The bruising battle primary between Democrats Katie March and Elisabeth Epps for the Capitol Hill-based House District 6 remains too close to call.
Epps and March are separated by 34 votes with 12,464 cast as of 11:30 p.m. The race, in fact, has tightened from earlier counts, when March led by 333 and then by about 225 votes.
March has so far secured 50.14% of the vote, while Epps trails with 49.86%.
As redrawn by the state's independent redistricting commission, House District 6 stretches from the state Capitol on its western edge to Lowry and Fairmont Cemetery to the east, including all or parts of the Capitol Hill, Uptown, Congress Park, Cheesman Park, East Colfax, Hale, Montclair and Windsor Gardens neighborhoods in Denver and Lowry. The district is 67% white, the highest among House districts in Denver.
March has done well with voters in Congress Park, Windsor Gardens, Hale and the Montclair neighborhoods; Epps' strengths have been in Capitol Hill, Uptown and the Lowry neighborhoods.
The fight between the March and Epps camps reflects intra-party divisions between establishment Democrats and the party's progressive wing. March, a former legislative aide, has drawn support from two of her former bosses, House Speaker Alec Garnett, whom she hopes to replace, and former Speaker Crisanta Duran, as well as from so-called "leadership funds" run by 19 current and former Democratic lawmakers. Many regard such leadership funds as a way of getting around the state's low campaign finance limits that cap donations at $400 per election cycle per individual.
March raised $183,000 through June 22, according to the most recent campaign finance filing deadline.
March also has the backing, in the form of more than $326,000, from outside groups, primarily Democrats for Progressive Leadership. The independent expenditure committee got most of its money from the We Mean Business Coalition, another independent expenditure committee that is run by former state Sen. Cheri Jahn of Wheat Ridge, who switched from Democratic to unaffiliated in 2017. We Mean Business gets its biggest contributions from education groups, such as the Colorado League for Charter Schools and Raising Colorado, which is affiliated with Democrats for Education Reform, a New York-based hedge fund that supports charter schools and opposes teachers' unions. It also took in donations from realtor and pharmaceutical PACs and One Main Street Colorado, which was accused of running a poll that the Epps camp accused as racist. One Main Street took in most of its contributions from trade unions.
Epps, a well-known criminal justice reform advocate, drew most of her support from the progressive wing of the Democratic party, including state Rep. Leslie Herod, Sens. Julie Gonzales and Pete Lee, and Denver City Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca. She's also backed by unions that have been her biggest campaign contributors, including the state employee union Colorado WINS, its affiliate SEIU, as well as the Colorado Working Families Party.
As of June 22, Epps had outraised March by just over $10,000, but Epps didn't fare as well with support from outside groups, which backed her to the tune of about $144,000. Most of that support came from the Colorado Working Families IEC.
The race has also been divisive within the district's Jewish community. Epps was accused of making anti-Israel comments several years ago, but said she favors a two-state solution for the Israel-Palestine issue and denies being anti-Semitic. She's won support from Jewish lawmakers, including Democratic Rep. Stephen Woodrow of Denver. On the other hand, an IEC, Denver Against Antisemitism, ran pro-March* ads in the Denver Intermountain Jewish News.
