Meet Your New Woodland Park Mayor
Six Candidates Enter the City Races; Three Vying for Teller Commissioner
Trevor Phipps
Election fever is now full swing, with several key municipal and county elections hitting full stride, with a slew of candidates officially bolting from the gates.
This year, Woodland Park will gain a new mayor, and Teller County will swear in a new commissioner. Other county seats and Woodland Park City Council positions are also up for grabs, not to mention key state positions later in the year.
In the City Above The Clouds, the dais could experience a major change in faces as four out of the six council seats plus the mayoral position are open. Kellie Case, the current Woodland Park mayor is term-limited, barring her from running for any type of city office in 2026
For the city of Woodland Park, the regularly scheduled municipal election will take place on April 7. In early January, prospective candidates were able to pick up their petitions to start obtaining signatures.
The candidates were then given 20 days to get the required number of signatures on the petition to run. Anyone wanting to officially get on the city council ballot for 2026 then had to have their petitions turned in with enough signatures by the end of business day on Jan. 26.
Surprisingly, only one candidate filled out a petition for mayor. In addition, five contenders plan to run for the four open council seats. The turnout for WP candidates this year is lower than in the past.
As a result of the petitions submitted, local business owner and veteran councilman George Jones will become the next Woodland Park mayor, barring any legal hiccups or bizarre developments. Jones is certainly no newcomer to Woodland Park community and political affairs. He has served on the city council, since being elected in April 2024. He is also a well-known community member, who co-owns two downtown WP retail businesses with his wife Lynn Jones.
According to a city press release, the official candidates for council include Mary Sekowski, Seth Bryant, Caterine Nakai, Don Dezellem and Jeffery Geer.
However, this election could get interesting because Jones (along with Councilman Steve “Smitty” Smith) both have city council terms that run until 2028. If Jones gets elected as mayor, which is inevitable, a fifth city council spot would be up for grabs.
Therefore, there is a chance that all five city council candidates could get a spot on the council table.. But, the fifth council spot won’t get open until Jones gets sworn in as mayor. That means that the council could choose to offer the open position to the candidate with the least amount of votes or appoint someone completely different.
In the past, the council has toyed with both options.
According to city officials, a ballot lot drawing, to determine the order of names appearing on the ballot, will occur on Feb. 4. For information about the forthcoming city elections, visit the city’s website.
County Elections
Every even-numbered year, Teller County also sees a change in command for certain seats. This year, the County Commissioner District 2 seat, which has been held by Bob Campbell for the last eight years, is up for grabs. The assessor, clerk and recorder, sheriff, surveyor, treasurer and coroner positions are all also up for election, but no challengers have entered the competitions.
At press time, there were three candidates vying for the sole open county commissioner seat. Former county commissioner Dave Paul is in the process of gathering petitions and Teller County residents Carl Andersen and Aaron Helstrom have entered the fray as GOP contenders. Commissioner Campbell is term-limited and barred from running again.
The other county positions so far are being uncontested. The incumbents: Assessor Kurt Scheonberger, Clerk and Recorder Stephanie Kees, Treasurer Krystal Brown and Coroner Stephen Tomsky are all running for re-election. The county surveyor position currently does not have a candidate signed up to run.
The county will also see a new head law enforcement leader this year as current sheriff Jason Mikesell (who has held his position for the past 10 years) is now term limited. Current Detentions Commander Kevin Tedesco has announced that he will be seeking the position in 2026.
Sheriff Jason Mikesell for quite some time has pursued an aggressive campaign to replace Governor Jared Polis as Colorado’s next top gubernatorial boss. The Republican slate of candidates got a bit thinner when former U.S. Rep. Greg Lopez dropped from the Republican slate to run unaffiliated and Woodland Park’s State Senator Mark Baisley opted to run for John Hickenlooper’s U.S. Senate seat.
The sheriff is now looking for the Republican nomination, and faces competition from Scott Bottoms, Jason Clark, Joshua Griffin, Barbara Kirkmeyer, Victor Marx, Will McBride and Joe Oltmann. Whoever wins the Republican nomination will challenge the winner of the Democratic primaries, (which is currently a face-off between current Attorney General Phil Weiser and U.S. Senator Michael Bennet) in November. No GOP contender has won the Colorado governor’s seat for decades.
First Battleground Contests
Although the county and state seats won’t be determined until November. Many of these positions, such as the County Commissioner District 2 seat, could get firmed up and possibly resolved by later this spring and early summer during the respective Teller GOP assembly and primary. Since the vast majority of residents are affiliated with the Republican Party, the county’s elected positions could be determined at this stage.
The competitive race for governor also will feature a much thinned-down field by this summer, following the GOP and Democratic primaries.
The next official showdown for many of these seats occurs during the GOP and Democratic caucuses, aimed at lobbying party leaders to support their candidates of choice.
