{"id":28863,"date":"2024-03-05T20:00:36","date_gmt":"2024-03-06T03:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/joe-biden-donald-trump-easily-win-colorados-presidential-primaries\/"},"modified":"2024-03-06T03:00:36","modified_gmt":"2024-03-06T03:00:36","slug":"joe-biden-donald-trump-easily-win-colorados-presidential-primaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/joe-biden-donald-trump-easily-win-colorados-presidential-primaries\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Biden, Donald Trump easily win Colorado\u2019s presidential primaries"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Voters
Voters show up at the polling center, March 5, 2024, at Mesa County Central Services in Grand Junction. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Former President Donald Trump cruised to victory Tuesday over former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley in Colorado\u2019s Republican presidential primary, while President Joe Biden easily won the state\u2019s Democratic presidential primary.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press called the Republican presidential primary race in Colorado for Trump at about 7:10 p.m. when Trump had 61% of the vote to Haley\u2019s 36%.<\/p>\n

On the Democratic side, The AP called the race for Biden at 7:06 p.m. when the president was winning 85% of the vote. The \u201cnoncommitted delegate\u201d option on Colorado\u2019s Democratic presidential primary ballot was in second, at 7% \u2014 nowhere near enough to secure any delegates.<\/p>\n

In Montezuma County<\/a>, Trump led all Republican candidates with 75% of the vote as of 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Haley was second, with 22%, and Ron DeSantis was third with 1%.<\/p>\n

Biden easily won Montezuma County, with 85% of the vote as of 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Marianne Williamson had 2.8%, and Dean Phillips had 2.5%.<\/p>\n

In La Plata County,<\/a> Biden won 86% of the vote as of 7:30 p.m. Trump won 58%, and Haley, 39%.<\/p>\n

The noncommitted delegate option \u2014 essentially a none-of-the-above choice \u2014 has become a way for some liberals to protest Biden\u2019s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. In Michigan, the \u201cuncommitted\u201d delegate option received 17% of the vote in that state\u2019s Democratic presidential primary last week, enough to mean that two of the state\u2019s 117 delegates to the Democratic National Convention won\u2019t be tied to Biden.<\/p>\n

In Montezuma County, the noncomitted delegate won 7% of the vote, and in La Plata County, 7.3%.<\/p>\n

\"President
President Joe Biden speaks at CS Wind, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023, in Pueblo. (Jack Dempsey\/The Associated Press)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"President
President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally Feb. 20, 2020, in Colorado Springs. (David Zalubowski\/The Associated Press)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Republican
Republican presidential candidate and former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley speaks at a campaign stop Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, in Centennial, Colo. (David Zalubowski\/The Associated Press)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In Colorado, it appeared a late push among Biden critics to get Democrats to choose the option fell flat.<\/p>\n

Colorado is one of 15 Super Tuesday states that held their presidential primaries Tuesday. It likely marks Haley\u2019s last chance at winning the GOP nomination \u2014 and the national results Tuesday were looking dismal for her.<\/p>\n

Haley\u2019s campaign was sending texts to unaffiliated voters in Colorado on Tuesday urging them to vote for her. \u201cGet out and vote for Nikki Haley,\u201d one of the messages said.<\/p>\n

Colorado\u2019s presidential primaries are not winner-take-all contests. The final results will determine how many Republican and Democratic delegates to the parties\u2019 national convention each candidate will \u2014 or won\u2019t \u2014 get from Colorado.<\/p>\n

Both parties allocate delegates proportionally through a complicated algorithm based on how they perform statewide and in each congressional district. Democrats require candidates to receive 15% of the vote before they start receiving delegates, while the GOP threshold is 20%.<\/p>\n

It will likely be a few days after the election, once results are finalized, before the delegates start being divvied up. But it appeared likely Tuesday night that Trump wouldn\u2019t win all of the state\u2019s delegates.<\/p>\n

Colorado Democrats will send 87 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August. Republicans will have 37 delegates at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July.<\/p>\n

Unaffiliated voters were casting more ballots in the GOP primary<\/div>\n

Unaffiliated voters, who make up 48% of the state\u2019s registered electorate, were choosing 2-to-1 to vote in Colorado\u2019s Republican presidential primary over the Democratic primary.<\/p>\n

About 34% of the Republican presidential primary ballots cast in Colorado through Tuesday at 3 p.m. were from unaffiliated voters. By comparison, 23% of the ballots cast in the Democratic presidential primary through that time were from unaffiliated votes.<\/p>\n

Turnout among active voters was 33% as of 3 p.m. on Election Day.<\/p>\n

Voter voices<\/div>\n

Colorado Sun reporters visited polling places across the state to ask voters who they were backing on Tuesday \u2014 and why.<\/p>\n

Republicans Rachel Boim, 47, and Doug Thorner, 53, of rural Arapahoe County voted for Haley at the Martin Luther King Jr. Branch Library on East Colfax Avenue in Aurora.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that Trump is an honest, good man,\u201d Boim said. \u201cI don\u2019t think someone like that should be representing our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thorner said he voted for Haley because \u201cit\u2019s time for change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe in Nikki. I like her. I\u2019ve always liked her when she was governor,\u201d said Thorner, nodding to how Haley was South Carolina\u2019s governor before she was Trump\u2019s U.N. ambassador.<\/p>\n

In Lone Tree, Republican voter Barret Harper voted for Haley as well.<\/p>\n

Barret Harper, a registered Republican who lives in Highlands Ranch, voted for Nikki Haley.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe in American democracy,\u201d said Harper, 35. \u201cI want a president who also agrees with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harper said he wouldn\u2019t vote for Trump in November if he\u2019s the Republican nominee.<\/p>\n

In Colorado Springs, 55-year-old Republican Paul Glad voted for Trump. He said Trump\u2019s border policies and what he sees as Biden\u2019s role in inflation drove him to back the Republican.<\/p>\n

\u201cGas drives everything,\u201d Glad said. \u201cIf they were able to reduce the cost of that by producing our own oil, you will see prices drop.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the Denver Botanic Gardens, Democrat Tai Bickham cast a ballot for the noncommitteed delegate option.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t have the confidence in Biden that I may have had four years ago \u2014 and especially (given) how he\u2019s been handling the Palestinian war,\u201d said Bickham 44, who described herself as \u201cpro-Palestinian\u201d and \u201cpro-humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even local issues have steered her away from supporting Biden, she said, including the growing number of people experiencing homelessness and the dearth of affordable housing in Denver.<\/p>\n

After casting her ballot at the Denver Botanic Gardens Tuesday afternoon, Bickham said she would vote for Biden in November if she has \u201cabsolutely no choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m definitely not voting for the other one,\u201d she said, referring to Trump.<\/p>\n

Patricia Ryder, a 45-year-old Democrat in Colorado Springs, also cast a ballot for the uncommitted delegate option.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t trust the cognitive ability of Biden anymore,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Julia Sare, a registered Democrat also voted Tuesday at the Denver Botanic Gardens, said she voted for Biden.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want anyone else to win,\u201d she said, expressing concern about another Trump term in the White House and calling him as \u201ccrooked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019m not having a lot of hope for the future right now,\u201d said Sare, 41. \u201cAnd it feels very us vs. them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karla Wright, a 60-year-old Democrat in Colorado Springs, voted for Biden, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took the lesser of the evils. I am not pleased with either candidate but at this point, I think Trump is a complete and utter danger to the country,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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