County Commissioner Democratic race down to the wire

The race for Boulder County Commissioner in the Democratic primary election had to wait until all corrected and absentee ballots were counted before the results were certain.

Ashley Stolzmann, Louisville mayor, had a 42-vote lead over Ealaina Shively, an attorney with the Boulder County District Attorney’s office, after over 55,000 votes were counted. When the last of the corrected ballots were in, her lead increased to 68 votes, with a total of 27,870 votes for her, compared to 27,802 votes for Shively. Though the margin of victory triggers an automatic recount, Shively conceded the race to Stolzmann.

The Niwot Community Association usually conducts a candidate forum for local races, but NCA president David Limbach indicated that despite multiple requests, the two Democratic candidates could not agree on a date.

Andrew J. O’Connor has recently been soliciting signatures from registered voters to get a place on the fall ballot, frequently setting up a table outside of Rock & Rails concerts at Whistle Stop Park. O’Connor’s LinkedIn profile indicates that he lives in Lafayette, has a law degree from Samford University in Binghamton, Alabama, and has previously practiced law in Florida and New Mexico. He is not a licensed attorney in Colorado, but has worked in Colorado as a legal assistant.

O’Connor has run unsuccessfully for state representative and county commissioner in the past. He filed a lawsuit in 2018 against Comcast over fiber-optic cable installation on his property that received widespread publiciy. With no Republican candidates on the ballot, unless O’Connor petitions his way onto the ballot, Stolzmann appears poised to succeed Commissioner Matt Jones as the representative from eastern Boulder County on the board of county commissioners in 2023.