Ganahl Projected Winner Of GOP Gubernatorial Primary

COLORADO — Heidi Ganahl is the projected winner of the Colorado Republican gubernatorial primary, according to the Associated Press. She defeated Greg Lopez.

Less than an hour after polls closed Tuesday, the AP called the election for Ganahl, who will face Gov. Jared Polis in the November general election.

The Colorado Secretary of State's office reported that Ganahl had 53 percent of the vote, with about 498,000 votes counted late Tuesday, according to The Denver Post.

Ganahl addressed supporters after her projected victory Tuesday night, calling for the party to unite.

"It is time for all of us to come together, to join together to win back our state, put aside the divisiveness, put aside our differences. We have one goal and that is to beat Jared Polis this fall," Ganahl said.

Ganahl continued her campaign themes of public safety and growing mental health issues among children.

"One of the most important things I can do is keep saying 'I'm a mom on a mission to make it a brighter day for our kids and our grandkids.' Because nothing else matters if our kids are not okay, and our kids are not okay right now in Colorado thanks to Jared Polis and Democrats," Ganahl said.

Ganahl said she believes the people of Colorado want new leadership.

"The people of Colorado, I've been talking to them for six years, I know their hearts. They want different leadership, they want a governor who will trust them to make good decisions for their lives, for their businesses, their families, their kids, their health, and the only thing I will ever mandate as your governor is freedom," Ganahl said.

At about 8:20 p.m., Lopez addressed his supporters in Parker and said he had called Ganahl to congratulate her on the win.

"I told her that I would support her. Our goal is to make sure Gov. Polis becomes a one-term governor," Lopez said.

Lopez also spoke about unity within the party and said he was pleased the campaign had not included a lot of mudslinging.

"We know when we divide ourselves, we lose," Lopez said. "The one thing I'm proud of: I don't think we got ugly (during the campaign), we didn't give each other an opportunity to tear each other down."

The 55-year-old Ganahl is a mother of four who founded, ran and sold the highly-successful Camp Bow Wow national dog care franchise. She was the last Republican elected to statewide office when she won a seat on the University of Colorado Board of Regents in 2016, on which she still serves.

Ganahl, who would be Colorado's first female governor, styles herself as a "Reagan Republican" who cares most about shrinking government and unleashing private enterprise.

Though Ganahl was considered to be the more moderate Republican in the race, she is far from a moderate, according to The Denver Post.

Ganahl opposes legal abortion in almost all cases, though she would allow exceptions for rape, incest and the health of the mother.

Early in her campaign, Ganahl refused to respond to questions and press inquiries about where she stands on the baseless GOP claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, according to The Denver Post.

But more recently, Ganahl said "Joe Biden is our president," though she still would not directly answer questions about whether she believes the national election results were themselves valid, according to CPR News.

Ganahl has said she would be open to banning the sale of AR-15-style rifles to people under the age of 21.

In addition to public safety and mental health issues among children, Ganahl often focused on the high cost of living in Colorado while on the campaign trail

Ganahl also talked about how she will repeal Polis' executive orders when she gets into office, though she was vague about which executive orders she was opposed to, according to The Denver Post.

Ganahl is expected to have an uphill battle against Polis in November's general election.

An early June survey of 800 registered voters published in the Rocky Mountaineer had Polis leading Ganahl 54 percent to 37 percent.

An April poll by Morning Consult had Polis with a 57 percent approval rating and a 35 percent disapproval rating.

Axios Denver also reported that the wealthy Polis spent nearly $23.4 million of his own money to win in 2018, and he appears ready to spend big once again in 2022.

The 58-year-old Lopez, an Aurora restaurant owner who once served as the Colorado director of the U.S. Small Business Administration, cut hard right on many of his political views

In recent weeks, it emerged that ads funded by Democratic campaign groups accusing Lopez of being "too conservative," may actually have been designed to boost his profile because Democrats believed Lopez was the more beatable candidate in November.