Trevor Phipps and Rick Langenberg
Carl Andersen, a local business owner and civic leader, has taken a giant leap forward in his campaign to become the next Teller County commissioner.
On March 21, the Teller County Republicans held their assembly to decide who would get on the GOP primary ballot for a handful of local seats. Tallies were cast by a little more than 100 Teller Republican delegates.
Most of the seats were not contested, with only one candidate vying for a position. The big exception was the county commissioner position that sported three candidates.
In the end, Carl Andersen was the only contender who earned delegate votes to get his name on the Republican Primary ballot with 68 tallies. Candidate Aaron Helstrom picked up 19 delegate votes, while Dave Paul, a former commissioner, earned 12. The latter two candidates failed to pick up the minimum delegate threshold to qualify for a spot on the primary ballot.
Carl Andersen will now face off in the November election against Democratic commissioner candidate Dennis Lutrell, who previously served as a Teller County commissioner in the 1980s.
And there could be another candidate, running as an unaffiliated candidate, but that possible contender still needs to turn in the proper number of petition signatures.
In any case, Andersen has secured the undisputed front-runner spot, if history repeats itself. Due to the predominance of the Republican Party in Teller County, whoever wins the GOP nomination, generally emerges as the victor in the November general election.
The winner of this seat will replace Commissioner Bob Campbell for District 2. Campbell is term-limited and cannot run again.
Andersen previously vied for this position and was actually defeated by Campbell in a previous commissioner race about 10 years ago.
