Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Democrats did not meet as scheduled, but instead cast their vote electronically and telephonically for one of three Democratic Senate candidates: Romanoff, Stephany Rose Spaulding, and Erik Underwood.

Romanoff won , Spaulding took 9% and Underwood grabbed less than 1%. More than 4 percent of delegates abstained from voting. Candidates needed 30% of the total to qualify for the June 30 ballot.

“Voters don’t want to replace one fossil fuel funded, insurance industry parroting candidate for another,” Romanoff said in a statement after his win, criticizing both Hickenlooper and incumbent Sen. Cory Gardner.

“And they certainly don’t want to hire someone who told them over and over again that he’d be a terrible senator — or someone like Cory Gardner who’s already proving it,” added Romanoff, a former speaker of the Colorado House.

The state assembly vote is one of two ways candidates can qualify for the June 30 primary. The other is by turning in 1,500 signatures from each of the state’s seven congressional districts, which Hickenlooper successfully did in February.

“This health crisis has been hard on everyone and has made clear how broken Washington is,” Hickenlooper said Saturday, adding that his campaign “is ready to win the nomination in June” and the general election in November.

A trio of candidates fell short of the signature requirement, in part, they say, because of the pandemic. They are considering legal action. Meanwhile, Saturday’s vote eliminates Spaulding and Underwood from the U.S. Senate race.

It’s likely then that Romanoff, the favorite of progressive Democrats, will face off head-to-head June 30 against Hickenlooper, the favorite of establishment, moderate Democrats. Romanoff has strong activist support and momentum, while Hickenlooper has far more money and superior name recognition.

Republicans Saturday and kicked off voting in the Senate race, where the incumbent Gardner, of Yuma, faces a long-shot primary challenge from Margot Dupre. Results will be announced next Saturday.

During the virtual Republican assembly, Gardner’s campaign played a video that featured President Donald Trump praising him at a February rally in Colorado Springs. Gardner, speaking from a home office, told his fellow Republicans that Democrats believe beating him will help them take control of the Senate.

“My message to Chuck Schumer is to keep your hands off of our Constitution,” Gardner said of the Senate minority leader, a Democrat from New York.

Gardner said he was running “to fight back against the Green New Deal, to fight back against efforts to take away our Second Amendment rights, to fight back against efforts to increase taxes” and to work to improve the economy.

Romanoff, meanwhile, embraced the Green New Deal in remarks after his victory.

“When we come out of this crisis, Americans want to know whether we’ll put millions of people back to work through a Green New Deal and whether we’ll have health care that can never be taken away again,” the liberal Democrat claimed.

“I say yes. Cory Gardner and John Hickenlooper say no.”

Romanoff, a favorite of progressive activists, dominated the better-funded John Hickenlooper in statewide caucuses Saturday, winning more delegates than Hickenlooper in every large Colorado county en route to a commanding win.

Statewide, Romanoff won 55% of support in the preference poll, Hickenlooper earned 30%, Trish Zornio received 7%, Stephany Rose Spaulding won 5%, and Erik Underwood won 0.2%. Another 3% of caucus attendees were uncommitted, . A few small counties had not reported as of Sunday night and are not included in this total.

In Denver County, where Hickenlooper was mayor for eight years, Romanoff won 61% of delegates to 22% for Hickenlooper, 9% for Spaulding and 6% for Zornio.

In Boulder County, a hub for liberal activism, Romanoff won 64% of delegates to 21% for Hickenlooper, 9% for Zornio and 3% for Spaulding.

Romanoff also won majorities in Adams County, Douglas County, Jefferson County, Pueblo County and Larimer County, plus a plurality in El Paso County.

“You defied the political establishment and carried our message — a Green New Deal, health care for all, an economy that works for everyone — to communities across the state,” Romanoff told supporters in an email Sunday.

Held on an unseasonably warm Saturday and amid worries of a coronavirus outbreak, the low-turnout caucuses were the first occasion for Democrats to choose among their party’s large U.S. Senate candidate field. Rather than choose the front-running Hickenlooper, most instead went with the liberal Romanoff.

At Thomas Jefferson High School in Denver, Barbara Groth, 67, voted for Romanoff. She expressed frustration with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for throwing its support behind Hickenlooper, calling that decision a “huge disservice to Romanoff.”

At Overland High School in Aurora, Michael Carr also chose Romanoff, who went on to win 56% of delegates in Arapahoe County and 55% in Adams County.

“He’s the best at building bridges with the other side,” Carr said of the former Colorado House speaker, who often touts his bipartisan record in the legislature. “It can’t just be us versus them; we all have to work for the good of our country.”

As a result of Saturday’s preference poll, most of the delegates sent to county caucuses later this month will be Romanoff supporters, making it likely that he is able to earn 30% of support at an April 18 state assembly.

Romanoff, Spaulding, Underwood and Zornio will each need 30% of assembly support if they are to have their names placed on June 30 primary ballots. Several other candidates are taking a signature-gathering route to ballot access, bypassing the caucuses. Hickenlooper is taking both routes and has turned in signatures.

Romanoff expects the weekend win will boost his fundraising and volunteer recruitment, but caucuses in Colorado are not predictive of primary success. Cary Kennedy won the Democratic gubernatorial caucuses in 2018 but lost to Jared Polis later that year. And Romanoff over Sen. Michael Bennet but lost to the incumbent Bennet in that year’s Democratic primary.

Hickenlooper predicted two weeks ago that he would win the preference poll but downplayed both his expectations and the importance of caucuses in remarks to reporters Saturday afternoon. He said the true contest will be the June 30 primary.

“I’ve run statewide twice in bad years for Democrats and I have a relationship with Democrats across the state,” Hickenlooper told reporters outside his precinct site, referring to gubernatorial wins in 2010 and 2014. “And that relationship should allow me to build momentum and really take Cory Gardner on head to head.”

Romanoff, a progressive favorite, won 55% of the raw vote and Hickenlooper won 31% with 55 of 64 counties, including Denver, reporting late Saturday, according to the Colorado Democratic Party. However, several counties will not report their results or the number of delegates won by candidates until Sunday.

Precinct caucus results will determine the number of delegates that candidates have at upcoming county caucuses. Results there will determine delegate counts at an April 18 state assembly, where candidates will need at least 30% support to have their names placed on June 30 primary ballots.

The caucus is one of two ways to get on the Senate primary ballot — candidates also can do so by gathering signatures — and only about half attempted the caucus route. Low turnout at Saturday’s precinct gatherings amid the coronavirus outbreak had some Democrats discussing whether the tradition should continue.

In a phone interview, Romanoff called the results “a new beginning” and “a shot in the arm” for his campaign. He said he expects an uptick in fundraising and volunteer recruitment to follow.

“Our grassroots campaign just crushed the D.C. machine and won today’s caucuses!” Romanoff told supporters around 7:30 p.m. “The power brokers and party bosses in Washington didn’t get the memo, but it turns out a lot of people in Colorado want to replace Cory Gardner with a progressive champion.”

Gayle Rodgers, 74, caucused for Romanoff in south Denver because of his environmental ideas. Romanoff is a supporter of the Green New Deal and, like most candidates, has made combating climate change a top issue.

“Hickenlooper is married to oil and gas,” Rodgers said.

At his precinct caucus site in Park Hill on Saturday, Hickenlooper downplayed the importance of caucuses. While a great way to hear from people and meet engaged Democrats, caucuses are usually attended by “the very progressive part of the party,” he said, adding that a long line of successful Colorado Democrats — Ken Salazar, Michael Bennet, Jared Polis — have lost caucuses.

“The only ballot that really matters in determining who the candidate is going to be representing Democrats in the Senate race is the one that happens June 30. That����ap where I have to win,” he said.

At Thomas Jefferson High School in Denver, 40 precincts came together to vote. Elizabeth ErkenBrack, 37, caucused for Hickenlooper, calling him a “hard-core Democrat” who nonetheless brings a balanced perspective she said the country desperately needs.

“Hickenlooper is more effective on a national stage,” she said. “He has proven he can be attractive to the majority of Coloradans.”

The day was less of a success for the three other Democrats on caucus ballots, according to the results posted Saturday night: Trish Zornio had nearly 7% support in the preference poll, Stephany Rose Spaulding over 5%, and Erik Underwood less than 1%.

Spaulding had a supporter Saturday in Tay Anderson, an outspoken new member of Denver’s school board, who caucused for her.

“I strongly believe we need to have representation on the ballot,” Anderson said in an interview at McAuliffe International School in Park Hill. “We failed to nominate a woman to be on the ballot for the presidency. It����ap time for us to at least acknowledge we believe in woman leadership.”

As thousands of Colorado Democrats congregated in their neighborhood schools, rec centers, firehouses and churches, talk of coronavirus was everywhere. Candidates and their surrogates often met voters with an outstretched elbow or a fist bump, rather than risk a handshake.

Several precinct leaders and participants in Saturday’s caucuses noted the low turnout. While many expected fewer people to show up because voters selected presidential candidates through a primary election this year, rather than the usual caucuses, they still felt it was disappointing.

Sarah Johnson, 21, participated in her second caucus Saturday. At her precinct meeting in Thomas Jefferson High School, there were four people. She said, “I just kind of think of it as doing my civic duty.”

But maybe the low turnout means it����ap time to retire the process, some suggested. U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette attended several caucus meetings, including at Thomas Jefferson High School, and noted those who showed up are dedicated.

She’s not sure, though, that moving the meetings to the Saturday after Super Tuesday was the right call. She said it����ap time to have a conversation about how candidates will be nominated in the future.

Michele Hanley, 41, has mixed feelings about what to do. She said caucuses are where candidates who are not backed by big money can fight against larger campaigns and have a better chance than in a primary.

“I’m torn,” she said. “I like that it opens it to small groups of people.”

An earlier version of this story reported delegate-count results in Denver, but the state Democratic Party subsequently removed those numbers from its results page, saying they were being recalculated.

Five Democratic candidates for Senate will compete in Saturday’s caucuses: John Hickenlooper, Andrew Romanoff, Stephany Rose Spaulding, Erik Underwood and Trish Zornio. Five other candidates will try to obtain ballot access for the late June primary by collecting signatures, bypassing the weekend caucuses.

For the five competing Saturday, a preference poll of caucus attendees will be the first gauge of their statewide support and a true test of their ability to compete. The poll will be used to allocate delegates to county assemblies later in March. Polls taken at county assemblies will then be used to allocate delegates to the state assembly April 18, where a candidate will need 30% support to have their name placed on June 30 ballots.

“This is the first time Colorado will get a sense of where people actually stand on the candidates,” Spaulding said of Saturday’s caucuses. “Coloradans are not yet decided on who they want to be their nominee.”

In interviews Thursday, several candidates said they have spoken to engaged Democratic voters who are unaware caucuses are occurring or who have lost faith in caucuses after Iowa’s mishaps this year. In Romanoff’s words, Colorado’s caucuses are “a system that no one would design from scratch.”

“I actually have no idea what the turnout will be,” he said.

The field of five caucusing candidates includes Hickenlooper, the former governor and leading Democratic candidate, as well as two of his top liberal opponents, Romanoff and Spaulding. Zornio has been running longer than the other four and has toured every Colorado county twice. Underwood has been through the caucus process before, when he was a gubernatorial candidate in 2018.

“I do expect to win, of course,” Hickenlooper told reporters Feb. 28 at a Denver event with U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat who endorsed him that day.

“He’s going to kick some serious butt,” Gillibrand added with a laugh, before Hickenlooper slightly downplayed his chances.

“You have to understand, our caucus system is an old-fashioned caucus system, so I might not kick that much butt in the caucus system,” he said. “But I look forward to the primary election.”

Underwood said he will spend Friday meeting with voters in population centers along the Front Range. to what he estimated to be 1,000 people at a Capitol rally opposing , which would make the process for requesting vaccine exemptions more onerous.

“I will never get in between a woman trying to protect her child or children,” Underwood said into a megaphone on the steps of the Colorado Capitol. In that day, he wrote, “We cannot let Big Pharma to become a shadow government controlling our choice, freedom, and bodies.”

Romanoff will spend Friday in Colorado Springs, Highlands Ranch, Littleton and Fort Collins. Spaulding said her campaign will continue knocking doors and operating phone banks. Zornio, fighting an illness, will remain at home and make calls reminding her supporters to caucus Saturday.

“We’re feeling good as we look at the number of people who say they’re going to come out and support us,” Zornio said. “We just have to see what happens on Saturday.”

Hickenlooper has led the Democratic field by a wide margin in early polls but faces an engaged and enraged left flank of the party that prefers his more progressive challengers. The caucuses will be the first test of Hickenlooper’s well-funded campaign, as well as those of his liberal critics.

“In the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, many of them are very much anti-Hickenlooper,” said Spaulding. “We’ll see how much they are anti-Hickenlooper come Saturday.”

Preference poll results will be posted by the Colorado Democratic Party online and on Twitter on Saturday afternoon and evening. Though crucial for allocating delegates, such polls are not always indicative of primary success. In 2018, for example, Cary Kennedy easily won the Democratic gubernatorial preference poll but lost handily to Jared Polis in that summer’s primary.

Democrats can take part in Saturday’s caucuses if they will be at least 18 years old by Election Day, are registered to vote, and were registered as Democrats by Feb. 14. Precinct numbers can be found on the Secretary of State’s Office website, and precinct locations are at .

Republicans will also gather for caucuses Saturday, though there isn’t a competitive Senate primary. For the re-election campaigns of Sen. Cory Gardner and President Donald Trump, the caucuses are an opportunity to organize grassroots support and energize volunteers eight months before November.

Underwood, 40, is a former Republican and for former U.S. Sen. George Voinovich, an Ohio Republican. He says his time in Washington showed him how to get things done.

“I’m the only candidate who has ever worked in the United States Senate,” Underwood said of the large Democratic field. “John Hickenlooper has never worked in the United States Senate. Andrew Romanoff has never worked in the United States Senate. I have.”

Underwood said he considers the 2020 election to be a pivotal moment in American history. He researched the other Democratic candidates in search of someone to support but found them to be unsuitable.

“It’s a bunch of people who say, ‘Hey, I want to be a U.S. senator’ but don’t understand the job,” Underwood said. He believes many of his fellow Democratic candidates lack plans to accomplish, and pay for, their policy goals.

Education is a top issue for Underwood. He says a national lottery would fund free college education and student loan debt relief. He would fund a public option for health care with a pennies-per-trade tax on Wall Street transactions, he says. On the topic of guns, Underwood supports red-flag laws, universal background checks, and a ban on assault rifles.

“I’m going to the United States Senate to be a leader, not a follower,” Underwood said. “You can expect to see me in leadership in the United States Senate.”

Walker Stapleton, the two-term state treasurer and Bush family relative, and Greg Lopez, a former Parker mayor and longshot candidate, emerged from a seven-way Republican assembly in Boulder that delivered an devastating defeat to Attorney General Cynthia Coffman, who managed only a fraction of the vote.

Cary Kennedy, the former state treasurer, won a convincing victory at the Democratic state assembly down the road in Broomfield, while five-term U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, the top spender and early favorite, also made the ballot, but by a narrow margin.

The top vote-getters secured the top line on the June 26 primary ballots and will join other candidates from each party who qualify through the petition process.

On the Democratic side, former state Sen. Mike Johnston made the ballot — and Lt. Gov. Donna Lynne is expected to do the same — by collecting voter signatures. And on the Republican side, businessman Doug Robinson, the nephew of Mitt Romney, and former state Rep. Victor Mitchell, anticipate making the race by petition as well.

The assembly will provide the winners with a quick jolt of momentum for the final sprint, but the assembly votes — decided by a few thousand party diehards — often are an unreliable indicator of who will win the party nominations.

Democrats are looking to retain control of the office after the departure of term-limited Gov. John Hickenlooper, while Republicans are hoping to elect just the second GOP governor since 1975.

Republican contest marked by mud-slinging

Inside the Coors Events Center in Boulder, the Republican effort began with an ominous tone as Stapleton, the top fundraiser and poll leader, came under assault for his 2-decade-old criminal conviction and petition fraud in his attempt to qualify for the 2018 ballot.

Stapleton, who turns 44 on Sunday, qualified for the ballot a week ago through the petition process, but he removed his name just days before the assembly when he acknowledged a firm working for his campaign broke the law in how it collected voter signatures.

The withdrawal became a focal point as he attempted to deflect the controversy to his advantage. “There’s a one-word answer of why I’m here today: integrity,” said Stapleton, who, in a breathless speech, labeled himself a “common-sense Colorado conservative.”

Hours earlier, Coffman pivoted a speech about her tenure as attorney general to a blistering critique of Stapleton that mentioned his 1999 drunken-driving conviction from California and how the firm his campaign used to gather petition signatures hired felons. “It is the truth. It is documented. And you should look,” she said through a smattering of boos from the crowd.

Coffman defended her approach in an interview, saying that she too was the subject of many attacks. She contends that if Stapleton becomes the Republican nominee it will hurt the party’s chances. “The Democrats have all this — they have more than this — and it����ap something we need to consider,” she said.

Stapleton took 43 percent of the vote, and Coffman won 6 percent. The surprise came from Lopez, who emerged from a pack of lesser-known candidates to win 32 percent, just above the 30 percent threshold needed to qualify for the ballot.

Lopez gave a rousing speech that praised President Donald Trump and focused on cracking down on so-called sanctuary cities that do not enforce federal immigration law. But he too came under anonymous attack in a flyer circulated among delegates about a 1993 criminal charge for domestic violence.

“I think what I did right was to talk about the future of Colorado,” said Lopez in an interview after the vote. “I think people understood that if we unite, we can definitely have a strong voice.”

Ezekiah Lujan, a 23-year-old delegate from Leadville, told Lopez it was the best speech he has heard delivered in the three state assemblies he has attended.

“He’s just a true conservative — everything he stood for, (supporting) farming and communities, everything just for the people.” Lujan said. “And I didn’t even know his name until he got up there to speak.”

The campaigns of Barry Farah, Steve Barlock, Lew Gaiter and Teri Kear came to an end when they failed to earn enough support to make the ballot.

candidate Barry Farah just came to tell me: "It was a convincing loss." I suggested we'd hear from him again, but he said probably not.

— John Frank (@ByJohnFrank)

In the other statewide races, Republicans picked state Rep. Justin Everett from a competitive field of four candidates for state treasurer; unopposed George Brauchler for attorney general; incumbent Wayne Williams for secretary of state; and Ken Montera for University of Colorado regent.

Justin Everett won 49% of the vote in the four-way race for for treasurer. Others fell short of 30%. Everett may face Polly Lawrence and Brian Watson (who both filed petitions) in the June 26 primary.

— Jon Murray (@JonMurray)

No surprises at Democratic Party assembly

A short distance east, at the FirstBank Center in Broomfield, where Democrats met, the contest appeared milder — and nearly devoid of attacks — in an atmosphere where delegates complained about having too many good candidates and rallying around the prospect of a “blue wave” in November.

Democrats are doing a *literal* blue wave at the Colorado state assembly.

— Jesse Aaron Paul (@JesseAPaul)

Many party insiders were weighing voting choices based on their chances against Republicans in the general election.

“I thought I had everybody figured out before I came here,” said Kenneth Bloodworth, a delegate from Dolores. “We have an excess of qualified people.”

In the governor’s race, Kennedy bested Polis — who also made the ballot — by nearly double his share of support, 62 percent to 33 percent.

“We’ve been building momentum for this campaign,” Kennedy said amid a champagne toast with her staff after the results came down. “It����ap growing all over the state, and today was just a wonderful result.”

Kennedy’s victory comes as her campaign is building momentum. But Polis is looking to blunt the impact with a $200,000-plus TV ad campaign that features President Barack Obama.

Polis, who also submitted signatures to qualify for the ballot, said he was thrilled with his results. When asked if delegates’ strong show of support for Kennedy meant there was more work for him to do, he brushed the question aside.

“Our focus was on getting our name on the ballot, which is always what it has been,” Polis said. “So I think we got it done in a way that excited our volunteers and our activists. We’ve collected more signatures than the number of people that even showed up for caucus. People are really reacting well to our message.”

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Erik Underwood failed to make the ballot, securing just 5 percent of the delegate vote.

Erik Underwood last to take stage for Dem gov nom. Commends the gubernatorial field for Dems. "This is what progress looks like in America" Then rips party for making race a "popularity contest"

— John Aguilar (@abuvthefold)

In the Democratic primary for Colorado attorney general, Phil Weiser — a former dean of the University of Colorado law school — topped state Rep. Joe Salazar, with 53 percent of delegate votes to Salazar’s 37 percent. Both are now on the ballot.

Former prosecutor Amy Padden received nearly 11 percent of the vote, meaning she will be on the ballot if her petition signatures are validated by the Colorado secretary of state.

In the state treasurer’s race, two candidates qualified: state Rep. Dave Young, D-Greeley, who won 52 percent of the vote, and Bernard Douthit, who received 32 percent.

Jena Griswold dominated the Democratic contest for Colorado secretary of state, and Lesley Smith was picked by Democrats as their at-large candidate for CU regent.

Jesse Paul and John Aguilar reported from Broomfield.

Polis made the ballot, too, taking about 33 percent of the 3,408 delegates’ votes.

Kennedy won nearly 62 percent.

“We’ve been building momentum for this campaign,” she said amid a champagne toast in celebration with her staff after the results came down. “It’s growing all over the state, and today was just a wonderful result. I’m looking forward to the primary in June and giving the voters of Colorado the opportunity to support me for governor.”

Kennedy was first to speak to delegates at a packed 1stBank Center in Broomfield before the vote, touting her performance as state treasurer and the fact that, if elected, she’d be the first woman to become Colorado’s governor. She also called for protecting public education, bolstering efforts to protect the environment and increasing health care options and affordability.

“Stand with me. I am the strongest candidate to win the governor’s race for all of us,” Kennedy said to applause, in an apparent dig at Polis.

She also took on President Donald Trump in a section of speech that had many delegates cheering her every word. She said that she wouldn’t “let Donald Trump take Colorado backwards.”

“I won’t let Trump trash our environment,” she said to loud applause. “I won’t let Donald Trump or (U.S. Secretary of Education) Betsy DeVos privatize our public schools.”

Polis spoke about how he would be the first openly gay U.S. governor if elected — “Take that (Vice President) Mike Pence!” he called out to loud applause — and his plans to push the state toward using 100 percent renewable energy sources by 2040. He boasted, as well, about his vote in Congress to impeach Trump.

Polis also talked about protecting Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, recipients and taking on Colorado’s Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights to better fund schools.

“My life has been about breaking barriers — turning bold ideas into real results for Colorado families,” he said.

Both Polis’ and Kennedy’s speeches touched on the topic of guns, which Colorado Democrats made clear was among their top issues this year.

Polis — who is working on a congressional assault weapons ban proposal — talked about taking on the National Rifle Association, while Kennedy vowed to “never, never let Donald Trump and the NRA stop us from keeping our kids safe. We will ban military-style assault weapons.”

Polis said he was thrilled with his results Saturday and excited to continue taking his campaign across the state. When asked if delegates’ strong show of support for Kennedy meant there was more work for him to do, he brushed the question aside.

“Our focus was on getting our name on the ballot, which is always what it has been,” Polis said. “So I think we got it done in a way that excited our volunteers and our activists. We’ve collected more signatures than the number of people that even showed up for caucus. People are really reacting well to our message.”

Erik Underwood failed to make the ballot, securing just 5 percent of the delegate vote. A U.S. Senate candidate in Colorado in 2016, when he ran as a Republican, Underwood made the most impassioned case of all the candidates to help rural Coloradans.

Underwood pleaded for support from the gathered delegates, ending his speech in tears.

“I need your vote! I need your vote right now!” he shouted.

Other Democrats running for governor, but seeking to get on the ballot through the petition process, include former state Sen. Mike Johnston and Lt. Gov. Donna Lynne.

Johnston’s signatures have been verified by the Colorado secretary of state, so he has secured a ballot spot in the primary election. Lynne’s signatures are still in the process of being verified.

Polis was going through the petition process, as well, but because he won more than 30 percent of the delegate votes Saturday, it no longer matters.

Many delegates on the floor said the choices they had to make Saturday were excruciating because the candidates across the board are so strong.

“We have an embarrassment of riches to choose from,” said Chris Craft, a Democratic delegate from Craig.

His vote in the governor race went to Polis. “One of my issues is inclusivity, and the fact that he would be the first openly gay governor was appealing to me,” he said.

Kenneth Bloodworth, a delegate from Dolores, echoed the sentiment of facing a tough choice. “I thought I had everybody figured out before I came here,” he said just before voting for Kennedy. “We have an excess of qualified people.”

Mac McGraw, a 65-year-old retired teacher from Fort Morgan, said concern over gender equity issues helped prod him to check the box for Kennedy in the governor’s contest.

“I like the fact that she’s a woman — I have two daughters — I’m very concerned about women’s issues,” he said.

Polis’ sexual orientation was a potential area of concern for a couple of delegates, who feared the issue could taint his appeal in the general election. Nancy York said the prospect of the country’s first openly gay governor could make Polis a harder sell to more conservative voters in November.

“Because he’s gay, he might not win,” said York, a delegate from Custer County.

York said she was nonetheless inspired by the number of supporters Polis had on stage with him Saturday and voted for him.

The prospect of having Colorado’s first gay gubernatorial hopeful also gave concern to Susan Lazo, a delegate from Breckenridge. She voted for Polis on Saturday but wondered if that fact might work against him in November.

Lazo said she would have been pleased with any of the candidates for governor and wrestled with the choices right up until she dropped her ballot in the box. She said she liked Underwood as well but thought he may not be quite ready to run for statewide office.

Representing Pueblo County, delegate S. Douglas McMillan said Kennedy was his choice because “she really emphasizes public education.”

“Public education is the backbone of our economy,” he said.

Colorado’s Democratic primary for governor and other races is June 26.

Nine candidates shared a stage on March 23 at Mental Health Colorado’s first-ever gubernatorial forum. The consensus: We ought to make it harder for people who pose a danger to themselves or others to get guns, and easier for them to get treatment.

The candidates: Republicans Stephen Barlock, Cynthia Coffman, Lew Gaiter, Greg Lopez, Vic Mitchell and Doug Robinson; and Democrats Mike Johnston, Donna Lynne  and Erik Underwood.

(Two Democrats who couldn’t attend due to conflicts — Cary Kennedy and Jared Polis — sent policy staffers to give brief statements on their support of mental health programs and services for Coloradans. Republican Walker Stapleton declined our invitation to participate.)

Better treatment and removing guns from those who pose dangers are two of the top priorities we’re urging the legislature to address this year. The latter is called an extreme risk protection order; it would allow law enforcement officers to remove weapons from the homes of individuals at risk of suicide or violence.

Five states have already enacted such laws, and the approach seems to be working. No law can prevent every tragedy, but studies show that restricting access to firearms in these circumstances – even temporarily – reduces the likelihood of suicide or homicide.

The laws require a court order and appropriate regard for due process rights. With those provisions in place, the extreme risk protection order has earned the support of the National Rifle Association, among other organizations.

Every gubernatorial candidate at our forum signed on, and we’re asking the General Assembly to follow suit. Mental Health Colorado is working with members of both parties to introduce and pass legislation this month.

To be clear, most people with mental illness are not violent; they are far more likely to be victims of crime than perpetrators. But for those at risk of suicide, a gun represents the most lethal means.

Suicides account for more than two-thirds of gun deaths in America, and an even higher share in Colorado. More than 1,000 Coloradans die by suicide each year — a death toll this proposal can decrease.

Just as critical: access to treatment.

Each year, an estimated 35,000 Coloradans experience a mental health crisis that makes them gravely disabled or places them in imminent danger. That����ap a conservative figure, based on the number of people who are subjected to involuntary holds.

Under current law, those holds can last for up to 72 hours. Once that time is up, roughly 10 percent of these individuals are certified for involuntary treatment.

But most don’t meet that standard, and many never get treatment. For some, the cycle of crisis simply repeats itself.

That����ap why we’re asking the legislature to step in. Instead of waiting for more Coloradans to fall through the cracks, we ought to help them get care.

Our proposal would establish care coordination teams, providing assistance in housing, employment, and treatment. The state already supplies such assistance to individuals who leave Colorado’s mental health institutes, through the transition specialist program.

But the vast majority of Coloradans, even those with severe mental illness, are not institutionalized — and don’t need to be. Colorado’s own experience, as well as that of other states, shows that proper treatment and support improve outcomes and lower the demand on hospitals, emergency rooms, and the criminal justice system.

Turning our jails and prisons into warehouses for people with mental health or substance use disorders is the most expensive and least therapeutic decision we can make. The bottom line: It����ap far cheaper, and ultimately more humane, to treat mental illness than to ignore it or to criminalize it.

That����ap a conclusion with which every candidate — and, we hope, a majority of our elected officials — can agree.

Andrew Romanoff, former speaker of Colorado’s House of Representatives, is the president and CEO of .

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

In the eight months since he entered the high-profile race, he has not reported a single contribution or expenditure for his campaign.

But from the start, Underwood told The Denver Post, he spent his own money to hire staff, print campaign materials and travel the state — a total that now reaches into “the six figures.”

The failure to report his campaign activity is a violation of , according to the Colorado secretary of state’s office. Underwood formed a candidate committee in August, , and triggered a requirement that he must disclose personal contributions and campaign expenditures.

“Anybody who spends money in support of their candidates, from county office to governor, they do have to report those expenditures,” said Steve Bouey, the campaign finance manager for the secretary of state’s office.

In multiple interviews this week, Underwood repeatedly rejected the suggestion that he needed to disclose his contributions, saying he didn’t need to because it he was the only contributor. But even self-funded candidates must reveal their spending.

“I don’t want people to know that I’m spending my money and how I’m spending it,” he said. “I can assure you I am well within the law by not disclosing my own personal money or spending.”

But when The Post told him Thursday that the secretary of state’s office required disclosure, he changed his stance, suggesting that he would amend the two reports he filed for 2017. “That����ap news to me — if that����ap the case, we’ll comply,” he said.

Underwood — who already faces a $50 fine for filing a late report in January — could face additional penalties for his failure to report campaign activity in 2017.

The secretary of state’s office is not empowered to sanction a candidate for violating disclosure rules, Bouey said, but accepts complaints filed by any member of the public and forwards them to an administrative law judge. If Underwood is found noncompliant, the judge could impose penalties as much as two to five times the amount of the transactions in question.

Underwood did not say how much he spent in 2017. The disclosure form for the first four months of 2018 is not due until May 7.

The technology entrepreneur from outside Boulder is not a first-time candidate. In 2016, he ran in the U.S. Senate race as a Republican but received as a write-in candidate at the party convention.

This year, as a Democrat, Underwood is trying to qualify for the gubernatorial ballot through the caucus process, but he is struggling to gain traction. He received 0.4 percent of the vote at the March 6 caucus.