Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Coats is retiring in January 2021, when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 72. Coats joined the court in 2000 after being appointed by Gov. Bill Owens (R). Before that, he was an appellate deputy district attorney for the Colorado 2nd Judicial District from 1986 to 2000. He was the…
Initiative #306 was certified for the ballot on August 17, 2020. The Colorado Secretary of State’s office found that, of the 198,538 signatures that were submitted, 140,058 were projected to be valid. To qualify for the ballot, 124,632 valid signatures were required. The initiative would decrease the state income tax rate for individuals, estates, and…
Sponsors of five additional initiatives submitted signatures to the Secretary of State’s office by the August 3 deadline. To join the four citizen-initiated measures and three legislative referrals already certified for the November 2020 ballot, 126,632 valid signatures are required. Sponsors of Initiative #257 submitted more than 200,000 signatures on July 28 to qualify a…
Local Choice Colorado, sponsors of Initiative #257, reported submitting over 200,000 signatures to the Secretary of State’s office on July 28. To qualify for the November ballot, 124,632 valid signatures are required by August 3. The secretary of state verifies signatures through a random sample of 5% of submitted signatures. If the sampling projects between…
On Friday, July 24, 2020, Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) announced that he would oppose ballot measures related to oil and gas in 2020 and 2022 on both sides to allow Senate Bill 181 of 2019 to take full effect. SB 181 was designed to make changes to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission,…
A recall election seeking to remove Lance FitzGerald from his position as Ouray County Sheriff in Colorado was approved by voters with 92.8% of the vote on June 30, 2020, according to unofficial election night results. Justin Perry (unaffiliated) defeated Ted Wolfe (R) in the election to replace FitzGerald. The election was conducted by mail-in…
Lauren Boebert defeated incumbent U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton (R) in the Republican primary for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District. As of 9:15 p.m. Mountain Time on June 30, Boebert had received 54% of the vote to Tipton’s 46% with 85% of precincts reporting. Tipton is the fifth member of the U.S. House to lose renomination this…
Former state Rep. Diane Mitsch Bush defeated James Iacino, the executive chairman of the Seattle Fish Company, to win the Democratic nomination in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District. As of 8:00 p.m. Mountain Time on June 30, Bush had received 61% of the vote to Iacino’s 39% with 69% of precincts reporting. Both candidates said their…
Former Gov. John Hickenlooper defeated former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff to win the Democratic nomination to challenge Sen. Cory Gardner (R) in the November general election. As of 7:30 p.m. Mountain Time on June 30, Hickenlooper had received 60% of the vote to Romanoff’s 40% with 58% of precincts reporting. The Colorado Sun described…
The statewide primaries for Colorado, Oklahoma, and Utah are on June 30, 2020. The filing deadline to run passed in March for Colorado and Utah and in April for Oklahoma. One U.S. Senate seat and seven U.S. House seats are up for election in Colorado. A Democratic and Republican primary is being held for each…