Rout County voted to the left in state races

The politics of Colorado, along with the rest of the nation, took a turn to the right in a few key races Tuesday, but Routt County continued to vote Democratic in nearly all of the state races.

Routt County voters cast more ballots for Democrats Michael Ben¬¬net (U.S. Senate), John Salazar (3rd U.S. Con¬¬gressional District), John Hick¬¬en¬¬looper (governor), Bernie Bues¬¬cher (secretary of state) and Steve Ivancie (state House District 57) than any of the candidates’ opponents.

Routt County Republican Party Chairman Jack Taylor said he was happy with the turnout and most, but not all, of the results.

“There were some things I would have like to seen different, but overall, I’m very satisfied about the results,” he said. “To be specific, the Buck/Bennet thing didn’t turn out the way we had hoped, the way I had hoped.”

Routt voters gave 56.2 percent of the vote to Bennet, and he won in 14 of the 18 Routt County precincts. But 58.8 percent of Routt voters also voted for John Salazar, who won 14 precincts and tied for one other and still lost to Republican challenger Scott Tipton.

Routt County Democratic Party spokeswoman Catherine Carson attributed the Demo¬cratic tilt to Routt County voter priorities.       – More -