Boulder County Dems gather for primary candidate selection, leaving two state Capitol seats to be decided in June 25 primary

Members of the Boulder County Democratic Party gathered at Centaurus High School on Saturday to vote on which candidates for state and county offices will advance to the June 25 primary ballot in this year’s election. 

The party assembly effectively kicked off the primary election season for two seats at the Colorado Capitol and provided an early glimpse into the messaging of the candidates. 

Among the most high-profile local races, state Rep. Junie Joseph is seeking to keep her seat representing House District 10, which includes much of the City of Boulder east of Broadway. Challenging Joseph is Tina Mueh, a middle school science teacher and former president of the local teacher’s union, the Boulder Valley Education Association.  

The other prominent race is a seat in the Colorado Senate that will be vacated by Senate President Steve Fenberg, who is term limited. State Rep. Judy Amabile and Jovita Schiffer, an independent education consultant, will face off for the seat. Senate District 18 includes the City of Boulder, as well as Superior and Niwot.

Attending the assembly were about 300 members of the Boulder County Democratic Party — including elected officials, political organizers and party volunteers — who cast votes deciding who would proceed to the primary ballot. Typically, candidates need to earn at least 30% support from party delegates at the assembly to have their name placed on the ballot. All four candidates received enough delegate support to get on the primary.

Given that Boulder County leans solidly Democratic, the primary is likely to decide who will win the open seats at the state House and Senate in November. Several other seats up for election in Boulder County this year, including two for county commissioner, will be uncontested in the primary.

Joseph was appointed to the House District 10 seat in August 2022 by a vacancy committee, later becoming the first Black woman to represent the City of Boulder at the Colorado Capitol. Joseph moved to Orlando, Florida, from Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, when she was 14. In 2018, she moved to Colorado to get a law degree from University of Colorado Law and served on the Boulder City Council from 2019 to 2023. 

During her speech, Joseph said she helped pass 19 bills during the last legislative session, including a climate-focused law that includes rebates for people to purchase electric bikes. 

“I delivered on my promises to you and I will keep doing so,” she told the crowd attending the assembly. She described the election as a “fork in the road.” 

“The choice is yours to either keep Boulder moving forward on a path toward equity and justice or to change course,” she said. 

Joseph’s challenger, Mueh, has served as a board member for the Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains and a trustee for the Public Employees’ Retirement Association, which manages the retirement accounts for public employees. During her speech on Saturday, she said she has fought for workers and families, among other causes. 

“I have lived that work for decades,” she said. “I am running because I have lived my whole adult life here and I’m raising my daughter here. I love our whole HD10 community.” 

Mueh said she came to Boulder in 1985 as a CU Boulder undergraduate and later earned a doctorate in from the university’s Biology Department. 

“I know us well. And I grew up in Colorado. So I understand our state beyond Boulder, too,” she said. “I feel strongly that everyone in House District 10 deserves care and respect and a voice. Not just the extremes or part of us, but all of us.” 

Joseph received 67 delegate votes and Mueh received 39 delegate votes. Both cleared the threshold to appear on the ballot.

Amabile, who is vying for the state senate seat, co-founded the company Polar Bottle and has served in the Colorado House since 2019. She has backed legislation to spend more money on mental health care, regulate solitary confinement in county jails, and, more recently, make it easier to build accessory dwelling units, or ADUs. 

“I want to continue to advocate for you and all of the things that you want,” she told the crowd. 

Amabile has often cited her son’s mental illness as a driving force behind her work at the state legislature. 

“I also want to advocate for all of the people who can’t be in these rooms,” she added. “The people who are unhoused on our streets, the people who are languishing in our jails who are not getting the services and the care they need, the people who are barely making ends meet.” 

Her opponent, Schiffer, born in New York to Puerto Rican parents, has worked at the Boulder Valley School District since 2012. In her role, she oversees learning centers, which she said helps underserved children improve their educational outcomes. 

She is a single mother of two sons and lost her home to foreclosure in 2012. She said she spent eight years rebuilding her life and credit before buying another home in Superior. She has said that her current home nearly burned down in the Dec. 30, 2021 Marshall Fire. 

“No child should have to ever lose their home and no parent should ever have to watch that happen,” she said. “In the senate, I will fight for all the things children and family need to have stable lives in Colorado. And no one will fight harder for economic stability than someone who knows what’s at stake.” 

She said the future of the Democratic party includes people who are not able to attend assemblies, such as parents with young children, workers and other socioeconomically diverse community members. 

“The Senate needs more diverse leaders. Not just in race. But in diverse skills, thinking and lived experience,” she said. 

Amabile received 114 delegate votes and Schiffer earned 89 delegate votes. Both can appear on the primary ballot. 

Amabile’s current house seat, House District 49, includes Boulder, Larimer and Gilpin counties. The two Democratic candidates for the seat are Lesley Smith, an at-large University of Colorado regent, and Max Woodfin, a mental health counselor. They can get their names on the primary ballot either by gathering signatures or earning the support from delegates at a multi-county assembly. The assembly is scheduled to be held online on April 10, according to the Boulder County Democratic Party.

Another contested race is for an at-large seat on the CU Board of Regents, a nine-member board that oversees the budget for the University of Colorado. The two Democratic candidates seeking the spot are both alumni of CU Boulder: Charles Johnson, a former CU Buffs quarterback and the director of diversity and inclusion at the aerospace company Ball Corporation, and Elliott Hood, a lawyer representing school districts and member of the city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Both candidates have cited the cost of tuition and the need for the university to do more to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions as policy priorities. (The process for getting on the ballot involves county assemblies statewide.)

Two seats on the Board of County Commissioners will be uncontested in the Democratic primary. Commissioner Claire Levy and Marta Loachamin are seeking reelection. Polly Christensen, a former member of the Longmont City Council, was running against Loachamin but did not earn enough support from delegates to get on the primary ballot. She fell short of meeting the 30% support threshold by less than 1%.

Update: This story was updated on Monday, March 25 with additional details on the delegate votes from the assembly. Also, a previous version of this story said House District 10 encompasses an area west of Broadway. The district is mostly east of Broadway. This story was also updated to clarify how candidates can get their names on the primary ballot.