The Centrist Project, a national group working to elect independent candidates to the Colorado Legislature, on Wednesday cheered the re-election of Thornton City Councilman Sam Nizam, one of three municipal candidates the group supported around the state in this week’s election.

“Sam’s victory shows the electorate is ready to rally around common sense, independent leaders,” said Nick Troiano, executive director of the Centrist Project, in a statement.

Troiano said the group looks forward to building on Nizam’s win in next year’s election, when as many as a dozen independent legislative candidates could have its backing.

Nizam, the founder and former owner of Booze Barn Liquors, won a second term on the council with 38.5 percent of the vote in a three-way contest.

“Support from the Centrist Project was instrumental in my victory,” Nizam said in a statement. “Thanks in large part to the infrastructure and resources they provided, I can continue to serve my constituents free from the constraints of partisan politics.”

Andrew Short, state political director for the Centrist Project, called Nizam’s win a harbinger of its efforts in next year’s election.

“We’ve assembled the talent, tools, and technology to level the playing field for independent candidates, and we look forward to scaling our operations next year,” Short said.

The Centrist Project set up its national headquarters in Denver earlier this year with an aim toward building a campaign infrastructure to help elect enough independent legislators to swing control of the General Assembly.

Although Colorado has 1.3 million unaffiliated voters – slightly more than the number of Democrats or Republicans – state voters have never elected an independent candidate to the Legislature. Polling conducted this summer for the Centrist Project shows an overwhelming majority of Colorado voters open to voting for independent legislative candidates in next year’s election.

“This is meant to be a platform for people who want to run and serve independently, which in our view means you put your state ahead of any party, you follow the facts to get things done. That’s our litmus test for being independent,” Troiano told Colorado Politics, discussing the group’s plans to field legislative candidates.

City elections in Colorado are nonpartisan – political parties don’t play a role in nominating candidates, and party affiliation doesn’t appear on ballots – but few candidates are registered unaffiliated and emphasize that in their campaign material, like Nizam.

The Centrist Project also got behind Manitou Springs Mayor Nicole Nicoletta and Lakewood City Council candidate Charles Davis, who both lost their elections.

While the group only spent less than $500 on a digital ad for Davis, it spent nearly $8,000 on glossy mailings to support Nicoletta, according to a spokesman for the group and a report filed with the Colorado secretary of state. The group provided campaign support for Nizam, but its independent spending to boost his candidacy was under $1,000, a spokesman said.