Velasco re-elected to House District 57 for second term

Unofficial election results show incumbent Rep. Elizabeth Velasco (D-Glenwood Springs) is on track to secure her second two-year term as House District 57 representative, beating challenger Caleb Waller (R-Silt). Velasco holds 55.56% of the vote as of noon on Wednesday. 

Roughly 39,516 ballots have been counted with Garfield, Pitkin and Eagle counties still updating their post-election reporting. Velasco had 21,956 votes to Waller’s 17,560 in the most recent batch of results, amounting to a difference of over 10 percentage points.

House District 57 covers the Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys and much of the Western portion of the Interstate 70 corridor, including Garfield and Pitkin counties and part of Eagle County. A confirmed victory will see Velasco continue to represent the district’s roughly 88,857 residents, the majority of which live in Garfield County.

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Velasco took to social media shortly after 9:30 p.m. to call the race, thanking voters for their support.

On Wednesday morning, Waller went live on his personal Facebook to congratulate Velasco on her win and express his optimism over Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential race. While reflecting on the race, he stated that he was “definitely not going away.”

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“Yesterday was a great day for America,” he said in his livestream. “I want to congratulate (Velasco) on her win. We ran a great race, and one thing I appreciate about our race is that it didn’t seem like it got muddy.”

Before the district boundaries were redrawn in 2021, voters in House District 57 had a 40-year history of electing Republican representatives. The new maps gave Democrats a 16% tilt during the 2022 election, which has persisted into 2024 with Velasco’s win.

Velasco won her seat in 2022 after beating former incumbent Rep. Perry Will, making her the first Mexican-born representative in Colorado. During her first term, Velasco helped protect the rights of mobile home owners, collaborated in creating grants for organizations supporting migrants, improved water quality in mobile home parks and assisted communities in applying for wildfire grant funding.

Her voting history was slightly more progressive than neighboring representatives in her party, during which she voted yes on the final floor vote for roughly 523 bills in the Democrat-controlled House during the 2024 legislative session and was the prime sponsor on 33 bills that became law.

Waller is a real estate business owner and former organic farmer. He announced his candidacy for House District 57 after he lost the Republican nomination for November’s Garfield County commissioner race to Will.

His platform has largely focused on promoting free-market housing solutions, prioritizing core subjects and school choice in education and reducing regulations on oil and gas production, particularly due to its economic heft in Garfield County.

Waller considers himself a moderate Republican and said he has received criticism from state Republicans for saying he would not support a statewide abortion ban.

Housing costs have been a major issue for several Colorado races in this election cycle. Garfield County was ranked as the most difficult county in the United States for homebuyers in NBC News’ April 2024 Home Buyer Index.

Waller’s solution proposes moving away from government-subsidized housing and toward a free-market approach, as well as eliminating development regulations like the Construction Defect Reform Act that he said have driven up the cost of building affordable housing.