Michael J. Allen took 88.5 percent of the vote in Cheyenne County on Tuesday, a margin that would have carried him to the attorney general’s office if the rest of Colorado had voted the same way. Instead, Democrat Jena Griswold won the race statewide with 58.6 percent, while Allen managed only 41.4 percent across Colorado. That gap captures the night in this rural eastern Colorado county: of the 26 contests on the ballot that the whole state decided, Cheyenne County came down on the same side as Colorado in just five, and on the opposite side in 21, the Kiowa County Press reported.
For a county with 1,252 active voters, the divergence is stark. While Democrats swept all five statewide offices, Cheyenne County voted Republican in every one of them, and not by narrow margins. The pattern held across the ballot, from constitutional amendments to judicial retention, revealing a community whose priorities on crime, taxes, and immigration enforcement sit well to the right of the state’s overall electorate.
The statewide offices tell the story plainly. In the governor’s race, Victor Marx and George Washington Markert took 78.4 percent of the Cheyenne County vote, while Democrat Phil Weiser and Lesley Dahlkemper won statewide with 61.1 percent. James Wiley captured 85.8 percent here for secretary of state against Amanda Gonzalez’s 60.0 percent statewide. Kevin Grantham took 86.2 percent for state treasurer, far ahead of Jeff Bridges’s 58.6 percent statewide. And in the U.S. Senate contest, Republican Mark Baisley earned 81.9 percent of the county’s ballots, while Democrat John Hickenlooper won the seat statewide with 60.4 percent and took just 13.4 percent in Cheyenne County.
Five Measures Where the County and State Agreed
The only common ground came on five of the 14 ballot measures, and even there, Cheyenne County wanted the outcome more strongly than the state did. Amendment 85, requiring plain language in ballot titles, passed with 78.8 percent of the county vote and 50.7 percent statewide. Proposition 132, increasing penalties for fentanyl crimes, drew 85.1 percent support here and 52.6 percent statewide. Proposition 133, imposing penalties for human trafficking of a minor, won 90.4 percent in the county and 61.7 percent across Colorado. Proposition 134, addressing male and female participation in school and collegiate sports, passed with 86.1 percent locally and 52.2 percent statewide. And Proposition 135, prohibiting surgery on minors in response to perception of sex or gender, carried 88.1 percent of the county vote and 51.7 percent statewide.
Four of those five raise criminal penalties or set rules for schools and medical care for minors.
The Wide Divide on Taxes, Guns and Judges
On the other nine measures, the two electorates parted ways, and the split was just as pronounced. Cheyenne County voted yes on Amendment 81, allowing law enforcement communication with federal immigration authorities, by 83.0 percent, while the state rejected it 55.2 percent. Amendment 82, establishing a constitutional right to purchase and sell natural gas, passed 83.2 percent here but failed statewide with 54.0 percent voting no. Amendment 83, protecting hunting and fishing rights, won 80.2 percent locally against 55.3 percent statewide opposition. Amendment 84, requiring mail ballot voter identification, drew 73.8 percent support in the county, while 63.5 percent of statewide voters rejected it. Amendment 86, imposing requirements for off-cycle congressional redistricting, passed 70.3 percent here and failed with 53.5 percent statewide no votes.
The tax measures cut the other direction. Cheyenne County rejected Amendment 87, a graduated income tax, by 86.4 percent, while the state approved it with 50.6 percent. Voters here also said no to Proposition NN, which would have kept and spent money for education and other purposes, by 78.0 percent, against 55.4 percent statewide yes. Proposition 136, limiting income tax rates, passed 81.8 percent in the county but failed statewide with 52.8 percent voting no. And Proposition 137, directing sporting goods sales tax revenue to conservation, was rejected 72.5 percent here while passing statewide with 50.3 percent.
The sharpest break of all came on judicial retention. Colorado voters kept all seven of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals judges on the ballot, each by better than two to one. Cheyenne County voted to remove every one of them. The closest call was Judge Freyre, where 54.8 percent voted no. By contrast, the county voted to retain its own District Court Judge Johnson of the 15th Judicial District, with 54.1 percent voting yes.
One race remains unsettled. In the 4th Congressional District, which includes Cheyenne, Kiowa and Prowers counties along with much of eastern Colorado, Democrat Eileen Laubacher leads Republican Lauren Boebert 49.2 percent to 47.7 percent, a gap of 4,894 votes out of 343,281 counted. In Cheyenne County itself, Boebert took 81.6 percent. Turnout in Cheyenne County was 855 ballots cast, 68.3 percent of active voters, well above the statewide turnout of 54.5 percent, with 2,226,909 ballots counted from 4,085,721 active voters across Colorado.
| Contest | How Cheyenne County voted | How Colorado voted | Same side? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attorney General | Michael J. Allen 88.5% | Jena Griswold 58.6% | No |
| Governor / Lieutenant Governor | Victor Marx / George Washington Markert 78.4% | Phil Weiser / Lesley Dahlkemper 61.1% | No |
| Secretary of State | James Wiley 85.8% | Amanda Gonzalez 60.0% | No |
| State Treasurer | Kevin Grantham 86.2% | Jeff Bridges 58.6% | No |
| United States Senator | Mark Baisley 81.9% | John Hickenlooper 60.4% | No |
| Colorado Court of Appeals Judge – Freyre | No 54.8% | Yes 69.4% | No |
| Colorado Court of Appeals Judge – Harris | No 56.8% | Yes 67.9% | No |
| Colorado Court of Appeals Judge – Lum | No 56.7% | Yes 69.2% | No |
| Colorado Court of Appeals Judge – Moultrie | No 58.2% | Yes 68.6% | No |
| Colorado Court of Appeals Judge – Schock | No 56.1% | Yes 68.3% | No |
| Colorado Court of Appeals Judge – Sullivan | No 56.3% | Yes 67.6% | No |
| Colorado Supreme Court Justice – Hood | No 55.7% | Yes 66.7% | No |
| Amendment 81 — Immigration Authorities | Yes 83.0% | No 55.2% | No |
| Amendment 82 — Natural Gas | Yes 83.2% | No 54.0% | No |
| Amendment 83 — Hunt and Fish | Yes 80.2% | No 55.3% | No |
| Amendment 84 — Mail Ballot ID | Yes 73.8% | No 63.5% | No |
| Amendment 85 — Plain Language | Yes 78.8% | Yes 50.7% | Yes |
| Amendment 86 — Redistricting | Yes 70.3% | No 53.5% | No |
| Amendment 87 — Graduated Income Tax | No 86.4% | Yes 50.6% | No |
| Proposition 132 — Fentanyl Penalties | Yes 85.1% | Yes 52.6% | Yes |
| Proposition 133 — Human Trafficking | Yes 90.4% | Yes 61.7% | Yes |
| Proposition 134 — School Sports | Yes 86.1% | Yes 52.2% | Yes |
| Proposition 135 — Minors Surgery | Yes 88.1% | Yes 51.7% | Yes |
| Proposition 136 — Income Tax Limit | Yes 81.8% | No 52.8% | No |
| Proposition 137 — Conservation Funding | No 72.5% | Yes 50.3% | No |
| Proposition NN — Education Spending | No 78.0% | Yes 55.4% | No |
All results remain unofficial until each county canvass is complete, and counties will keep counting corrected ballots along with military and overseas ballots in the days after the election. With the 4th Congressional District still too close to call—Laubacher leading Boebert by 4,894 votes out of 343,281 counted—the final tally of how far Cheyenne County diverged from the state is not yet fully known. But the direction is unmistakable: a county that turned out at 68.3 percent is casting ballots that look nothing like the rest of Colorado.
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