Teller Voters Demolish Bids for Sales Tax Hikes; Refuel their GOP Engines
Political Gap Widens with Neighboring El Paso County
Rick Langenberg
Teller voters came out in force in Election 2026 and made it clear they staunchly oppose new taxes, in the same staunch spirit once voiced by former President George H.W. Bush.
In a huge defeat for the Woodland Park RE-2 School District, WP voters squashed a bid for a slight sale tax hike to assist schools in dealing with their current financial crunch by a two-to-one margin.
And down the Pass, Green Mountain Falls voters heavily rejected a plan for .50 cent sales tax increase to help renovate the old Marshal’s Office building to possibly set the stage for establishing a future business operation at this site by a 70 to 30 percent margin, based on El Paso County figures late Tuesday evening. (The vast majority of GMF residents reside in El Paso County.)
But in Cripple Creek, residents said “yes” to the idea of exerting more local control and enthusiastically agreed to adopt the town’s first-ever home rule charter.
And as expected, Teller County business owner Carl Andersen emerged as the big winner in the three-way race for the District 2, County Commission seat, currently held by Bob Campbell. At the same time, local voters continued to display their strong conservative views in strongly backing the Republican nominees for key state and national positions, in tallies that were vastly different from electors in neighboring El Paso County.
These are some of the main preliminary highlights of Election 2026, dubbed as the midterms. On a national level, the Nov. 3 showdown featured a big Blue tidal wave engulfing much of the country with the Democratic Party easily regaining control of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.
Tax Issue Rejection
This blue tsunami, though, didn’t include Teller County and the Ute Pass region, with voters strongly rejecting sales tax hike increases for certain entities and projects and mostly backing GOP candidates for key races.
Despite a slew of letters and signs, proponents of the 2B measure in Woodland Park, which would have permitted a .25 percent sales tax hike for a limited period to help the RE-2 District with its current dept by helping with certain certificate of participation (COP) lease payments, suffered a 67 to 33 percent wallop. This vote emerged as the biggest surprise of the evening locally, based on the support the proposition received in letter to the editor articles and endorsements by key political figures.
A similar fate occurred down the Pass in Green Mountain Falls as voters there strongly denied a bid for a .50 cent sales tax increase to renovate the old Marshal’s Office building, located downtown. This proposition recently experienced much opposition, as many influential residents, including former Mayor Lorrie Worthey, questioned aspects of this project. Also, some residents expressed concerns about allocating this type of money towards a questionable building, instead of investing more town funds into fire mitigation.
The results of this tally were especially devastating for issue proponents in El Paso Country, where most GMF residents reside, with more than 70 percent of the voters saying “no.” If the measure passed, city leaders had hoped to possibly lease out the structure to a future business, such as a prospective convenience store operator.
Like the 2B measure this 3A measure got endorsed by key leaders, such as Mayor Todd Dixon.
Residents continued this anti-tax sentiment in denying plans for a tax increase for the Florissant Fire Protection District and in rejecting a “de-Bruceing” measure for the Rainbow Valley Water District
The one local exception to this volley of anti-local ballot propositions occurred in Cripple Creek, with voters giving the final nod for the community’s bid to become a home rule city. By a nearly 20 percent margin, voters okayed a new proposed city charter, which will serve as the gaming community’s mini-constitution, and allow it to no longer be hampered or restricted by state statues. This tally put the final touches on a several-year home rule campaign, featuring many community meetings.
Carl Andersen Wins Big; Teller Residents Support Key GOP Nominees.
The big local political winner of the Nov. 3 election was business owner and civic leader Carl Andersen, who finally prevailed in his bid to become the new District 2 county commissioner. Come January, Andersen will take over the seat currently held for years by Bob Campbell. Andersen campaigned heavily on following in the footsteps of the current board members, especially in their fight against many new laws proposed at the state level.
He faced two opponents, Democratic Party nominee Dennis Luttrell, a former commissioner in the 1980; and Don Moore, a write-contender who mounted a heavily visible campaign on social media outlets, advocating more assistance for residents with fire mitigation projects. Andersen won convincingly snagging nearly 60 percent of the tallies. Meanwhile, Andersen’s biggest competitor, Luttrell, only obtained 27 percent of the votes. Moore obtained about 14 percent of the tallies.
In key state and national races, Teller voters reaffirmed their heavy GOP roots in strongly backing the key Republican contenders in races for governor, Colorado’s U..S. senator seat, attorney general and the congressional district 7 race.
Probably the biggest surprise was the strong support shown towards Victor Marx, the Republican nominee for governor, who faced an uphill struggle against Democratic front-runner Phil Weiser. Marx gained much acclaim for his somewhat unconventional campaign and bizarre statements. Still, Teller voters gave him the nod for governor by a nearly 60 percent vote margin. On a statewide basis, current Attorney General Phil Weiser captured this seat by more than a 30 percent margin.
Election 2026 also indicated a growing political gap between the views of voters in Teller and neighboring El Paso County, which displayed more blue colors than previous elections. In fact, El Paso County votes were leaning toward picking the first-ever Democratic candidate to take charge of the U.S. House of Representative District 5 seat. At press time, Democratic candidate Jessic Killin was poised to defeat incumbent GOP candidate Jeff Crank in a race that attracted record spending and a deluge of negative advertising. This seat was often proclaimed as one of the safest Republican seats in the entire U.S. Congress.
No real surprises emerged in the state ballot issues, with most voters supporting ones that advocated more conservative causes and questions advocating rights for those wanting to purchase natural gas and reaffirming their passion for hunting and providing more cooperation with the federal ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Altogether, more than 70 percent of the eligible voters in Teller County participated in Election 2026, which is considered quite impressive.
