Beth McCann

Cindy Lowery

With Denver Democratic Party Chair Jennifer Coken stepping down next February to focus on a state legislative campaign, former State House District 8 candidate Cindy Lowery is the frontrunner to succeed her.

Coken said she won't seek a second two-year term as chair because she's planning to run for state House District 4 in 2010, when incumbent state Rep. Jerry Frangas (D-Denver) must step down because of term limits.

Lowery, a Denver attorney and the former president of the Denver Young Democrats, said she's "pretty sure" she has the chairmanship wrapped up, as she's been gathering support for her candidacy since shortly after her August primary loss to state Rep.-elect Beth McCann (D-Denver).

Colorado has 15 competitive state House primaries tomorrow, though some are more competitive than others.

The most interesting and competitive Democratic races to watch are in the 6th and 8th state House Districts, while the 15th state House District race between Douglas Bruce and Mark Waller headlines the GOP primary battles.

Even less-competitive races are still intriguing: Take the HD-6 GOP race between Palestinian activist Rima Sinclair and Orthodox Jewish blogger Joshua Sharf, where foreign policy has become a major issue in a state legislative race.