Election denial a key issue for Colorado voters in primary

Joe Biden and Donald Trump weren't on the primary ballots in Colorado, but election denial may have been. Among those who rejected the 2020 presidential outcome was the Republican Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters who was running for secretary of state.

She came in third

Greg Lopez, the former mayor of Parker running for the GOP nomination for governor, in the past had claimed Trump won the presidential election but hedged when asked by CBS4'S Shaun Boyd.

"Do you believe the election was stolen?"

Lopez, in a recent interview replied, "It's hard to tell because I live in Colorado, I don't live in other states. I don't know what other issues other states dealing with."

So now the Republican primary winner Heidi Ganahl will face incumbent Democrat Jared Polis for governor in November.

CBS4's Rick Sallinger spoke with Colorado's last GOP Governor Bill Owens about the outcomes.

"We realize it's more important to win than to perhaps have perfect candidates who agree on all issues," Owens said.

Ron Hanks was at Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. He lost, too. That sets up a Senate race between Democratic incumbent Michael Bennet and Republican Joe O'Dea, who did not question the presidential election.

Owens, meantime, accused the Democrats of trying to interfere in the Republican primary.

"The Democratic party used the fact that Colorado has an open primary to invest in bad candidates on the Republican side, hoping they could nominate them and run against them in November."

He predicts, unlike 2020, the Republicans will be giving the Democrats a fight in November.