Denver County Primaries Surge 10 Points Amid Democratic Upsets

Aspen —Denver County didn’t just vote harder this time; it voted louder. The turnout jumped more than 10 percentage points compared to 2022, a surge that didn’t just ripple through the Front Range but sent shockwaves that locals on the Western Slope felt in their own ballot boxes.

The official numbers are in, and they tell a story of a Democratic base that is simultaneously energized and exhausted. More than 1.4 million ballots were cast in Colorado’s June 30 primaries, representing nearly 36% of the state’s 4 million active registered voters. That’s nearly half a million more votes than were cast in the 2024 June primary. It’s a quarter of a million more than the 2022 and 2018 midterm cycles combined.

But if you look closer at the map, the narrative gets complicated. The popular wisdom is that Western Slope voters stayed home while the Front Range threw a party. That’s only half true. In Pitkin, Garfield, and Moffat counties, turnout dipped between 1% and 3% compared to 2022. In Summit, Eagle, Grand, and Routt counties, it actually ticked up between 3% and 5.5%.

So why the massive statewide surge? Rob Preuhs, a professor and chair of political science at Metropolitan State University of Denver, points to two distinct engines driving this election: sheer population density in the cities and a specific kind of Democratic frustration.

“We saw turnout, particularly in the Front Range and Denver, increase dramatically,” Preuhs said.

But the energy wasn’t just about showing up. It was about pushing back. Democratic voters cast more than 879,000 ballots compared to just over 522,000 for Republicans. That enthusiasm wasn’t abstract. It was visible in the upset that sent shockwaves through the state’s political establishment. Melat Kiros, a Democratic socialist, defeated 15-term incumbent Diana Degette in Colorado’s 1st Congressional District by more than 13 percentage points.

“A lot of that can be attributed to this overall enthusiasm driven by a strong thirst for pushback against the Trump administration (and) desire for change within the Democratic Party,” Preuhs said.

That desire for change wasn’t limited to Congress. It followed Phil Weiser all the way to the governor’s mansion. Weiser ran on a platform of backlash against the Democratic establishment, a message that resonated enough to beat out U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet by nearly 14 percentage points. He even took that same anti-establishment energy on the road, stopping in Glenwood Springs on June 26 to discuss Western Slope challenges.

The structural reasons for the high turnout are there, too. Matt Crane, executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, noted that it’s not uncommon for primaries to see higher turnout during midterm cycles compared to presidential years. Major statewide offices like governor, attorney general, and secretary of state are contested, and this year marked the first time since 2018 that none of those offices had an incumbent running. That lack of a familiar face makes for more competitive primaries and, inevitably, more coverage.

Yet, the political dynamics remain the driving force. Voters didn’t just turn out because the race was open. They turned out because they were angry. They turned out because they wanted to see if the establishment could hold. In Glenwood Springs, Weiser stood there and talked about the issues that keep locals up at night. In Denver, Kiros walked off the stage with a mandate from a base that felt it had been ignored for too long.

The numbers don’t lie. The voters showed up. And they brought a lot of energy with them.