June 30 (UPI) — Colorado voters must turn in their ballots by 7 p.m. MDT Tuesday in the state’s primary elections to have their vote count in several hotly contested races.
Up for grabs are the governor, secretary of state, U.S. Senate and eight House of Representatives seats, plus state offices. The deadline to mail ballots has already passed, so voters must hand-deliver their votes to one of the state’s 137 voting centers or 437 drop boxes.
More than 783,000 ballots were returned by Tuesday morning, CBS News reported. Voters ages 65 and older have returned 27% of the ballots, with ages 18-24 and 25-34 having ] about 10% of their ballots returned.
Democrats have returned 52% of the ballots and Republicans 35%. The rest have been listed as Libertarian, Unity or other third parties.
U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., is facing a challenge from State Sen. Julie Gonzalez, then will have to run against the lone Republican candidate, State Sen. Mark Baisley, and several third-party candidates.
The governor’s seat will be closely watched as Gov. Jared Polis is at the end of his eight-year term limit. U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser are vying for the Democratic nomination, while State Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer, State Rep. Scott Bottoms and Victor Marx are looking for the Republican nomination.
If Bennet wins the governorship, he will be able to appoint his own replacement in the Senate.
Weiser is also at the end of his term limit, so the race for state attorney general features Democrats Secretary of State Jena Griswold, Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty, consumer protection and workers’ rights attorney David Seligman and Deputy Assistant U.S. Attorney General Heather Doshi.
For Republicans, the candidates include El Paso County District Attorney Michael Allen and David Willson.
Established Democrats are seeing challenges as left-wing progressives have been unseating them. Candidates backed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani have toppled incumbents and established Democrats in New York, South Carolina and Maryland recently.
Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., is fighting to keep her 30-year stint in Congress going against Melot Kiros, a 29-year-old doctoral student and former lawyer who immigrated from Ethiopia as a child. Kiros is backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-R.I.