May 31, 2024 12:03 PM UTC

Republicans Lose Candidate in Targeted State House Race

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• by: Colorado Pols

Readers of Colorado Pols know that Colorado Republicans have no chance at taking back control of the State House of Representatives in 2024 (or, really, in 2026 or 2028).

It’s unlikely that Republicans will even be able to dent the current 46-19 Democratic advantage in the House when ballots are counted in November, but they just lost a candidate in one of the districts that State Republican Party Chairman Dave Williams had identified as a top target.

According to a press release via the Colorado Secretary of State’s office:

The Elections Division at the Colorado Department of State has announced that three candidates have been disqualified from the State Primary Election ballot and a fourth has withdrawn her name from consideration.

Robert Tate, Republican Party candidate for State Senate District 29, has been disqualified for failure to submit a candidate affidavit and personal financial disclosure as required by law.

Luis A. Moy, Republican Party candidate for State House District 61, has been disqualified for failure to submit a candidate affidavit and personal financial disclosure as required by law. [Pols emphasis]

Charles Alvarado, Democratic Party candidate for State House District 63, has been disqualified for failure to submit a personal financial disclosure as required by law.

Kristine Sposato, Republican candidate for Regent of the University of Colorado – Congressional District 3, has withdrawn her name.

Under the Fair Campaign Practices Act, the Secretary, as the designated election official for state races, is required to disqualify any candidate who fails to file either their candidate affidavit or a complete personal financial disclosure statement after notice from the office. (C.R.S. § 1-45-110(3).) All three disqualified candidates were given notice of their potential disqualification, as required by the statute, and failed to submit the required documents. [Pols emphasis]

The big news here is in regard to Luis Moy in HD-61. As Jesse Paul of The Colorado Sun reported last August, House District 61 (Arapahoe County) was one of the 11 seats that Williams listed on the Colorado GOP’s “most wanted” list for 2024. The seat is currently held by Democrat Eliza Hamrick, who was first elected in 2022 by a narrow three-point margin.

The deadline to finalize ballots for the June 25th Primary Election was last Friday, May 24. Moy’s name will still appear on the Republican ballot but any votes he receives will not be counted, which means Republicans will not have a candidate in HD-61 for the General Election.