James Thompson, chairman of the Larimer County Democrats, issued a statement on the dust-up between two candidates in Colorado’s state Senate District 15 primary.

In a Facebook post last week, Rebecca Cranston joined the “Me Too” social media campaign against sexual harassment. She said her primary opponent, former Loveland City Councilman Ralph Trenary, had tried to shame her out of the race because she is a survivor of human trafficking.

Trenary forwarded an e-mail sent to him from a Cranston acquaintance who alleged Cranston was making up parts of her story and exaggerating others. In the forwarded e-mail Trenary told the party official, Carla Massaro, he didn’t want to see the accusations become part of the race and suggested Cranston might drop out quietly.

Cranston told Colorado Politics Sunday she thinks she knows who sent the e-mail to Trenary, but that the person used a fake name. She did not know if Trenary had shared the e-mail with anyone beyond the local party official, but that she was hearing rumors about its contents.

Read our previous reporting here.

Thompson’s statement, approved by the county party’s board, said:

“In early August, a highly questionable email to Ralph Trenary from someone with a fake identity and a clear dislike for and agenda against Rebecca Cranston was shared with me. After talking with both candidates, it was apparent that neither wanted to pursue the issue further. With Rebecca’s knowledge, I shared the email with other board members as an FYI. Other than getting an email update from her attorney later in August, that was the essentially the last we heard about the issue until we saw it on social media last week.

“The Larimer County Democratic Party always has and will remain neutral in Democratic primaries. We work hard to successfully ensure that all our party officials and candidates understand and abide by our bylaws and, just as importantly, the rules of decency and civility. We hope the candidates can work out their differences and continue to positively engage the voters with their message about the need for better representation at the Senate for SD-15.”

Cranston and Trenary are the only Democrats in the race to succeed Republican Sen. Kevin Lundberg, so far. In the GOP primary, Nic Morse, the GOP nominee in Congressional District 2 last year, faces Rob Woodward.