Weiser holds narrow lead in attorney general’s race
Phil Weiser, a former University of Colorado Law School dean and exObama administration official, appeared to be overcoming a major name ID gap in the Democratic primary for the Colorado attorney general’s race Tuesday night, as he led state Rep. Joe Salazar in the closely watched contest that remained too close to call.
Weiser was up with 51 percent of the vote to Salazar’s 49 percent, with 463,000 ballots counted as of 9:30 p.m. — a stunning turnaround from what looked like an uphill battle for the first-time candidate.
“We started this campaign with no donors, no volunteers, no name recognition,” Weiser told The Denver Post on Tuesday night.
Weiser added that he closed the gap with Salazar by employing “lots and lots of hard work, lots and lots of dedicated volunteers and a message the resonated with people.”
Salazar was downplaying Weiser’s small lead Tuesday night, saying there were many more votes to be counted.
“We’re expecting that today’s voters are going to make a world of difference,” Salazar said of the late ballots coming in. “It’s going to be a long night. We knew it was going to be a long night.”
Salazar said his campaign worked extremely hard in the final days leading up to the primary contest on get out the voter efforts.
“We’re holding our own,” Salazar said.
The close margin signaled that Weiser’s last-minute, high-dollar efforts to battle his lack of name recognition apparently had a big impact.
It also appeared to show that Salazar’s backing from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders wasn’t enough to sway the progressive wing of Colorado Democratic and unaffiliated voting blocs.
In the final hours of voting, Salazar was sending text messages to potential voters reminding them of his endorsement from Sanders as he battled for last-minute votes.
Weiser led Salazar in fundraising by more than $1 million and won backing from some of the state’s top Democratic names, including Gov. John Hickenlooper and Ken Salazar, a former U.S. senator and former Colorado attorney general.
But despite his backing from the party’s establishment wing, Weiser — a first-time candidate — had been struggling for weeks against Salazar’s well-known last name in the state’s political realm. Polls showed him far behind Salazar, a threeterm state lawmaker.
That led Weiser to dump more than $500,000 into television, radio and digital ads to get his name and message out in the final weeks of the primary race.
“Salazar is a well-respected name in Colorado politics,” Weiser told potential voters at a May campaign stop. “Weiser is a great last name for puns.”
Salazar, on the other hand, spent the weeks leading up to the primary election attacking Weiser over his lack of political experience in Colorado, even going so far as to accuse him of being absent in the state’s minority communities. “He’s never been around,” Salazar claimed.
(Weiser declined to attack Salazar, saying he was committed to running a clean campaign.)
The two men couldn’t be more different in their approach to the office.
While both have vowed to follow the approach of other Democratic attorneys general and push back against the Trump administration, Weiser is a firm believer in defending the state’s laws. Salazar, on the other hand, said he might not safeguard state statutes with which he disagrees — such as the death penalty and the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.
Whoever wins the Democratic primary battle will face Republican George Brauchler, the 18th Judicial District’s attorney, in November. (Brauchler was running unopposed.)
Eric Sondermann, a Denver political analyst, said that Weiser had defied expectations and polls.
“Big loser in this news: George Brauchler,” Sondermann tweeted.
Colorado’s current attorney general, Republican Cynthia Coffman, stepped down and made an unsuccessful bid for governor. The state has not had a Democratic attorney general since Ken Salazar’s term, from 1999 to 2005.
In the Democratic primary race for Colorado treasurer, state Rep. Dave Young looked positioned to best first-time candidate Bernard Douthit, a progressive candidate who tied himself to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“I’m pleased to have what appears to be the overwhelming support of Democrats in the state, and I’m looking forward to a good race for the general election for treasurer,” Young said Tuesday night as the results appeared to show him the victor.
The Greeley resident said he was happy with the race he and his team ran.
“I admire anybody that puts themselves out as a candidate,” said Young, who has won the backing of the Colorado Education Association and served on the state legislature’s powerful Joint Budget Committee. “I want to commend (Douthit) on running a tough race, and I’m appreciative of the fact that he was willing to put himself on the line.”
As of 9:30 p.m., Young was leading Douthit, with 69 percent of the vote after 418,000 ballots had been counted.
In the Republican primary for treasurer, the race was too close to call early Tuesday night.
Businessman Brian Watson and state Rep. Justin Everett, of Littleton, were locked in a close battle. Watson held a slight advantage, with 38 percent of the vote after 3379,000 votes had been counted as of about 9:30 p.m. Everett had 36 percent.
State Rep. Polly Lawrence was third, with 25 percent of the vote.
Colorado’s current GOP treasurer, Walker Stapleton, is term-limited and running for governor. The last time Colorado had a Democratic treasurer was from 2007-11, when Cary Kennedy (another 2018 gubernatorial candidate) held the office.
Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams will be the Republican nominee as he runs for a second term after being unopposed in the primary. He will face Democrat Jenna Griswold, who ran unopposed as well, in November.