MARILYN GLEASON: Last night, the anticipated blue wave proved to be a tidal wave in Garfield County in Western Colorado, as in conservative strongholds across the nation. Close to home, the Garfield County Board of Commissioners race was notable for choosing the first Democrat the three-member board has seen in decades. With votes counted, former Glenwood Springs Town Council member and mayor Jonathan Godes edged his Republican opponent, Eric Rudd, by six point five percentage points in unofficial results. At the Democratic watch party in Newcastle last night, Godes told KDNK's Amy Hadden Marsh how he would parlay his minority position on the board.
JONATHAN GODES: So when you're in the minority, I think your role is — the minority have their say, and the majority has their way. And the biggest thing you can do, the most important thing you can do is say, "I don't agree with this. I don't like where this is going. But if you will take this down 10% or take this up 20% or just play around on the edges, I will vote for it." You might not even like voting for it, but you do it so that you can get a slightly better product and work with the majority. You know, that's how I want to, in theory. Again, it's really early in the night. But in theory, that's how I would like to serve this community because it's all about service. It's all about working for the people of Garfield County.
GLEASON: The Republican watch party at the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs hosted a crowd of about 50 party loyalists. Eyeing the Republican losses statewide and beyond, party chair Spencer Thomas praised the integrity of local races and candidates.
SPENCER THOMAS: And it's an uphill climb, no question about it, you know, both from ballot measures and actually, you know, those candidates who are fighting to stay... the incumbents trying to stay in office there in Congress and in the US House of Representatives especially. So yeah, we gotta wait and see. There's, you know, a fair bit of percentage yet to go. It's been a long election season here.
MIKE LEMMER: What are your thoughts on the overall season here and on the candidates that Garfield County was able to field?
THOMAS: Yeah, I'm really excited. I've said this in a number of media outlets: how excited I am about the quality of candidates that we fielded here locally. You know, all the way from our county commissioner, you know, through to the local Senate district, you know, that is the Colorado Senate district and then the House District 57. Really enthusiastic about that. And we had a very spirited primary, you know, going in for the sheriff's race. That one generated a lot of attention. And I think that that was really good. That was healthy. You know, that gave the men and women of Garfield County an opportunity to express their thoughts, their views, and get the really important topics out there in front of law enforcement.
GLEASON: In El Jebel, TACAW hosted a watch party for Dwayne Romero, attended by KDNK reporter Katalina Villarreal. On election night, the vote count leaned towards the Aspen Democrat, making his second bid against US House member Jeff Herd to represent all of Western Colorado in CD3. With the narrowest of leads in a tough territory for Democrats, Romero tempered hopes and praised his supporters as the watch party wound down.
DWAYNE ROMERO: I think this district is really starving for somebody to show some true servant-based leadership. And I, I see every face in here. I see every face in here, and I know that resonates because I know every one of you live that same lifestyle. You give before you take. That's exactly what we've done through our entire time together here in this wonderful community called CD3.
GLEASON: By Wednesday morning, that narrow lead had indeed shifted towards Republican incumbent Jeff Herd, who ended up with a lead of less than half a percent. Jackie Tannenbaum, an election judge at the Glenwood Springs Polling Center, assessed the turnout on the final day of voting.
JACKIE TANNENBAUM: Midterms are usually pretty chill and pretty quiet, but this one we have a lot of people coming in, making certain that they're voting. For many first-time voters, a lot of very young people are voting for the first time.
GLEASON: Really? And is that more than you've seen in past elections?
TANNENBAUM: I'd say for a midterm, this has been an extremely active new voter and young voter election so far.
GLEASON: Results for this impactful election are available on our website at kdnk.org.
