Colorado gubernatorial election, 2006
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County Results
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The Colorado gubernatorial election of 2006 was held on November 7, 2006 to determine the successor for incumbent Bill Owens, who was unable to run due to term limits. The election was won by Democratic candidate Bill Ritter.
Ex-Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter emerged as the lone Democratic candidate after his rival, Breckenridge state representative Gary Lindstrom, dropped out of the race on February 28, 2006. Several high-profile Democrats reportedly mulled a run, such as Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, State House Majority Leader Andrew Romanoff, and others, but they never announced their candidacy, leaving Ritter as the sole Democratic candidate. Nevertheless, Ritter's personal opposition to the practice of abortion initially led to much division within the ranks of his fellow Democrats, fears that were not allayed even when Ritter insisted that he had no agenda to change state law on the issue. Other Democrats pointed out that Ritter's moderate platform could be appealing to voters in a state that has in the past been considered right-leaning. In the end, the lack of any challenge to Ritter eventually led to the support and endorsement of most of the state's leading Democrats and progressive institutions.
The Republican race was from the beginning hotly contested between House Representative Bob Beauprez, and former University of Denver President Marc Holtzman. While Holtzman, who has never before held elected office, was once considered a long shot for the nomination, his message resonated with some of the Republican base. Holtzman criticized Beauprez for compromising with Democrats on key issues and for offering only belated and lukewarm opposition to Referendums C and D during the 2005 campaign. Such criticism grew strident enough for Beauprez to announce in April that he would no longer attend political debates which also included Holtzman. He is a fairly well-regarded conservative in his area of the state, but was recently a recipient of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's ARMPAC campaign contributions. DeLay is being prosecuted on charges of money laundering and finance charges. Beauprez has been criticized by many for keeping DeLay's money after the Texas politician was indicted.
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