This four-way blitz has Wil Armstong, Mike Coffman, Ted Harvey and Steve Ward battling for the GOP nomination to replace retiring Rep. Tom Tancredo. This is another Republican-dominated district, south of Denver, and the winner will likely head to Washington. Keep reading for Tuesday night updates.
7:15 p.m.
Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman’s name recognition seems to be paying off, with the longtime politician jumping ahead of businessman Wil Armstrong, with 41 percent of the initial Jefferson County vote to Armstrong’s 31 percent.
Armstrong, who has positioned himself as a political outsider, and Coffman are the two front runners, but it could be a long night as votes in this race trickle in from CD6’s respective corners in Jefferson, Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Park counties.
Jefferson County, the first to report any votes, has Harvey winning 14 percent of the approximately 12,000 cast ballots and Ward with 13 percent of the vote.
7:25 p.m.
Coffman is also pulling ahead in Arapahoe County, again with 41 percent of the 23,578 ballots cast in the CD6 race to Armstrong’s 36 percent. Harvey and Ward both lag behind with 10 percent and 12 percent of the vote, respectively.
7:40 p.m.
Voters in Douglas county are following suit, favoring Coffman more than Armstrong at the ballot box, with Harvey and Ward still significantly trailing.
Harvey 2,925
Ward 1,451
Armstrong 4,045
Coffman 6,583
8:09 p.m.
Ward has acknowledged defeat but said he thought he’d get more support after knocking on thousands of voters’ doors.
“The numbers surprise me and [Armstrong’s] strength surprises me,” Ward said, adding he’ll support Coffman in the general election when he wins.
Asked if he’ll support Armstrong, Ward said he expects the final numbers to reflect the preliminary vote counts, making Coffman the Republican’s CD6 candidate.
8:41 p.m.
The combined, preliminary votes from Douglas, Arapahoe and Jefferson counties, show Coffman still leading Armstrong.
Coffman 21,298 votes
Armstrong 16,274 votes
8:50 p.m.
Armstrong campaign manager Jack Stansbery said the campaign expects to know the winner of CD6 in the next 30 minutes.
9:11 p.m.
Douglas County’s latest numbers continue to trend in Coffman’s favor:
Harvey 3,664
Ward 1,782
Armstrong 5,072
Coffman 7,816
9:20 p.m.
Coffman makes a victory speech saying, according to the Rocky Mountain News:
“This is the first phase and not the final end, and there is still an election in November and we need all your help,” Coffman said. “Tonight we celebrate what we have put behind us, and that is the Republican primaries.”
9:25 p.m.
Coffman must be glad this four-way, and sometime nasty race, is over. What remains to be seen is how much party support he can count on. Republican Party leaders overwhelmingly backed Armstrong during the primary campaign and may not feel the need to vigorously get behind Coffman in a district that is considered safely red.