DENVER Amanda Gonzalez will become the states top election official after beating Republican candidate James Wiley, the Associated Press projects.
As of 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Gonzalez led Wiley by 61% to 36% with 73% of the votes counted.
top-stories.mp4Speaking with Denver7 at the Colorado Republican Partys election-night gathering in Lakewood after the race was projected for Democrat Amanda Gonzalez, Wiley said he was proud of his campaigns performance while acknowledging Republicans have work to do.
I think Colorado is really frustrated with the two-party system, frustrated with the results that they've been getting from the Republican Party, and there's definitely time for change, Wiley said. That's a signal to the Republican Party: We've been doing something wrong.
Wiley said he believed his campaign outperformed expectations and credited his team with building a foundation he hopes to carry forward.
The Colorado Springs native and political consultant ran for the office being vacated by Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who won her race for Attorney General earlier in the night.
During the campaign, Wiley called for major changes to the way Colorado conducts elections, including moving away from universal mail ballots and toward primarily in-person voting.
Wiley also advocated for hand counting ballots and said he wanted to make the administrative side of the Secretary of States Office as boring as possible.
On election night, Wiley acknowledged that voters appeared to reject some of those proposals.
They seem to have rejected some elements of the mail-in voting that I proposed, as well as the hand counts, the human counts, Wiley told Denver7. So we have an educational barrier there that we need to continue to advance.
Despite the loss, Wiley indicated his political career may be far from over.
Asked by Denver7s Jaclyn Allen what comes next, Wiley said he is considering a run to lead the Colorado Republican Party.
It looks like I'll be running for chair at the next reorg for the statewide office, Wiley said. Looking forward to helping lead the Republican Party to a new era, really an old era.
Wiley said he believes the party needs to return to the principles on which it was founded, repeatedly invoking President Abraham Lincoln.
Im excited to be carrying the torch, Wiley said.The red flame of liberty will continue to burn.
