Jeff Crank defeats Dave Williams in Colorado's 5th Congressional District GOP primary

Republican activist Jeff Crank defeated Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dave Williams in Tuesday's GOP primary election in the 5th Congressional District.

Crank will move on to face the winner of the Democratic primary and will be heavily favored in November in the heavily Republican district, which includes Colorado Springs. CD5 has never had a Democrat representing the district since it was drawn after the 1970 census.

Around 8 p.m., Crank held about 67% of the vote with over 43,000 votes to Williams' approximately 20,000.

Democratic primary competitors River Gassen and Joe Reagan were within 500 votes of each other around 8 p.m. with about 15,000 votes each.

Rep. Doug Lamborn, a Republican, announced in January that he won't seek re-election in CD5.

Williams drew fire for using thousands of dollars from the state party coffers to finance his campaign, and mainstream Republican groups spent more than $2 million to defeat him.

While Williams was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, Crank still defeated him easily with endorsements from U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Lamborn -- whose seat he's seeking -- the Colorado Springs Gazette news outlet, and a number of other organizations and local, state and federal elected officials.