Colorado Primary Season 2006 Updated

Peteco at Soapblox has done a brilliant job of summing up the primary season for Democrats in Colorado this year.

There are no statewide race, state school board or CU Regent primaries among Democrats (out of a possible 10). There is one Congressional District primary (CD 7) (out of a possible 7), there are five house district primaries (out of a possible 65), and there are two senate district primaries (out of a possible 18). Thus, there are actually only eight contested primaries in the Democratic party side of the process out of 100 possible primaries, above the county level in Colorado.

Link through if you want the full details. House and Senate District safety per Mile High Delphi and based largely on voter registration. The races and Democratic candidates are as follows:

7th Congressional District

Northern Denver Suburbs. Most competitive district in U.S.A.

Ed Perlmutter, Peggy Lamm and Herb Rubenstein.

House District 1

SW Denver. Safe Dem.

Jeanne Labuda, Alfredo Hernandez, and Margaret Atencio.

House District 13

Boulder. Safe Dem.

Claire Levy and Jim Rettew.

House District 43

Higlands Ranch. Safe GOP.

Edward Behen and Alan Dreher.

House District 51

Loveland. Leans GOP.

Becky Jay and Jodi Radke.

House District 59

SW Colorado (Silverton, Durango, Cortez and Pagosa Springs). Toss up.

Joe Colgan and Jeff Deitch.

Senate District 24

Suburbs North of Denver near I-25. Leans Dem.

Val Vigil and Lois Tochtrop

Senate District 32

South Denver. Safe Dem.

Jennifer Mello, Fran Coleman, and Chris Romer.

UPDATE: A previously mentioned SD 30 primary appears to be off, as one of the two Democrats in the race has withdrawn due to a family member suffering from a serious illness. Other figures have been adjusted to reflect this change.

Notably, only 6 Democratic party candidates who will face, at least, the primary voters, petitioned onto the ballot (Peggy Lamm, Herb Rubenstein, Margaret Atencio, Jeff Deitch, Jim Rettew, and Chris Romer). Notably, four of those six are in three way races. The other 110 made it onto the ballot via the caucus process.

Dan Slater has a brief summary of the Republican side of the primary ballot:

It looks like the Republicans will have 15 primaries among all of the State House and State Senate districts (this includes SD9, where a primary candidate’s petition has not yet been certified).

One of those primaries is in Grand Junctions seventh State Senate District where there is no Democratic party opponent. Republicans have a six way primary in the 5th Congressional District (centered around Colorado Springs), although a likely primary in the GOP race for the Governor's office appears to have been avoided.

Thus, out of 200 possible primaries above the county level in Colorado in 2006, only 24 primaries will actually be held, and as I note in another post today, 19% of races in Colorado this year don't have a major party contest.