With a week to go before mail ballots are due in the June 25 primary election, here’s a review of The Gazette editorial board’s endorsements in some key face-offs around metro Denver and beyond.

Jeff Hurd for the Republican nomination in Congressional District 3.

Republicans cannot afford to lose the Western Slope’s CD-3 — long considered safe GOP territory — yet it’s a distinct possibility. To hold the district, “grassroots” and “establishment” Republicans should unite behind Hurd, a Western Slope native and pragmatic conservative. Hurd represents the best hope for Republicans — incumbent Lauren Boebert having given up on CD-3 to run for Congress in the neighboring 4th Congressional District, instead.

Hurd is a great fit for CD-3, given his solid, Republican views and his statesmanlike approach. Most Western Slope voters value soft-spoken strength and a tactful touch in advocating for their Main Street conservatism. That’s Hurd, a husband and father practicing law in Grand Junction. His sharp intellect, humility, depth on the issues, and dignified style are just what the GOP needs to carry its standard if it is to carry the day against Democrats in November.

Deborah Flora for the Republican nomination in Congressional District 4.

The state’s Republicans need fresh, compelling, dynamic leaders who can lift their party out of its current doldrums. Especially in those stretches of the state that still lean to the right. Voters in one such region — the overwhelmingly Republican 4th Congressional District, which spans the eastern plains — have an opportunity to send just such a rising star to Congress. Flora not only has the ability to put the district’s deep conservatism into words and deeds in Washington; she also can infuse new vitality into the Colorado Republican cause overall.

Flora can point to conservative bona fides on all the big issues, but she also offers something of pivotal importance to a state that is at a political crossroads: She distinguishes herself as a fresh face and voice for her party’s future. A media entrepreneur; a nationally recognized parental-rights advocate; a familiar voice on talk radio, and a seasoned filmmaker who has honed conservative messaging — she is a thought leader who can advance bold ideas.

Gabe Evans for the Republican nomination in Congressional District 8.

Once again, next November’s race for Colorado’s newest congressional district promises to be a close call between the two major parties. Evans, a Republican state representative from Fort Lupton, has an impressive resumé and back story that make him compelling as a candidate — and ideally suited to address the nation’s top issues as a conservative in Congress.

Evans has served not only in the Legislature but also as a soldier, a law officer, and most recently a farmer. The Colorado native and grandson of Mexican immigrants spent 12 years in the U.S. Army and Colorado Army National Guard as a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter pilot and company commander deployed to combat. He later was an Arvada cop for 10 years and now runs a family farm with his wife in Weld County, where they live with their two young sons.

Leora Joseph for the Democratic nomination for Denver district attorney.

Joseph expresses a firm commitment to change at a time when it is so urgently needed at the Denver District Attorney’s Office. She displays a resolve to hit the reset button, hard, after eight years of soft-on-crime leadership at the DA’s office. Joseph is likely to refocus the office’s mission and make it a top priority once more to get dangerous lawbreakers off the streets.

She has served as a prosecutor in DA’s offices for 20 years. Much of that time was in leadership roles — both in Colorado’s largest judicial district, the 18th, and before that in Boston. She knows the urban crime fight at the local level, which is what Denver needs most.

George Brauchler for the Republican nomination for 23rd Judicial District attorney.

Brauchler first achieved prominence as the 18th Judicial District attorney with his unflinching prosecution of the notorious Aurora theater shooter in 2015. He now seeks election as the first-ever DA of Colorado’s newly created 23rd Judicial District, which consists of Douglas County — where Brauchler and his family have lived all along — as well as Elbert and Lincoln counties.

Brauchler brings unprecedented talent, skill, experience and insight to the 23rd’s citizens and its justice system. He also offers the heavily Republican district his well-established conservative values. He is the ideal choice for prosecutor in chief.