Regional analysis of the vote in the recent Democratic Party primary election for governor of Colorado shows primary election winner Phil Weiser sweeping the Denver metropolitan area with 59.4% of the vote.
Weiser’s losing opponent, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, garnered only 40.6% of the Denver metro vote.
There were just the two candidates in the contested race for the Democratic nomination for governor to run against a Republican in the general election next November.
Phil Weiser is currently serving as state attorney general.
Much of the vote in the Denver metropolitan area occurs in Denver and six populous surrounding suburban counties. Denver and all six suburban counties voted for Weiser over Bennet, some of them by large margins. The numbers were:
Denver: Weiser 66.4% to Bennet 33.6%; Adams County: Weiser 53.3% to Bennet 46.7%; Arapahoe County: Weiser 56.7% to Bennet 43.3%; Boulder County: Weiser 62.2% to Bennet 37.8%; Broomfield County: Weiser 57.4% to Bennet 42.6%; Douglas County: Weiser 53.1% to Bennet 46.9%; Jefferson County: Weiser 57% to Bennet 43%.
Weiser’s strong vote-getting in the Denver metro area was the key to his victory statewide over Bennet. Weiser did better in the Denver metro than any other region of the state.
The Front Range in Colorado is the thickly populated corridor of counties that runs from Pueblo County (county seat Pueblo) on the south, through El Paso County (Colorado Springs) and Denver metro to Larimer County (Fort Collins) and Weld County (Greeley) on the north.
The Front Range thus is composed of Denver metro plus four additional counties: Pueblo, El Paso, Larimer and Weld counties. We have labeled those four counties “Front Range-not Denver metro.”
The race was close in “Front Range-not Denver metro.” Weiser won the region, but only by 51.8% to 48.2%. The results were mixed from county to county:
Larimer County: Weiser 57.8% to Bennet 42.2%; El Paso County: Weiser 51.3% to Bennet 48.7%; Weld County: Weiser 51.2% to Bennet 48.8%, and Pueblo County: Weiser 38.5% to Bennet 61.5%.
Pueblo was the only populous county in Colorado that voted strongly for Bennet. Famous as the site of a large steel mill with a large working-class constituency, Pueblo County has typically voted strongly for Democratic candidates in general elections.
Combine the vote in the Denver metro with the vote in Front Range-not Denver metro, and you have the vote for the entire Front Range population corridor. That figure was 57.5% for Weiser and 42.5% for Bennet, an impressive achievement for Weiser.
In addition to winning the Front Range, Weiser won the Western Slope, the counties on other side of the Continental Divide.
In past elections, we have found a difference in voting between those Western Slope counties that have ski resorts and those that are mainly agricultural.
That was not the case in this Democratic primary election. The vote from the skiing counties and the nonskiing counties was basically the same: Western Slope skiing counties: Weiser 54.2% to Bennet 45.8%. Western Slope nonskiing counties: Weiser 56.3% to Bennet 43.7%.
So, along with winning Denver metro and the Front Range, Weiser also won Colorado on the west side of the Divide. Bennet scored his highest percentages of the vote on the eastern plains. He carried many counties and won them impressively. These are mainly agricultural counties such as Morgan, Cheyenne and Lincoln.
But voting populations are low in these eastern plains counties. Winning them does not help much in winning statewide elections — eastern Plains: Weiser 38.9% to Bennet 61.1%.
Another area carried by Bennet were the rural, mountainous counties located on the eastern slope of the Continental Divide. These include Lake County (Leadville) and Chaffee County (Salida).
We call this section the eastern mountains. Bennet won in that part of the state as well: Weiser 45.2% to Bennet 54.8%.
Another area carried by Bennet was southern Colorado. These are the counties near the southern border of the state, many of them located along the Rio Grande River, that have a Spanish heritage influence.
Examples would be Alamosa County (Alamosa) and Costilla County (San Luis): southern Colorado — Weiser 47% to Bennet 53%.
Bennet has two more years left in his U.S. term. Weiser campaigners cleverly suggested late in the campaign we should have “Weiser for governor and Bennet for the U.S. Senate.” Maybe this will be the case, but this was not expected a few weeks ago.
We will examine the Republican results soon.
News columnists Tom Cronin and Bob Loevy write about Colorado and national politics. Election data as reported by the Secretary of State’s Office as of July 8.
