The El Paso County Board of County Commissioners will likely stay red this year, with Republicans taking the lead against Democrats in each of three open elections.

All three Republican candidates are leading against Democrats in early unofficial results.

In District 3, Republican Bill Wysong has 54.02% of the vote to Democrat Naomi Lopez at 45.98% as of 8:15 p.m.

“It’s a good start,” said Wysong, who said he was waiting to see a larger percentage of votes in his favor this evening.

Both Lopez, a speech pathologist, and Wysong, co-founder of the local wildfire safety advocate group Westside Watch, were hoping to bring change to the five-person governing board for El Paso County by replacing outgoing commissioner Stan VanderWerf.

Due to recent redistricting, the race was projected to be the closest among the three commissioner positions up for election this year. That still holds true with the smallest margins among the commissioner races, though Wysong is currently enjoying a near 10 point lead in preliminary results.

The district includes central and western El Paso County, including Colorado Springs’ west-side and downtown, Manitou Springs, Green Mountain Falls, Palmer Lake, Monument and unincorporated western areas of the county including Ute Pass and areas south of Cheyenne Mountain State Park.

Lopez, who would be the first Latina elected to the board, said she would be bringing more ideological balance to a body that has not elected a Democrat since the 1970s.

Wysong said he would push for public safety as a commissioner, especially when it comes to planning for and preventing wildfires.

In District 4 encompassing parts of southeast El Paso County including Fountain and Security-Widefield, Republican Cory Applegate is taking a lead against Democrat Detra Duncan and unaffiliated candidate Luiz Ybarra Jr., all of whom were vying to replace term-limited Longinos Gonzalez.

As of 8:15 p.m. Applegate had 55.07% of the vote while Duncan was sitting at 37.75%. Ybarra trailed at 7.18%.

Both Applegate and Duncan are current Fountain city council members, while Ybarra is a former competitive boxer.

In District 2, incumbent Carrie Geitner is taking a commanding lead over Democratic challenger Bernard Byers. The district encompasses part of east Colorado Springs, along with Cimarron Hills, Falcon, Peyton, Calhan and Ramah.

At 8:20 p.m., Geitner had a 64.02% share of the vote.