We’re ready to make a call in Colorado’s primary election and the clear winner is the open primary system.

We’ve had open primaries for a few years here in Colorado, but it really shined in the 2022 primary election, primarily on the Republican side, where there were many more contested seats than on the Democratic side.

The open primary concept is simple. Democrats vote in the Democratic primary. Republicans vote in the Republican primary. Unaffiliated voters get both ballots and choose one or the other to vote in.

We’ve backed this system for a number of reasons in the past. One obvious reason is it gives all Colorado voters a voice in the primary. Unaffiliated voters are the largest group of voters in Colorado, out-numbering both Democrats and Republicans, and deserve to have their preferences taken into account.

We’ve also hoped the system would be a moderating factor in our primary elections, allowing more mainstream candidates to have a foothold in the primary system, which in recent years has seen more politically extreme candidates put forth. That seems to have been the case in this week’s primary.

In race after race, the candidate who promised to work across the aisle, welcome in voters who wouldn’t traditionally support their candidacy or simply perform the job they are applying for in a professional, competent manner, won.

You can look to Republican Senate candidate Joe O’Dea’s victory speech for an example of this. While he does use some fiery rhetoric to take on his general election opponent, Sen. Michael Bennet — it is still a race after all — he goes out of his way to talk to voters of all stripes. He even promises not to be “owned” by either party.

“It’s Trump Republicans, GOP Republicans, Log Cabin Republicans, pro-life Republicans, pro-choice Republicans, Independents, parents, police, seniors, veterans, unions, farmers, rural, urban, and suburban voters and, yes, even disenchanted Democrats.

“Our campaign has a big tent and there’s room for more.

“It’s a coalition of people who don’t agree on every issue every time, but we are united in a deep and abiding love of our country, and a profound belief that America is so much better than what we’ve become,” O’Dea said in his speech.

The Republicans could use more of this type of inclusivity. It’s what is going to give them their best chance in November to beat the Democrats who have come to dominate state politics in recent years. Having one party dominate elections is not healthy for us as a state. We need two parties that can compete and compromise and deliver for Colorado. We won’t get that with extreme candidates that do nothing but demonize the other side.

If the open primary was the winner, then the clear loser has to be the Big Lie. Candidates who embraced the 2020 election conspiracy lost. None is a better example than our own Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters, who finished third and did not win Mesa County.

We may be getting too optimistic, but it appears many in the Colorado GOP and their unaffiliated voters are sick of this nonsense. We certainly are.

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel editorial board