One can imagine William F. Buckley looking down from heaven exhibiting that toothy grin he was known for, in satisfaction at the results of the Colorado primaries Tuesday.

One of the major accomplishments of the late patriarch of American conservatism, among many other things, was his expulsion of the fringe-types from the conservative movement in the early 1960s — the John Birchers, the segregationists, the Ayn Randers and so forth — which helped to coalesce the movement and allow it to achieve remarkable political success in the latter half of the last century.

So it stands to reason he would be pleased with most of this week’s results.

This year’s primaries were, by and large, a win for temperate moderation, and a rejection of extremist excess in both parties.

Starting at the top, the congressional district races, the excitement was pretty much entirely on the Republican side. Most of that excitement was centered on Dave Williams, the embattled Colorado Republican Party chair. The party of Williams broke with reason and tradition and actively promoted fringe candidates in each of the contested Congressional primaries, as well as a few down-ballot races. Among the Congressional fringe candidates they back was Williams himself, running against Jeff Crank for he CD5 seat vacated by a retiring U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn.

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Williams lost that race, and embarrassingly, by nearly a 2-to-1 margin. And rightly so. Crank is hardly a “liberal” Republican; one may be hard-pressed to say he’s a moderate, depending on how that term is used these days. What he is is a solid conservative, on every issue, foreign and domestic. Crank brings an impressive amount of experience to the contest, having served as a longtime aide to former U.S. Rep. Joel Hefley (who in turn served on the House Armed Services Committee, an assignment that is rather important to CD-5 with its four military bases and smattering of smaller installations.) Couple that with his wealth of experience on economic issues, and Crank will make for an outstanding replacement to Lamborn.

Similar story over in the 3rd CD, where Jeff Hurd trounced Ron Hanks, despite some of the Democratic Party’s most effective donors — including Rocky Mountain Values super-PAC and the Colorado Republican Party — desperately promoting Hanks. This district is generally so conservative the primary is the de facto election; this time around the primary determined whether the general would be competitive or not. Had Hanks pulled it off, there was an extraordinarily good chance Adam Frisch, the moderate Democrat who very nearly unseated Lauren Boebert last time, could prevail. Hurd — a young, bright attorney boasting an intelligently conservative temperament, and a family man married to a lovely young woman whose own story of growing up in the communist bloc before immigrating to America is a compelling and inspiring one — will make a fine congressman, assuming he can overcome Frisch’s millions, made mostly while Frisch was still gearing up for the rematch with Boebert. The numbers suggest Hurd probably will.

Rounding out the Congressional primaries that the fringe lost, is the most competitive one the state, CD8. Gabe Evans, about whom I wrote a few weeks ago in this space, obliterated Janak Joshi, setting up what may well be one of the most closely watched House races in the country. Strike three for the Gang of Williams.

Of course, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, who currently represents CD-3, won in CD-4, which was largely expected. The congresswoman brings with her something of a celebrity status, not to mention a considerable campaign account. The story there is she won with a plurality of only something around 43% of the vote, not surprising in a 6-way primary, where the other five split the not-Boebert vote. Still, her closest rival, Jerry Sonnenberg, only made it to 17%. There has been talk about how if she won that seat a Democrat could conceivably take it in a general, seeing as how most of the votes in the district are not on the rural plains, but in the suburban areas. Perhaps, but probably not this time. Ike McCorkle appeared to be the best chance for that, but he lost, somewhat surprisingly, to Trisha Calvarese. And if the respective turnout numbers are any indication the strength of the Republican brand in the district, something of a biblical nature would have to happen for Boebert to lose it.

Most of the excitement on the Democratic side came in legislative races. Happily, Elisabeth Epps and Tim Hernandez are going to have to pursue the revolution in environs other than the State Capitol. In the Senate, a few races provided a degree of personal satisfaction, including Lindsey Daugherty defeating Obi Ezeadi, and Larry Liston crushing his Dave Williams-annointed opponent.

One lingering question is: What does Dave Williams do now? His credibility and effectiveness as state GOP leader, already seriously in doubt, has now been shattered. It is difficult to see him endorse those Republican candidates he previously vilified as “RINOs”— difficult, for instance, to imagine him offering the type of support to Crank that would be expected of the party chair. On the other hand, the sin of pride is strong, and resistant to reason.

So overall, a good night for Colorado, and for those who tire of ideological radicalism, left or right. And it was also a good night for those who value custom and convention. For, as Russel Kirk put it, they “(check) both upon man’s anarchic impulse and upon the innovator’s lust for power.”

Kelly Sloan is a political and public affairs consultant and a recovering journalist based in Denver.