Five out Colorado legislative candidates face first vote in 2012 races

While the national spotlight shined on the Republican presidential race on Super Tuesday, five LGBT candidates running for Colorado’s state legislature for the first time – all as Democrats – worked to appeal to voters in the March 6 Democratic Caucus.

Three of the five out candidates running for state legislative offices the first time – Denver teacher Paul Rosenthal, Adams County father Jessie Ulibarri, and Fort Collins endocrinologist Joann Ginal – have nailed down the Democratic nomination in their races.

The other two, Commerce City council member Dominick Moreno and out Army veteran Brian Carroll, are waiting for countywide conventions but both are confident moving forward.

A caucus, unlike a primary election or general election, lacks a secret ballot – members of a party can discuss, debate, and often meet candidates or representatives of a campaign in person as they select delegates to move on to the party’s county and state conventions.

Colorado’s Democratic legislative candidates must win 30 percent of the delegates in their districts to automatically qualify for the June 26 primary ballot, but if they win at least 10 percent they can petition on to the primary ballot by collecting voter signatures.

One clear victory went to Rosenthal in his bid for House District 9 in Denver. Rosenthal won 81 percent of his district’s March 6 poll against rival Bill McMullen, who dropped out of the race after winning nine percent while the remaining 10 percent did not commit to a House candidate.

Speaking to caucus voters at Thomas Jefferson High School, Rosenthal said, “We can’t get to where we need to go by cutting: K-12, Higher Ed, Mental health, and Medicaid. All were cut. No more cuts! No more cutting while Colorado’s big oil and gas companies get $300 million in tax breaks.”

Rosenthal now runs uncontested for his party’s nomination in the largely-Democratic district, and will continue unopposed for the Democratic nomination to the Arapahoe County, Denver County and Multi-county Assembly with 83 delegates from the Denver County preference poll.

Ginal, running for the House in District 52 in Fort Collins, won 119 delegates to her opponent Tom Grigg’s 13 at Larimer County’s Saturday, March 10 Democratic general assembly.

Grigg’s 13 delegates failed to meet the 10 percent threshold to allow him to petition onto the primary ballot, making Ginal the Democratic nominee. Ginal will go on to face Republican Jim O’Neil in November.

Ginal’s campaign manager Joe Peterson told Out Front Colorado there was no preference poll at Ginal’s district caucus and caucus-goers selected delegates who went on to the convention.

“It was awesome to see so many people,” Ginal said later of the March 6 Caucus. “It was also just so interesting to hear what was being discussed. There was a lot of talk of birth control issues as well as gay rights.”

Out veteran Brian Carroll also spent his caucus night on delegate selection in his race for an open House seat in District 28 in Lakewood.

For the Democratic nomination Carroll faces off against Brittany Pettersen, an employee of youth voter out reach organization New Era Colorado. Carroll said his campaign won’t have numbers until Jefferson County’s March 24 General Assembly.

“It was really great to be able to partake in the whole process,” said Carroll. “Right now we are just focused on the assembly, then the primary in June.”

Carroll continued the grassroots sentiment that other Colorado Democrats share.

“The interest that people are taking all across the state is exciting. There was a lot of concern in the beginning that people had lack of interest compared to previous elections. This has made it so we have been able to build from the ground up. And it is great to see people interested in the ideas and the issues being discussed.”

Dominick Moreno, a Commerce City council member who is running to represent House District 32, spoke at his caucus but won’t be certain about his primary opponent until after the Adams County’s assembly March 17.

Moreno said he doubts his primary opponent, fellow Commerce City council member Tracey Snyder who was the district’s Republican nominee in 2006 but is now running as a Democrat, will win the 30 percent support from Democrats required to appear on the primary ballot automatically. Moreno said he thinks Snyder is unlikely to petition on to the ballot if she meets the 10 percent threshold.

“I feel as though we’re strong enough to breach the 70 percent,” Moreno said.

Moreno said the more than 80 voters who showed up at his district’s March 6 caucus represented the highest turnout in the county.

“The overall turnout was low in my county, with exception of House District 32, which really shows that I have a lot of community backing with the campaign.

Moreno said he looks forward to the Democratic Primary, which he calls, “the real race” since his district is solidly Democratic and is likely to elect the Democratic nominee.

“I’m going to be out in the community and spending time helping with more vulnerable candidates” during the general election, Moreno said.

Meanwhile Jessie Ulibarri, an Adams County father and policy director of Colorado’s ACLU, is unopposed for the Democratic nomination in Senate District 21.

Since announcing his Candidacy in November, Ulibarri has stressed the importance of fixing economic programs in the district he grew up in.

Ulibarri maintains a political blog on his website to keep visitors up-to-date on developments at the Capitol and hear concerns of residents of Senate District 21.

Being a father puts Ulibarri in a unique position to connect to the residents of his district, he said. On his video blog he he states, “during these difficult economic times we’ve seen continual cuts to K-12 education at higher Ed, and pre-school. That’s why we need to do everything in our power to protect our kids.”

Ulibarri, who graduated from the public school system in District 21, said he is passionate about working with others to correct some of the problems to better the economic potential of his district and of Colorado.