Douglas County's Republican Races Are Decided. The Governor's Primary Is Headed for a Recount Fight.

Douglas County Republicans finished most of their business Tuesday. The governor's race is another story entirely.

Start local, because that is where the results are actually final. In the one contested race that shapes the county's board, Jake Bockenfeld beat John Diak for the District 1 commissioner nomination, and it was not close: roughly 56 to 44. That is a mild surprise. Diak, a Parker town councilman, came in with the establishment resume and the endorsements. Bockenfeld, who had already beaten him at the March county assembly, ran the fiscal-conservative outsider lane and won it again when the whole party got to vote. In a June primary that effectively decides the seat in this red-leaning county, Bockenfeld is now the favorite to be the next District 1 commissioner. He faces Democrat Irene Bonham in November.

The rest of the local ballot held to form. Anthony Hartsook turned back the floor challenge from Bob Davis to keep the House District 44 nomination, 57.5 to 42.5, so the Parker-area seat stays with the incumbent. In the county treasurer's race, Tim Dietz beat Meghann Silverthorn, 61 to 39. Add the uncontested incumbents, Sheriff Darren Weekly, Assessor Toby Damisch, and Clerk Sheri Davis among them, and the county's Republican slate is set.

Then there is the governor's race, which is doing the opposite of settling.

Barb Kirkmeyer leads Victor Marx by about 1,356 votes, 39.9 percent to 39.6, with Scott Bottoms well back at 20 percent. In a race of nearly half a million ballots, that is a margin of roughly three-tenths of a point, and it lands right on the edge of Colorado's recount line. The state orders an automatic recount when the margin falls within half a percent of the leader's total, and this one is hovering just outside that. Which means two things are still very much in motion. Ballots are still being cured, the process where voters fix a signature or other problem so their vote counts, and those come in for about a week, enough to tighten a margin this thin in a hurry. And even if the count holds just outside the automatic trigger, Marx would be well within his rights to request a recount himself. Either way, Douglas County Republicans, and the whole state, may not have a certified nominee for governor for weeks.

That uncertainty is the most important thing on the ballot for anyone trying to read where this county is headed. We wrote after the Democratic results that both primaries seemed to be nudging Douglas County back toward the center, with Democrats picking the more progressive Phil Weiser and Republicans looking ready to hand it to the more electable Kirkmeyer. Half of that is now in doubt. If Marx climbs ahead as the last ballots land, the top of the Republican ticket flips from the establishment lane to the hard right, and paired with Lauren Boebert, who cruised through her uncontested District 4 primary and is locked in as the county's congressional nominee, you have precisely the kind of ticket that can wake up the other side in a suburb that no longer votes red on autopilot. If Kirkmeyer holds, the more familiar, lower-drama version of Douglas County politics stays intact.

In other words, the single closest race on the entire ballot may turn out to be the one that decides how competitive Douglas County actually is this November. We are watching the count, and any recount, closely.

A note on the numbers: results were still being counted and cured as of Wednesday and stay unofficial until certified. You can track every race, and the governor's margin as it moves, on our live results page, and catch up on the Democratic side in our primary night rundown.