Coloradans – and Americans across the country – today will decide the fate of campaigns, notably the races for U.S. Senate and governor, and decide which party controls the government's legislative branches.

Today's elections will define the next policy agenda in Washington, D.C., as well as at the Colorado state Capitol. 

Follow Colorado Politics, The Denver Gazette and The Colorado Springs Gazette here for live updates.  

LATEST: Associated Press calls races for Colorado incumbents, Pettersen retains CD7 for Dems

Nearly two hours after polls closed in Colorado, the Associated Press called a handful of races on behalf of congressional incumbents.

Voters chose to send U.S. Reps. Joe Neguse, Jason Crow, Diana DeGette, Doug Lamborn and Ken Buck back to Washington. State Sen. Brittany Pettersen was also declared victorious by the AP, keeping the district held by retiring U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter under Democratic control.  

Burton Brown concedes results 'not what we wanted to see', O'Dea addresses GOP crowd

"The results tonight are not what we wanted to see," said GOP Chair Kristi Burton Brown in addressing the the Republican watch party at the Doubletree Hotel in Greenwood Village. 

O'Dea told the crowd, this isn't the speech he planned on giving.

"It's been an incredibly rewarding journey. We are very disapointed with tonight's results.

The outcome is a tough pill to swallow. But that's life in the big city. We fought hard. We stayed true to our core, beliefs and values. It didn't work out. But I don't have any regrets.

I hope Bennet will lean into his commitments he made during the campaign.

People are struggling. Our leaders need to elevate themselves. I hope Bennet will use his seat for the good of this state, all four corners. Colorado matters."

O'Dea calls Bennet to concede U.S. Senate race

The O'Dea campaign tells Colorado Politics its candidate has called Sen. Michael Bennet to concede: "He congratulated him on the hard race and asked Bennet to embrace some of the themes of the campaign, specifically immigration reform."

Democrats poised to hold onto state Senate majority

While Democrats were expected to lose a few State senate seats on Tuesday night, early election returns show they will likely hang onto their majority with no trouble.

In Senate District 20, for one, state Rep. Lisa Cutter of Littleton, who was the first Democrat ever elected to House District 25, appears headed to the state Senate to represent this Jefferson County district.

As of 8 p.m., Cutter held a 12-percentage point lead over her opponent, Tim Walsh of Golden. 

Frisch expands lead over Boebert in latest round of updates

Democratic challenger Adam Frisch expanded his lead over Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, with the gap between the candidates growing from roughly 5 points to 15 points in the latest round of updates.

Just over a quarter of ballots in the district have been counted.

Polis declares victory

NBC calls governor's race for Polis

Nearly an hour after polls closed in Colorado, NBC News became the latest media outlet to call the state's governor's race for incumbent Democrat Jared Polis.

Colorado Politics only declares races decided after the Associated Press makes a call. More information on that organization's process can be found here.

Media calls of races are unofficial.

Lines at Denver mobile polling center, but everyone in good spirits

Long lines and about one hour of wait time later and Denver voters like John Moore, Sierra Bentley and Quentin Kolb dropped off their ballots at the Emily Griffith Technical College, 18th and Lincoln streets. All three were happy with their experiences, despite the wait.

“Everyone in line and the workers were so friendly, and it was just awesome,” Moore said.

Bently and her husband Kolb had similar praises for the experience, Bently calling it “really good.” She also noted the importance of voting, calling back to the suffragette movement and recent developments.

“Every voice matters,” Bentley said. “Voting is important because everyone should have a say on what happens in their community.”

Adam Frisch takes early lead over Lauren Boebert in CD3

Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert and Democratic challenger Adam Frisch were running nearly neck-and-neck as initial returns posted in Colorado's 3rd Congressional District.

In early results, Frisch held a 5-point lead over Boebert with 52.7% of the vote to the Republican's 47.3%.

Magic mushroom poised to pass 

The battle to decriminalize hallucinogenic compounds in magic mushrooms is ahead, the early and unofficial election returns on Tuesday night show.

About 40,000 votes separated the yes and no campaigns, with plenty of votes still left to be counted.   

If passed by voters, Prop 122 would make "magic mushrooms" — more specifically the hallucinogenic compounds psilocybin and psilocin — legally accessible to individuals 21 years or older, to be administered mostly at state licensed healing centers, under rules to be promulgated by the state Department of Regulatory Agencies.

So far, 512,855 voters said “yes,” while 471,011 voted “no” to Proposition 122.

Alcohol-related campaigns struggle 

Two of the campaigns to expand the sale and delivery of alcohol appear to be flailing, the early and unofficial results on Tuesday night show.

Propositions 126, 125 and 124 aim to, respectively, allow third-party companies to deliver alcohol from restaurants, bars and liquor stores; permit grocery and convenience stores that sell beer to also sell wine; and, gradually eliminate the limit on liquor stores operated by one person or business.

So far, Propositions 124 and 126 are trailing, while Proposition 125 is slightly ahead.

Here's the vote breakdown so far: 

Prop 124: 331,725 yes, 497,203 no 

Prop 125: 422,152 yes, 413,134 no

Prop 126: 403,360 yes, 429,962 no

Brittany Petersen leads over Erik Aadland in Colorado's 7th CD

Democratic State Sen. Brittany Pettersen jumped out to a commanding lead over Republican Erik Aadland shortly after polls closed in Colorado.

As of 7:22 p.m. with 63% of the ballots counted, Pettersen led by 23 points, with 60.6% of the vote as compared to 37.6% for Aadland. 

Polis, Bennet lead early count

Both U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Democratic Gov. Jared Polis jumped to an early lead over Republican challengers Joe O'Dea and Heidi Ganahl, respectively, the early and unofficial results on Tuesday night show.

Bennet so far secured roughly 312,000 votes, compared to O'Dea's 166,000. 

Polis also led with 325,000 votes, while Ganahl so far secured 154,000.  

LATEST: Fox News calls governor's race for Polis

Moments after the polls closed in Colorado, Fox News called the governor's race in favor of Jared Polis, the incumbent Democrat. 

Colorado Politics only declares races decided after the Associated Press makes a call. More information on that organization's process can be found here.

Media calls of races are unofficial.

Boulder County's recorder assures voters they can cast a ballot

The Boulder County Clerk & Recorder’s Office assures voters that they can cast a ballot so long as they're in line by 7 p.m.

"Voting continues!Get that ballot in by 7pm to any dropbox or go vote in person at a Vote Center - just be in line by 7pm! Bring ID," the office's Twitter account says.

GOP election night party underway at the Doubletree in Greenwood Village

Pam Anderson, the GOP candidate for Secretary of State, told Colorado Politics: "I love it when voters are voting. As an election official for the last 20 years, Election Day is always a good day."

Anderson said she went everywhere she was invited. She'd talk about her campaign for 10 minutes and answer questions for the next 90.

"I saw hearts and minds change as they learned more about the election process. What really resonated with them was they wanted to see a fair referee," she said.

Also in the building, GOP candidates Barb Kirkmeyer (CD8), John Kellner (attorney general) and Lang Sias (treasurer). Kristi Burton Brown, the state GOP chair, also is mingling with the press at this hour, with roughly a half hour before the polls closed. 

Colorado Springs voting center sees long lines

Ballot tally clears 2 million

The Colorado Secretary of State's Office reports that as of 3:30 p.m., 2,039,527 ballots have been returned.

That means just over 53.2% of Colorado's 3.83 million active registered voters have cast a ballot so far. Around 39.1% of ballots returned are from unaffiliated voters, followed by 30.8% from Democrats and 28.8% from Republicans.

Long waits reported at some Denver polling centers

The City and County of Denver tweeted at 4:45 p.m. "You may experience long wait times if you are voting tonight." 

The tweet linked to a list of polling centers and estimated wait times on DenverVotes.org/voterinfo.

The longest appeared to be at the mobile polling station at the Emily Griffith Technical College off 18th and Lincoln streets, which was 58 minutes at 5:10 p.m.

Voters drop ballots to election workers at the Emily Griffith Technical College

North High School also reported 29 minute waits. Most of the stations were between no wait, and 9 minutes. 

Everyone who is in line at 7 p.m. will be allowed to vote.

Over half a million ballots roll in Tuesday

As of 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, 1,869,507 ballots have been returned in Colorado, according to the Secretary of State's Office. That is up over 530,000 ballots since Monday — the highest daily gain since early voting began on Oct. 24.

That means just over 48.8% of Colorado's 3.83 million active registered voters have cast a ballot so far. Around 38.8% of ballots returned are from unaffiliated voters, followed by 31.2% from Democrats and 28.8% from Republicans.

No major problems at voting centers 

The election so far appears to be going smoothly, according to state election officials.  

"We are not aware of any (problems) at this time," Jack Todd, a spokesperson for the Secretary of State's Office, said.

A blue island? 

The results tonight will affirm whether Colorado is, indeed, the blue island in what many expect to be a red wave. Some, like veteran politico Dick Wadhams, are skeptical of the polling data. "I suppose that these polls have shown that Democrats will win. They might be right," he said. "I just don’t think they are."

Latinos' unrealized potential 

This story delves into the potential of the Latino vote to shape elections. 

“There's still a lot of unrealized potential,”  Celeste Montoya, a University of Colorado professor researching how marginalized communities mobilize to enact change, said. “While they have the potential to make a substantial difference in elections, an important means of doing that is making sure that they're engaged, that they're mobilized, that they make it to the polls.”

ELECTION 2022 | The 'unrealized potential’ of Latino voters in Colorado elections

Voter guide 

As a public service, we compiled this guide to help you and hope that you find this guide informative and useful in your electoral decisions this November.    

The Colorado Politics voter guide, a public service

(0) comments

Welcome to the discussion.

Post a comment as Guest

Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.

Post a comment
Stop watching this discussion.