DENVER—Four Republicans competed Tuesday for the GOP nomination to succeed Rep. Tom Tancredo, the five-term Colorado congressman whose forceful opposition to illegal immigration vaulted him to national prominence.
Primaries were also being held in Nevada, which was deciding nominations for three House seats, and in Connecticut, where Democrats selected a former banker to challenge Republican Rep. Christopher Shays.
In Colorado, the primary race to succeed Tancredo included Secretary of State Mike Coffman and two state senators, Ted Harvey and Steve Ward. Also in the field was businessman Wil Armstrong, son of powerful former Sen. Bill Armstrong.
Tancredo built a longshot presidential campaign on opposition to illegal immigration but abandoned the White House bid in December after consistently polling at the bottom of the Republican field.
He declined to seek another term representing Denver’s southern suburbs but hinted he would consider running for the Senate. Colorado will have an open Senate seat next year when Republican Wayne Allard retires.
In Nevada, two incumbent Republican congressmen and their anointed Democratic challengers were expected to coast to easy victories Tuesday in a primary with so little competition that officials predicted record low turnout.
In the state’s other congressional district, encompassing urban Las Vegas, five-term Democrat Shelley Berkley was favored to easily advance to the general election.
Republican Kenneth Wegner, a disabled veteran, was seeking a rematch against Berkley in November after winning just 31 percent of the vote in 2006.
Rep. Jon Porter faced only token opposition from within his own party in his quest for a fourth term representing a sprawling suburban Las Vegas district that is expected to be among the most hotly contested battlegrounds in the nation in November.
Porter’s likely opponent was Democratic state Sen. Dina Titus, a well-known college professor and failed gubernatorial candidate. She faced no significant opposition for her party’s nod, either.
In northern Nevada, Rep. Dean Heller sought the GOP nomination for a second term with solid party support and no serious rivals.
On the Democratic side, former state party chairwoman and university regent Jill Derby was unopposed in her bid to challenge Heller in November. She lost to him two years ago, but showed surprising strength in historically Republican territory.
Elsewhere in Nevada, two judges in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, were seeking re-election amid allegations of wrongdoing pending before the state Commission on Judicial Discipline.
District Court Judge Elizabeth Halverson allegedly created a hostile work environment, fell asleep on the bench, improperly communicated with jurors and mishandled trials.
Family Court Judge Nicholas Del Vecchio is accused of sexually abusing a woman when she was a minor, sexually harassing her as an adult, and making racially and sexually disparaging comments to court employees.
Also in Nevada, a rural county prosecutor was running for the district court bench despite being issued a drunken driving summons after crashing two cars in June. Nye County District Attorney Robert Beckett wrecked the vehicles in the span of six hours in June on a desert highway in California.
In Connecticut, former banker Jim Himes defeated substitute teacher Lee Whitnum for the Democratic nomination to take on Shays in the fall.
Himes, the vice president of an affordable housing organization, was the party’s preferred candidate. With 51 percent of precincts reporting, he had 91 percent of the vote.
Himes has already raised a significant amount of money to face Shays, whose support for the Iraq war nearly cost him re-election in 2006. He was the only House Republican from New England to keep his seat as Democrats swept to power.
