Primary Night Live Blog

8: 03 p.m. The Rocky Mountain News has called the District 2 Democratic primary for Mark Ferrandino.

Analysis: This was expected: opponent James Johnson, Jr. hasn't run much of a campaign

8:19 p.m. The Rocky has also called the state House District 22 Democratic primary for Camille Ryckman.

Analysis: Another easy call. Opponent Vince Chowdhury stopped campaigning weeks ago after pleading guilty to assault charges for slapping his daughter.

8:35 p.m. The Rocky Mountain News has called the state House District 15 GOP primary for Joshua Sharf.

Analysis: Sinclair was placed on the ballot at the Denver County GOP assembly not expecting a challenger. When Sharf petitioned onto the ballot and attacked her as being anti-Israel, Sinclair became somewhat disillusioned and didn't run as energetic of a campaign.

8:47 p.m. Jeff Crank has conceded the 5th Congressional District GOP race to Doug Lamborn, the Colorado Springs Gazette is reporting.

Analysis: The most important development of the night so far, even if it's not the most surprising. Lamborn was favored to win in the three-candidate race, and was the undisputed favorite after an attempt by Crank and Bentley Rayburn to strike a deal that would get one of them out of the race broke down last month.

Crank told the Gazette that he has no plans to run again after losing two consecutive primaries to Lamborn.

9:09 p.m. Sue Schafer and Dave Ruchman are neck-and-neck in the state House District 24 race. With 90 percent reporting, Schafer leads Ruchman by 31 votes: 2,061 to 2,030.

Analysis: The race was supposed to be too close to call, but this is about as close as it gets.

9:13 p.m. Lauri Clapp is poised to win the SD-26 GOP primary over Jerry Call. Clapp has 68 percent of the vote with 96 percent of the vote in.

Analysis: A big win for Clapp.

9:27 p.m. Lois Court has won HD-6 Democratic primary, as Liz Adams has called to concede. Josh Hanfling, the third candidate in the race, is well behind Court. Outgoing House Speaker Andrew Romanoff and outgoing Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon have stopped by Court's victory party to congratulate her.

With 79 percent of the vote in, Court leads with 45 percent. Adams has 38 percent and Hanfling has 18 percent.

9:31 p.m. Asked by PolitickerCO.com about his quote in the Colorado Springs Gazette that he had no plans to run again, Jeff Crank hesitated.

"(The Gazette reporter) asked if I was going to run in two years or something, and I said, 'Look, I haven't -- tonight is Doug's night. It's for him to decide what he's going to do. You know, it's for him to celebrate his victory and this isn't the night for me to decide what my next move is.

"My next move is to finish up here and go home and go to bed," Crank said.

9:41 p.m. Mike Coffman gives a victory speech in the Republican primary in the 6th Congressional District.

"This is the first phase and not the final end, and there is still an election in November and we need all your help," Coffman said, according to the Rocky Mountain News. "Tonight we celebrate what we have put behind us, and that is the Republican primaries."

10:06 p.m. The Rocky Mountain News has called the SD-35 Democratic primary for Joyce Foster over Alice Borodkin.

With 71 percent of votes tabulated, Foster has 70 percent of the vote.

Analysis: This was Foster's margin of victory in the assembly. Many expected it to be closer, but insiders predicted a Foster win like this.

10:28 p.m. Joan Fitz-Gerald has conceded to Jared Polis in the 2nd Congressional District Democratic primary, according to Square State.

No official announcement has been made yet, but it looks like a come-from-behind win for Polis. Fitz-Gerald was favored because of her GOTV efforts. Polis was behind early, but came back strong with large ad campaign.

10:32 p.m. The Rocky Mountain News has called the CO-2 Democratic primary for Jared Polis.

10:33 p.m. A huge upset down south, as Ed Vigil is set to trounce Rocky White in the HD-62 Democratic primary. White dominated both Vigil and the incumbent state Rep. Rafael Gallegos in the HD-62 Democratic assembly and was the heavy favorite, but Vigil, a Costilla County Commissioner, is winning by a 2-1 margin over White with 89 percent of precincts reporting.

10:50 p.m. Carole Murray looks like a winner in the HD-45 GOP primary against Mark Sievers. With 92 percent of votes in, Murray has 61 percent of the vote.

Sievers, from rural Teller County, had an uphill battle against Murray, known in populous Douglas County from her days as DougCo Clerk and Recorder.

10:53 p.m. Douglas Bruce is out, says the Rocky Mountain News. Mark Waller, an attorney and officer in the Air Force reserves, triumphed over the TABOR author, who attracted controversy like a light attracts mosquitoes during the 2008 legislative session.

With 24 percent of the vote in, Waller leads Bruce with 54 percent.

Many insiders predicted Bruce would pull out the victory, but apparently HD-15 voters had enough of the bad press Bruce generated. 

11:04 p.m. Beth McCann will win the state House District 8 Democratic race by a surprisingly large margin.

With 69 percent of the vote in, McCann has 50 percent of the vote. Matt Bergles is polling 30.6 percent, while Cindy Lowery has 19.4 percent.

The race was expected to be one of the closest in the state.  

11:07 p.m. Joe Miklosi has pulled out a victory, as expected, over Paul Rosenthal in the state House District 9 Democratic primary.

Miklosi has a lead of 58.4 percent to 41.6 percent with 69 percent of the votes in.

11:17 p.m. U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, fresh off a primary win tonight, is ready to debate Democratic opponent Hal Bidlack this fall.

Lamborn told PolitickerCO.com he plans to issue a debate challenge to Bidlack tomorrow.

"I take (Bidlack's) challenge very seriously," Lamborn said. "I do think that when we start to talk about the issues, his stands will not be as popular with the voters as the stands that I take on the issues."

Bidlack spokesperson Christy Le Lait said the Democratic nominee would welcome the chance to debate Lamborn.

"(Bidlack) would like to debate in all the counties at least once, and hopefully several times in El Paso County," Le Lait said.

Lamborn had declined to debate his two GOP primary opponents.

12:07 a.m. Bill Hammons, the 2nd Congressional District Unity Party candidate, released a statement congratulating Jared Polis on his primary win.

"I congratulate Jared on his primary victory this evening.  I'll be sending him a Facebook friend request as a Gen-X gesture of goodwill, and I look forward to facing him next Tuesday at the Thornton-Northglenn Rotary Club debate.  I invite the media to cover that opening round of what promises to be the closest storyline to Rocky we'll ever witness in American politics.

"Or is that Rocky II?"

SPOILER ALERT: Rocky II, of course, featured an unknown fighter who rises to the top and -- unlike the first movie -- actually wins the championship. No word from Hammons if the analogy extends to Rocky III, where Polis would apparently be the counterpart of Mr. T.

12:30 a.m. The El Paso County Republican Party leadership issued a press release late Tuesday night asking that "all Republicans come together and, with a spirit of unity, set aside differences and work hard for John McCain and Bob Schaffer in the General Election."

One candidate never mentioned in the release: Doug Lamborn. Certainly Lamborn's chances in the general election are seen as being better than either Bob Schaffer's or John McCain's at this point. But it's no secret that there's little spirit of unity between Lamborn and the county GOP leadership these days.