Four Colorado state legislators ousted in primary election

Four Colorado state lawmakers lost their party primary elections Tuesday and will lose their seats in the Legislature next year.

Democratic Reps. Sean Camacho, Jacque Phillips and Mandy Lindsay, and Republican Sen. Lynda Zamora Wilson lost to their primary challengers, and in other races, left-leaning Democrats defeated more moderate candidates, according to unofficial results from the secretary of state’s office. The results in those Democratic races could influence the Legislature’s ideological direction when it returns next year, as Democrats will likely retain control of both chambers.

Camacho and Phillips are both members of the Colorado Opportunity Caucus and lost to more progressive Democrats backed by the Working Families Party and major labor unions. Caucus members are at the center of an ethics investigation after a retreat in Vail last fall where a nonprofit called One Main Street picked up part of the tab. One Main Street and affiliated groups supported a handful of Democrats in the primaries, but those candidates largely were not successful. Wynn Howell, the state director for WFP characterized the night as a rejection of the “corrupt corporate political machine,” alluding to the vast amount of money spent on some candidates.

“They also rejected corporate Democrats in favor of Working Families Party Democrats who are from the people and will work for the people,” Howell said in a statement. “These results are the payoff of the Working Families Party’s strategy to recruit, train, and elect more champions to the state legislature and county commissions to break the corporate hold on Democratic leadership in those bodies.”

Official and verified election results from the state won’t be settled for a few weeks, but the results as of midday Wednesday show clear outcomes in most races. Results are updated online as ballots continue to be counted.

Civil rights attorney Iris Halpern beat Camacho in Denver’s House District 6 with 53.4% of the vote. Political committees that are separate from the candidates’ campaigns, whose donors are not clear and are often referred to as “dark money” groups, spent over $900,000 in the race. The district is a safe Democratic seat in the heart of Denver, so Halpern will almost certainly win in November.

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