Republican Jeff Crank took a step closer to replacing retiring U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn Tuesday night when the political operative and former talk radio host defeated Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams in the 5th Congressional District’s GOP primary.

Crank jumped to an early lead over Williams, a former state lawmaker from Colorado Springs, in preliminary, unofficial vote counts shortly after polls closed at 7 p.m. in the heavily Republican district, which covers most of El Paso County, including Colorado Springs.

The Associated Press declared Crank the winner at 8:01 p.m.

Crank was leading Williams by two-to-one in the vote count at 11 p.m. with 52,996 votes to Williams’ 27,258, or 66% to 34%.

Crank will face the winner of a Democratic primary between educator River Gassen and military veteran Joe Reagan, both first-time candidates. In early results, Reagan held a narrow lead over Gassen.

In January, Lamborn announced he wouldn’t seek a 10th term, setting off a scramble among fellow Republicans hoping to secure the only Colorado district that’s never elected a Democrat.

Both Crank and Williams have lost primary runs against Lamborn — Crank in 2006 and 2008, and Williams in 2022. Their matchup quickly evolved into what Williams described as a battle for the soul of the state’s Republican Party, between the GOP’s more established wing, represented by Crank, and partisans more closely aligned with former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Williams.

“This is now a Republican unity party,” Crank told supporters at the Boot Barn in Colorado Springs. “I’m very excited to help President Trump win the election, and I’m excited to help the rest of our candidates get elected.”

Williams said in an emailed statement that he was proud of the campaign he waged, characterizing his run as an attempt to “take back Colorado Springs from DC insiders.”

“This race has shown the disproportionate influence that dark money organizations and out-of-state billionaires have on elections across the country,” Williams said.T”his was not a campaign against Jeff Crank, but a battle against deep pocketed influence peddlers that wish to control this district.”

Williams slammed a slew of groups that supported Crank and spent more than $2 million pummeling Williams with attack ads. Williams added that despite being “the No. 1 target of the liberal press and establishment class in Washington, I never backed down from a fight and never compromised my Conservative, Christian beliefs.”

While he didn’t explicitly congratulate Crank, Williams vowed to work with the winners of Tuesday’s primary in his capacity as state GOP chair “to ensure that we have successful Conservative victories up and down the ballot in November.”

Williams has faced criticism since launching his run for using the state party’s resources to support his own campaign, including sending mailers from the state party that criticized Crank while boosting Williams.

This month, Republicans have also called on Williams to resign after the state GOP sent out emails and social media posts attacking the LGBTQ community’s Pride Month, including issuing a call to “Burn all the #pride flags this June.”