candidate with $43,000.
Treasurer: There are currently two candidates who have declared for Treasurer. They are:
1) Lang Sias (R) P.O. Box 2646, Denver, CO 80205
2) David Young (D) P.O. Box 58, Greeley, CO 80632
State Board of Education - At Large Seat: There are four open seats on the State Board of Education, but only one that Delta County can vote on – the At Large Seat that all voters in the State can vote on. The other three seats are based on the Congressional Districts, with the seats for CD 4,5 and 8 open this year. Our State Board of Education Seat for CD3 is held by Joyce Rankin (R) of Carbondale and her six-year term runs through 2027. The two candidates for the new At Large Seat in this year’s election are:
1) Dan Maloit (R) 365 Poppy View Lane, Erie, CO 80516.
2) Kathy Plomer (D) P.O. Box 605, Broomfield, CO 80038.
Senate District 5: consists of Southeast Garfield County, Pitkin County, and most of Delta County, Precincts 1-10 and Precincts 15 – 20. (Cedaredge area precincts - 11,12,13 &14 are in SD7). Current State Senator for SD8 Bob Rankin of Carbondale will be moved into SD 5 at the end of the current Legislative Session, due to Redistricting. His term runs through January 8, 2025. So there will be no election in SD 5 in 2022. The SD 5 seat will be open in the 2024 election.
Senate District 7: consists of Mesa County and northwest Delta County – the Cedaredge area precincts - 11,12,13 &14.
1) Janice Rich (R) P.O. Box 97, Grand Junction, CO.
Janice Rich is the current representative in HD 55. The incumbent for SD 7 is Ray Scott, who is term-limited. Ms. Rich has appeared in Delta County several times at the DCRCC HQ for Percs & Politics.
House District 54: consists of Mesa County, except for the City of Grand Junction and the west half of Delta County or Precincts1-14.
1) Matt Soper (R) Incumbent P.O. Box 81, Delta, CO 81416.
2) Nina Anderson (R) Grand Junction, CO 725 Pitkin Ave., Grand Junction, CO 81501.
Matt Soper has been an active member of the DCRCC for many years both as a member and the current HD 54 representative and has appeared at the DCRCC HQ Percs & Politics. Nina Anderson is a businesswoman and has attended the last two DCRCC monthly meetings and is scheduled to appear at the DCRCC HQ on Saturday February 26, 2022.
House District 58: consists of the east third of Delta County or Precincts 15-20, and Gunnison, Montrose, Ouray, San Miguel, Dolores and Hindsdale Counties and the northwest corner of Montezuma County.
1) Marcus Catlin (R) Incumbent 60756 Spring Creek Rd., Montrose, CO 81403.
Marcus or Marc Catlin is currently unopposed. To date, he has not made a campaign appearance in Delta County.
We will be electing delegates at next Tuesday’s Caucuses to either attend the State Assembly in Colorado Springs on April 8 & 9, 2022 or one of the District Assemblies that will be held in various locations. These delegates who are elected at the Precinct Caucuses next Tuesday evening, March 1, 2022 will be voting on the candidates for State and Federal offices at the various assemblies to be placed on the Colorado Republican Primary Election on June 28, 2022. The candidates who receive at leas 30% of the delegate votes will be placed on the Primary ballot but candidates can also petition to be placed on the ballot as well. Petition rules vary by political office but the process can be expensive, as candidates in 2018 spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to gather signatures for their petitions. One would think being elected at the Assembly would represent stronger support for the candidate.
Colorado Federal races:
US Senate: Incumbent Michael Bennet is running for a second term, after being appointed to fill in for Sen. Ken Salazar in 2009. One Democrat candidate is challenging him in the primary. Seven candidates have declared for the Republican nomination to run against incumbent Michael Bennett.
1) Michael Bennet (D) Incumbent, Businessman, Attorney, Politician, Denver, CO.
2) Karen Breslin (D). Journalist/Attorney/University professor, Elizabeth, CO.
1) Peter Yu (R). Business Consultant, Windsor, CO.
2) Joe O’Dea (R). Former State Rep and Congressional Aid and teacher, Businessman, Greenwood Village, CO.
3) Eli Bremer (R). Air Force veteran, Retired Olympian, Colorado Springs, CO.
4) Ron Hanks (R). State Representative HD 60, Penrose, CO.
5) Gino Campana (R). Builder/Developer, Fort Collins, CO.
6) Deborah Flora (R). Former Miss Colorado, actress/radio host, Parker, CO.
7) Greg Moore (R). University professor-Colorado Christian University, Evergreen, CO.
Again, this is a fairly large number of candidates, many of which seem to be good candidates. To date, Eli Bremmer, Gino Campano and Peter Yu have appeared at the Delta HQ for Percs & Politics. Representative Ron Hanks has attempted to schedule an appearance, but his legislative duties at the State Capitol seem to have limited his opportunities for appearances.
CD3:
Two Republicans and eleven Democrats and one Independent have declared to run against incumbent Republican Lauren Boebert. They are:
1) Lauren Boebert (R) Incumbent, Restaurant owner, Rifle, CO.
2) Marina Zimmerman (R). Crane operator, attorney, Durango, CO.
3) Don Coram (R). SD 6 Senator, Term-limited, Montrose CO.
1) Debra Lynn Burnett Veterinarian, Cowdrey, CO. (Near Walden, CO).
2) Kerry Donovon (D) SD 5 Senator – term limited., Vail, CO.
3) Root Routledge (D) Business Consultant, Durango, CO.
4) Susan Martinez (D) Certified Nursing Aid, Pueblo, CO.
5) Donald Valdez (D) HD 62 Representative, Pueblo County, CO.
6) Colin Wilhelm (D) Attorney, Glenwood Springs, CO.
7) Colin (Cole) Buerger (D) Community Organizer, Glenwood Springs, CO. Dropped out to run for HD57 seat.
8) Soledad Sandoval Tafoya (D) Social Worker/Community Organizer, Pueblo, CO. 9) Kellie Rhodes (D) Attorney/Public Service, Crested Butte, CO.
10) Scott Yates (D) Journalist, Businessman, Pueblo, CO
11) Greg Harrison Smith (D) Marine/ Business owner, Westcliff, CO.
12) Kristin Skowronski (I) Cortez, CO.
The race for CD3 is another contested race. Congresswoman Boebert has appeared numerous times in Delta County including being the featured speaker at the Delta County Lincoln Day Dinner in 2021. The other two candidates have not made campaign appearances in Delta County during this election. I can’t even begin to give any assessment of the Democrat candidates, as there are so many of them.
Obviously this is just a cursory assessment of the races that will be on the ballot in Delta County in 2022 and the candidates that are currently vying for the nominations for these races. I encourage people to check out the various candidates and try to be prepared to support the candidate you prefer if you intend to become a delegate at our County Assembly and State or other District Assemblies.
Hope to see you at the Caucuses!
David Bradford
Delta County Republican Central Committee Chairman
Thanks Dave for all the info. Great job!
Thanks, Dave. You're doing a great job!