Placeholder won, but voting signaled who’s leading in race to replace Buck

Republican delegates rolled through six rounds of balloting before finally choosing Greg Lopez to serve as a placeholder for the remainder of Ken Buck’s congressional term representing the 4th District.

But first, Lopez must win the special General Election on June 25 against whomever the Democrats chose as their candidate.

Democrats are already attacking on social media with old clips of Kyle Clark throwing mud at Lopez, the former mayor of Parker and GOP gubernatorial candidate.

Media coverage this morning is also focused on rehashing Lopez’s previous negative media coverage in an attempt convince Republicans not to support him.

This is a strong conservative district, so it’s unlikely a Democrat could pull off a win.

Meanwhile, the balloting signaled who the strongest candidates are so far in the regular election to serve the next two-year term.

In the end it came down to Jerry Sonnenberg, Ted Harvey, and placeholder.

Not participating in the run off election were Lauren Boebert and Deborah Flora.

Among the 100 delegates voting, balloting broke down like this:

3rd round eliminated:
Peter Yu
Scott Melby
Chris Phelen
Floyd Trujillo#copolitics pic.twitter.com/KR18IOZM1Y

— Joshua T. Hosler (@JoshuaHosler) March 29, 2024

Round 4:
Lopez (place holder candidate) – 34
Harvey – 26
Sonnenberg – 24
Holtorf – 14

Holtorf goes to the mic and throws his support behind Lopez, the placeholder candidate. #copolitics

— Caitlyn Kim (@caitlynkim) March 29, 2024

Round 5:
Harvey – 23
Sonnenberg – 30
Lopez (placeholder) – 45

Now Harvey at the mic saying it’s irresponsible to send a placeholder candidate to DC. He’s asking all his supporters to vote for Sonnenberg.#copolitics.

— Caitlyn Kim (@caitlynkim) March 29, 2024

Voting in 6th Round for CD4 special election place on ballot:
Jerry Sonnenberg 46
Greg Lopez 51
Total delegates voting 97

Greg Lopez will appear on ballot. #coleg #copolitics #cd4 #specialelection

— Rocky Mountain Voice (@TheRMVoice) March 29, 2024

Fittingly, Democrats will assemble delegates to pick their nominee on the first of the month, which is April Fools’ Day.