Unofficial, preliminary votes updated as of Nov. 9 predict Jeremy Reed will be the new district attorney in the 22nd Judicial District.
The Republican leads the race with 66.07% of the vote in Montezuma County, and 78.13% in Dolores County.
“I’m looking forward to getting back to the DA office and to start working to protect the communities of Montezuma and Dolores counties,” Reed said.
Reed was deputy DA at the office until November 2023, when he was let go after voicing his intentions to run for DA against Hatfield.
Christian Hatfield, the district’s prior DA appointed by Gov. Jared Polis in 2023, got 33.93% of the vote in Montezuma County and 21.87% in Dolores County.
The Democrat had a rough run up to Election Day.
On Aug. 30, Hatfield crashed his SUV near Farmington and was suspected to be under the influence of drugs, alcohol or both when that happened.
Though he has yet to be charged for that crash – the San Juan County sheriff’s Office hasn’t yet received his blood test results – a new case opened up in October after Hatfield was involved in a string of texts in which he criticized a Journal reporter’s beliefs and education, and a retired Durango lawyer made a sexist comment about the reporter, who was included in the text string.
“My immediate priority is to make sure we can continue with services and work on rebuilding trust and confidence in the DA’s office,” said Reed. “That’s important.”
