November 8, 2016 2022 → 49.97% 44.31% | 1,370,710 1,215,318 Date 8 November 2016 | |
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Winner Michael Bennet | ||
The 2016 United States Senate election in Colorado was held on November 8, 2016, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Colorado, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
Contents
- Background
- Democratic primary
- Declared
- Republican primary
- Candidate controversies
- Withdrew
- Rejected at convention
- Declined
- Results
- References
Major party candidates can qualify for the ballot through party assemblies or by petition. To qualify by assembly, a candidate must receive at least 30 percent of the vote from the party's state assembly. To qualify by petition, the candidate must file at least 1,500 signatures from each congressional district by April 4, 2016.
Incumbent Democratic Senator Michael Bennet won re-election to a second full term in office. Bennet's main challenger was Republican nominee Darryl Glenn, an El Paso County commissioner. Glenn won a crowded, five-way Republican primary in June. Three other candidates were on the ballot: former Eagle County Commissioner Arn Menconi was the Green Party nominee; Lily Tang Williams was the Libertarian Party nominee; and Unity Party of America Chairman Bill Hammons was the Unity Party nominee.
Background
Democratic U.S. Senator Ken Salazar resigned in January 2009 to become United States Secretary of the Interior and Governor Bill Ritter appointed Bennet, the Superintendent of Denver Public Schools, to replace him. Bennet was elected to a full term in 2010, defeating Republican Ken Buck by 48.1% to 46.4%.
Democratic primary
Michael Bennet was unopposed for renomination.
Declared
Republican primary
The Colorado Republican Party State Assembly was held on April 9, 2016. Darryl Glenn won the convention with 70% of the vote. Robert Blaha, Jack Graham, Jon Keyser, and Ryan Frazier sought to qualify for the ballot by petition instead of through the State Assembly.
Glenn won the June primary with about 37.5% of the vote in the crowded, five-candidate Republican primary field.
Candidate controversies
In early May, the Denver ABC affiliate uncovered over 10 forged voter signatures on the petition which placed Republican candidate Jon Keyser on the June Republican primary ballot. The circulator who forged the signatures was arrested for 34 felonies. A late May lawsuit claiming at least 60 forged signatures based on the analysis of a handwriting expert and challenging Keyser's placement on the primary ballot was dismissed because it didn't fall within the five-day window to challenge a ballot placement.
When asked on-camera about the forgeries, Keyser didn't address the issue and proceeded to inform the interviewer that Keyser's dog was larger than the interviewer.
In early June, when asked by a fellow Republican candidate and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel whether Keyser received his Bronze Star for work on a software program or for "kicking in doors" in combat as "represented to the community," Keyser refused to answer the question and claimed he had "no idea" what software program his rival was talking about. Yet, according to the article announcing Keyser's citation, Keyser "developed and implemented a unique and effective technique to provide critical force protection and situational-awareness data to ground counter-terrorism operations."
In August 2014, Republican candidate Jack Graham was fired as Colorado State University Athletic Director for reasons that were not specified, though he would continue to be paid through the November 2016 election.
Declared
Withdrew
Rejected at convention
Declined
Results
Darryl Glenn won the general primary on June 28 and went on to face the other candidates in the November election.