Larry Don Suckla got off to a big early lead Tuesday in Montezuma County for the Republican primary election for State House Representative for District 58 in the early round of results.
The lead didn’t last for long, though. As of 9 p.m., Suckla was behind in the districtwide vote, with less than 49% of the votes. J. Mark Roeber was ahead with 51.44% of votes for the Republican Party, securing 5,643 votes. Democrat Kathleen Curry had 5,506 votes.
On Friday, the latest count gave Roeber the victory, with 50.16% of the vote, to Suckla’s 49.84%.
In Montezuma County, the Republican race for the Colorado 3rd Congressional District appeared to be between Ron Hanks and Jeff Hurd.
But The Associated Press called the race for Hurd at 8:15 p.m. He had secured 42% of the 75,000 ballots counted across the district. Former state Rep. Ron Hanks, the most far right of the six candidates, was in second with 28% of the votes.
Hurd, the winner in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, will face Democrat Adam Frisch for the U.S. House seat in November.
Hurd said his focus will be on the United States’ southern border, economic improvement, and water and agricultural protections in response to questions drawn from a Voters Voices 2024 survey.
Hanks did not respond to the questions posed to the six candidates last week.
According to Frisch’s website, his priorities include border security and immigration, water, energy, and reproductive rights, among others.
Jeff Hurd received a total of $1.067 million in individual contributions as of June 5. His total disbursements were reported at $847,969, according to the Federal Election Commission’s website.
The FEC reported Hanks’ receipts as $22,910 in individual contributions. His total disbursements were $7,438.
The FEC reported Hurd’s receipts as $1.067,662 in individual contributions. His total disbursements were reported at $847,969.
Frisch received a total of $13,174,631 in individual contributions, according to the FEC His disbursements total at $9,769,839.
As of Friday, Larry Don Suckla narrowly lost the race for state representative in District 58 after garnering 49.84% of the vote, compared with 50.16% by J. Mark Roeber, or 6,384 votes to 6,425 votes for the winner.
Suckla, from Montezuma County, made it on the ballot with a 59.5% vote from the Colorado State Assembly in Pueblo in April.
Suckla served two terms as Montezuma County Commissioner from 2012 to 2020. He told a Journal reporter that his experience serving will aid him in running and if he is elected.
One reason for his run, Suckla said, is his daughter Delta, who recently graduated high school.
“I don’t like the trajectory of the way that Colorado politics are going, and I want to try to change that,” Suckla said.
“What I’m seeing is the chipping away at freedoms,” Suckla said. “I believe that when I was my daughter’s age, 30 years ago, I had a lot more freedoms than she has right now.”
Suckla is also a retired volunteer firefighter and EMT from Lewis Arriola, and an auctioneer. He also has experience in logging, building and landscaping.
Other issues that remain at the forefront of Suckla’s campaign are Colorado water rights, private property rights, agriculture and the Second Amendment.
“My No. 1 priority is to defend our rural values, regardless of party affiliation,” Suckla said.
Suckla also wants to focus on easing business regulations and creating a community where young people want to continue living.
“I want our kids to stay here,” Suckla said. “I understand they go to college, but then I want them to come back and live in Cortez, and I want them to raise their families here.”
Christian Hatfield, unchallenged in the Democratic primary for the district attorney in the 22nd Judicial District secured 1,424 votes in Montezuma County. His opponent, Republican Jeremy Reed, has 2,719 votes in the county.
Districtwide, Reed received with 3,023 votes as of Friday. Hatfield received 1,468 votes.
Gov. Jared Polis appointed Christian Hatfield as the District Attorney for 22nd Judicial District in Dolores and Montezuma counties in April 2023.
According to a news release at the time, Hatfield owns Hatfield & Eley Law Firm in Durango, a position he has held since 2018. He also serves part-time as the municipal prosecutor for the city of Durango, and has 28 years of experience as a litigation attorney and a government attorney.
During his short time in office, he has cleared several of the district’s homicide cases. He also was proud of staff hiring and retention, he told a Journal reporter in April.
“So for about six months, there were only two real attorneys in the office and they didn’t have the capacity to try serious felony cases, so the Attorney General’s Office was running the office,” Hatfield told The Journal.
He is running against former Deputy DA Jeremy Reed, who was let go from the District Attorney’s office after informing his opponent of his intention to run.
Reed moved to Cortez in 2016 from Aurora, where he ran a law firm focusing on family law and criminal defense. In the time since, he has fallen “in love” with the area, and wants to continue serving the community.
“I spent those seven years building relationships with all of the people involved in criminal justice process, law enforcement, other attorneys and the defense bar. I think I got positioned to do well in the position and marshal those relationships, making sure we’re doing the absolute best we can to protect our community and make it safer every day,” he said.
Republican Sherri Wright of Cortez received 64,608 votes in primary race for Colorado’s State Board of Education for District 3. She will face Democrat Ellen Angeles, who received 46,617 votes. Wright is the incumbent to the position.
The race for the Democrat at-large Regent of the University of Colorado was close in early voting on Tuesday, but Elliot Hood secured 52.13%, or 226,869 votes, to win. Charles “CJ” Johnson has 47.87, or 208,341.
Republican Eric Rinard, running unopposed, garnered 373,138 votes.
As for the regent of Colorado District 3, Democrat Robert B. Logan had 45,226 votes. His opponent in November, Republican Ray Scott, had 54,534 votes.
Republican candidate Cleave Simpson, running unopposed, garnered 14,478 votes, while Democrat Vivian Smotherman, also running unopposed, garnered 12,897.
As of Friday, Kent Lindsay had 2,923 votes in the Montezuma County Commissioners race. He ran in District 2 unopposed.
Gerald Koppenhafer ran in District 3, and received 3,050 votes. He also ran unopposed.
Lindsay served two terms as commissioner from 1997-2005. He was elected in 2020 for District 2. This will be his last term until he reaches term limit.
Koppenhafer succeeded late Commissioner Joel Stevenson in 2022 after Stevenson passed from a COVID-19-related illness. He previously served two terms as commissioner. He was reelected in the general elections in November 2022.
According to Colorado’s Tracer, Koppenhafer did not file financial information for this race. Lindsay’s filing from June 21 reported no expenditures.
As of Friday, voter turnout in Montezuma County was 28.48%, or 5,350 ballots cast out of 18.785 active voters. Dolores County turnout was 37.44%, or 617 ballots cast out of 1,648 active voters.
