For 16 years, Gilbert “Bo” Ortiz has been the Pueblo County Clerk and Recorder. That reign ended in the Democratic Primary when Candace Rivera defeated Ortiz, handily. In the most recent vote count available, Rivera had 12,553 votes to Ortiz’s 5,292 votes.
Rivera is a first-time candidate with a background in criminal justice and victim advocacy. Ortiz’s election management has come under fire several times in recent months, including a series of mistakes on Pueblo County Primary ballots that led to Colorado Secretary of State Jenna Griswold appointing an election supervisor to oversee this year’s primary election.
In the Republican Primary for County Clerk and Recorder, Nathan Baxter defeated Sarina Adame, 8,818 votes to 5,924.
Democrats also turned-out incumbent County Treasurer, Del Olivas. Olivas was appointed treasurer on May 1, 2009 and was then elected in 2010, 2014, and 2018.
But this primary, voters elected Kim Archuleta. Archuleta ended up with 9,419 votes compared to 8,067 for the incumbent. Michelle M. Gray ran unopposed on the Republican ticket.
Pueblo County Assessor incumbent Frank Beltran garnered 15,868 unopposed votes in the Democratic Primary. J. Angel Lewis was also unopposed in the Republican primary and collected 12,908 votes.
For United States Senator, Democrat Michael Bennett had 16,398 uncontested votes. Ron Hanks won that position in the Republican Primary in Pueblo County over Joe O’Dea. Statewide, O’Dea had 55% of the vote and will be in the general election against Bennett.
Greg Lopez got the Republican nod for Governor over Heidi Ganahl in Pueblo County but, like the Senate race, Ganahl had about 55% of the vote, statewide, to win the right to face current Governor Jared Polis.
Representative Lauren Boebert won her first effort at re-election in the Republican Primary easily, collecting nearly two-thirds of the vote over challenger Don Coram. The statewide tally was mirrored in Pueblo County.
Adam Frisch won the threeway Democratic primary. Soledad Sandoval Tafoya had a 3000-vote victory in Pueblo County over Frisch but fell short statewide.
Other contested votes include in District 46 State Representative, where termlimited Daneya Esgar has served since 2015. Tisha Mauro, a Pueblo businesswoman was leading Jason Munoz, sales manager at an auto dealership, 5,885 to 4,856.
In November’s General Election, the winner will face Republican Jonathan Ambler, a self-employed, former educator who was defeated by Esgar for the House District 46 seat in 2020. Ambler had 7,174 votes.
For Pueblo County Commissioner District 3, where Garrison Ortiz is term-limited, Roxy Pignanelli was the apparent winner in the Democratic primary, with 9,154 votes over opponent Michael Schuster, 7,915. Zach Swearingen, who collected 10,322 votes, will run under the Republican banner.
In the Republican race for Secretary of State, Pam Anderson gathered 45% of the votes against two competitors: Mike O’Donnell with 29% and Tina Peters with 25%. Democrat Jenna Griswold will be running as the incumbent.
In a contested race in the Republican party for State Representative District 62, Carol Riggenbach narrowly beat Ryan G. Williams in Pueblo County, but had a wider margin of victory in the entire district where she had over 60% of the votes. Matthew Martinez will represent the field for the Democrats in the General Election.
There were no other contested races in the Primaries.