Kenneth Kimple leads the race for mayor of Monument and Kent Hutson leads in Palmer Lake, Monument’s use tax on construction is losing, and Democrat Jessica Killin leads Rep. Jeff Crank in a congressional district that has only ever elected Republicans. The count is unofficial, and El Paso County is still counting.
On the unofficial count, Kenneth Kimple has 2,969 votes for mayor of Monument to 1,933 for Laura Kronick, or 60.6 percent to 39.4 percent. In Palmer Lake, Kent Hutson has 680 votes for mayor to 489 for Atis Jurka. Ballot Issue 2B, which would raise Monument’s use tax on construction materials and equipment from 2 percent to 3.5 percent, is losing by 433 votes.
In the Fifth Congressional District, Democrat Jessica Killin leads Republican Rep. Jeff Crank by 13,251 votes, 50.8 percent to 45.9 percent. Every member the district has sent to Congress since it was created in 1973 has been a Republican. Killin is on track to become the first Democrat to win the seat.
All of these figures are unofficial. Town and county results are the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder’s count as of 5:04 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 4; congressional and statewide results are the Colorado Secretary of State’s as of 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 4. Counting continues, and close results can still move. The Independent’s live results page carries each new count as the county and the state release it.
Monument
Both mayoral candidates sit on the Monument Town Council: Kimple represents District 2 and Kronick District 1. The town charter requires a council member elected mayor to give up the council seat, so if Kimple’s lead holds, his District 2 seat, which runs to 2028, falls vacant, and the council has 90 days to fill it by appointment or a special election. Kronick keeps her District 1 seat. The new mayor takes office in January, succeeding Mitch LaKind, who did not seek re-election.
Scott Gilson and Alex Valderrama were the only candidates for the two at-large council seats, so both will join the council. The count decides the length of their terms: the at-large candidate with more votes serves four years and the other two. Gilson has 2,655 votes to Valderrama’s 2,509, a margin of 146.
Dan DeBoo in District 1 and Marco P. Fiorito, who holds the District 2 seat now, ran unopposed. Three of the four council members chosen in this election will be new to the council.
Palmer Lake
Hutson, a neuroradiologist who chaired the volunteer team that wrote Palmer Lake’s 2022 community master plan, has 58.2 percent of the vote to 41.8 percent for Jurka, a trustee since December 2024. The mayor serves two years. The office changes hands whichever way the count ends, because Dennis Stern, the mayor now, ran for trustee instead. If Hutson’s lead holds, Jurka keeps his seat on the board.
Ten candidates ran for five of the six trustee seats. The five with the most votes are Becky Albright (678), Eric Alan Burton (586), William Bass (516), Tony Beltran (497) and Dennis Stern (492). The town is restoring staggered terms, so the two with the most votes will serve four years and the next three two years. Beth Harris, a sitting trustee, is sixth, 36 votes behind Stern. Of the five leaders, Beltran is a sitting trustee and Stern is the mayor; Albright, Burton and Bass are not on the board now.
Ballot Issue 2B
Ballot Issue 2B has 2,978 votes against and 2,545 for, 53.9 percent to 46.1 percent. The measure, Ordinance No. 19-2026, would raise the use tax Monument charges on construction and building materials and construction equipment from 2 percent to 3.5 percent from Jan. 1, 2027, matching the town’s sales tax. The town estimated the increase at $2,272,500 in its first year, to be spent on capital projects including streets, roads, bridges, sidewalks and stormwater. If the count holds, the rate stays at 2 percent.
The Independent’s analysis before the vote found Monument’s rate lower than that of any of ten Front Range towns of similar size; at 3.5 percent it would sit in the middle of the group.
The Fifth Congressional District
Killin has 136,461 votes to Crank’s 123,210. Libertarian Mark Elworth has 4,722 votes and Christopher Mitchell of the American Constitution Party 4,306. The district lies entirely inside El Paso County and takes in every Tri-Lakes precinct.
Crank won the seat in 2024, after Doug Lamborn retired, by 13.8 points. Lamborn and the three members before him, Joel Hefley, Ken Kramer and William Armstrong, were all Republicans. The Colorado Sun’s report, last updated at 8:19 a.m. on Nov. 4, described the race as too close to call, and NBC News had not projected a winner when the Independent checked its results at 5:22 p.m..
Before the vote the Independent put the same five questions to both candidates and published their answers in full, alongside a check of each campaign’s claims against the record.
El Paso County
Sheriff Joe Roybal, a Republican, leads Democrat Mateo Montoya-Collis, 54.7 percent to 45.3 percent, a margin of 25,174 votes countywide.
In District 1, the open commissioner’s seat that takes in Woodmoor, Gleneagle and Black Forest, Republican Ryan Graham leads Democrat Gavin Rainey with 38,474 votes to 25,834, or 58.6 percent to 39.4 percent. Matt Grubesic, a write-in candidate, has 1,329 votes, or 2.0 percent; the county’s count includes the write-in votes cast for him. Monument and Palmer Lake are in District 3, whose seat was not on this ballot.
In District 5, Democrat Yolanda Avila leads with 23,027 votes, or 58.3 percent, to 16,450, or 41.7 percent, for Republican Lauren Nelson, who was appointed to the seat in June 2025.
Through Oct. 25, the end of the last reporting period before the election, Graham had raised $80,354 and Rainey $768, according to their reports in the state’s TRACER campaign finance system. In District 5, Nelson’s campaign had raised $153,251 and Avila’s $127,062. The table gives each candidate’s total and any money the candidates lent their own campaigns.
| Candidate | Raised | Lent by candidate |
|---|---|---|
| Ryan Graham District 1 · Republican | $80,354 | $45,000 |
| Gavin Rainey District 1 · Democratic. Lent $412, since repaid | $768 | — |
| Matt Grubesic District 1 · Write-in. Includes $2,440 in goods and services he donated himself | $4,348 | — |
| Lauren Nelson District 5 · Republican. Two committees (see the note below) | $153,251 | $4,400 |
| Yolanda Avila District 5 · Democratic | $127,062 | $10,000 |
County Ballot Issue 1A, which would extend the county’s 0.23 percent public safety sales and use tax, at the same rate, to Jan. 1, 2037, for the sheriff, the jail and wildfire response, is passing with 74.7 percent of the vote.
Statewide offices
Democrats lead in all five statewide races on the ballot, each with more than 58 percent of the statewide vote: John Hickenlooper for the U.S. Senate, Phil Weiser for governor, Jena Griswold for attorney general, Amanda Gonzalez for secretary of state and Jeff Bridges for treasurer.
Statewide ballot measures
Colorado’s constitution requires 55 percent of the vote for an amendment proposed by citizens (Article V, Section 1(4)(b)), and all seven on this ballot, Amendments 81 through 87, were proposed by citizens. None has reached 55 percent. Amendments 85, on plain-language ballot questions, and 87, on graduated income tax rates, have majorities, at 51.0 and 50.5 percent, but not 55. The other five are below 50 percent.
The seven propositions change state law and need a simple majority. Five are passing: Propositions NN, 132, 133, 134 and 135. Proposition 136, which would cap the state income tax rate at 4.4 percent, is failing. Proposition 137, which would let the state keep part of its sales tax on sporting goods for conservation, wildfire prevention and outdoor recreation, is the closest of the statewide measures: Yes leads by 26,339 votes of 2,261,379 counted, 50.6 percent to 49.4 percent.
Front Range Passenger Rail District Ballot Issue 7A, decided only by voters inside the rail district, which takes in part or all of 13 counties including El Paso, is passing with 56.4 percent. It would add a 0.333 percent sales and use tax, raising $295 million a year, and allow $580 million in debt to build and run passenger rail from Pueblo to Fort Collins.
What happens next
Voters asked to fix a signature or identification problem have until 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 12, and ballots from military and overseas voters count if they arrive by the same day. The county must finish its official canvass by Wednesday, Nov. 25. The new mayors of Monument and Palmer Lake take office in January.
Sources & further reading
The Independent’s own coverage: Live Results: Tri-Lakes Races and Statewide Measures, the count as each update arrives · El Paso County Turnout Has Already Passed Its 2022 Level, turnout so far against 2022 and 2024 · Tri-Lakes Votes Today, the election-day guide to every race · Kenneth Kimple Wants Monument Ready Before It Needs to Be and Laura Kronick Reads Every Line of the Budget, the Monument mayoral profiles · Kent Hutson Chaired Palmer Lake’s Master Plan and Atis Jurka Wants Palmer Lake Residents Heard First, the Palmer Lake mayoral profiles · Six Candidates, Five Seats, One Contested Race, Monument’s seats, terms and the charter rule on vacancies · LaKind Will Not Seek Re-Election as Mayor of Monument · Palmer Lake’s November Ballot Is Set, the trustee field and the staggered terms · Palmer Lake Candidate Forum, October 4, 2026, what each candidate said · 2B Asks Monument’s Builders to Pay the Rate Shoppers Already Do, the use tax set against ten similar towns · Crank and Killin Answer Our Questions and Crank and Killin, in Their Own Words, the Fifth District race · Matt Grubesic Enters the District 1 Commissioner Race as a Write-In, the District 1 field · The Final Countdown, the commissioner candidates’ money before the primary
Official results: El Paso County unofficial results · Colorado Secretary of State unofficial results
Records: Colorado Secretary of State, 2026 Election Calendar (PDF) · 2026 County Frequent Campaign and Political Finance Calendar (PDF) · Secretary of State, 2026 ballot certification · TRACER campaign finance database · Colorado Constitution, 2026 edition (PDF; Article V, Section 1) · El Paso County, District 1 Commissioner · District 5 Commissioner
Other reporting: The Colorado Sun, “Race between Republican Jeff Crank, Democrat Jessica Killin in 5th Congressional District race is too close to call,” Nov. 4, 2026 · NBC News, Colorado House District 5 results
Methodology
Every result in this article is unofficial. Town results, the county races and County Ballot Issue 1A are El Paso County’s count as of 5:04 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 4. The Fifth District race, the statewide offices, the statewide measures and Ballot Issue 7A are the Colorado Secretary of State’s district-wide or statewide totals as of 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 4. Both come from the official election-night reporting feeds, as captured for the Independent’s live results page; the Independent does not change the figures. The Fifth District lies wholly inside El Paso County, and the county’s and the state’s counts for it are identical. Margins are the Independent’s subtraction from the counted votes.
“Leads,” “is passing” and “is failing” describe the count so far, not a call of any race. In Palmer Lake’s trustee race, where five seats are being filled, the five candidates with the most votes are described as leading. That the Fifth District has sent only Republicans to Congress is reported by The Colorado Sun and was checked against the list of the district’s past members; Crank’s 2024 margin is from the Independent’s September reporting on the race.
Fundraising figures are contributions reported to the Colorado Secretary of State through Oct. 25, the end of the last reporting period before the election under the state’s 2026 filing calendar for county candidates; the next reports are due Dec. 8. They come from the state’s TRACER bulk data, downloaded Nov. 4, and are summed with every amendment the campaigns filed. Loans candidates made to their own campaigns are listed in their own column, apart from money raised. Lauren Nelson’s total includes the committee from her 2025 vacancy election, which transferred money to her 2026 committee; money moved between her own committees is counted once, as the Independent has counted these races since June.
In the charts, bars in partisan races use the colors common on results pages, blue for Democratic, red for Republican, gold for Libertarian and gray for other parties, and each candidate’s party is printed beside the name. Every bar in a nonpartisan town race is the same green. On ballot measures, Yes is green and No is red, and a line marks the share needed to pass: 55 percent for the constitutional amendments and a majority for everything else. The 55 percent rule is in Article V, Section 1(4)(b) of the Colorado Constitution, read in the General Assembly’s 2026 edition, and applies to amendments proposed by citizens that do more than repeal; the Secretary of State’s ballot certification lists all seven amendments as citizen initiatives. The one-line description under each measure is the Independent’s summary of its certified ballot language.
Using this reporting? Credit The Monument Independent and link to this article: https://monumentindependent.com/government/tri-lakes-election-results-2026-wrap-up/. Our guidelines are at Using Our Reporting.
