School board races in Colorado were the ones to watch Tuesday night, as statewide ballot issues seemed settled in early returns.

Big spending and high passion yielded mixed results.

The slate of conservative-backed candidates in Douglas County appeared to have won all four races, the biggest victory of the night, based on unofficial returns.

Results were split in other districts, including the board for Aurora Public Schools and in Mesa County. The biggest spending was for four seats in Denver Public Schools, and early results show candidates backed by the teachers’ union winning two of the four seats with two seats too close to call.

Driving the fervor in many locations were mask mandates, arguments about critical race theory, school closings and testing tied to COVID-19, and even fights over issues unrelated to school boards. Spending by dark money groups (which don’t disclose who funds them) has topped $2 million, with the big bucks going to candidates in Denver and Douglas County.

Jefferson County

At stake in the state’s second-largest school district: control of the board by candidates backed by teachers’ unions or those supported by conservative causes.

Incumbents who chose not to run again held two of the three seats on this year’s ballot and had been backed by the union in past elections.

Unofficial results show the Jeffco Kids slate of Danielle Varda (District 1), Paula Reed  (District 2) and Mary Parker (District 5) winning by comfortable margins. The slate was backed by the Jefferson County Education Association and the Colorado Education Association, as well as from an independent expenditure committee (IEC), Students Deserve Better, funded by CEA and several other teachers’ unions along the Front Range. IECs are allowed to collect unlimited contributions but are forbidden by state law from coordinating with candidates they support.

Varda won over Jeffrey Wilhite, Reed defeated Therese Shelton and David Johnson, and Parker defeated Kathy Miks.

The Jefferson County GOP endorsed Shelton, Miks and Wilhite.

Brooke Williams, president of the Jeffco Education Association, told Colorado Politics “Voters showed they trust the educators in the classroom. I’m very excited because these are the candidates who will help unite our community for our students’ future…they’re going to be focused on our students, expanding career and technical education programs and career opportunities, what our students need and what educators need to improve education in Jeffco and give students the best possible experience.”

Douglas County

Douglas County school board meetings have become raucous affairs in recent months, with accusations on both sides of bad behavior.

One candidate, incumbent Kevin Leung, filed a police report claiming he was attacked by an audience member at a candidates’ forum.

Four seats were up for grabs on the seven-member board. Unofficial results show the conservative Kids First slate of Mike Peterson, Kaylee Winegar, Christy Williams and Becky Myers defeated the CommUNITY slate of incumbents Kevin Leung and Krista Holtzmann, as well as Ruby Martinez and Juli Watkins.

The board is set to shift from one largely supported by teachers’ advocates to a 4-3 board backed by conservative education groups. IECs spent heavily to back the Kids First Slate.

Tyler Sandberg of Ready Colorado Action, one of the big funders of the DougCo Kids First Slate, said the wins are “a repudiation of a union-backed board that kept schools closed for too long. The election is shaping up as a tsunami of parent power across the state,” he said, pointing to results in D11 in Colorado Springs and D6 in Greeley.

Denver

The seven-member Denver Public School board had 13 candidates vying for four seats.

Only one incumbent, Carrie Olson, ran for re-election, and unofficial results show her winning comfortably over Mike DeGuire. Five candidates ran for the at-large open seat (Marla Benavides, Scott Esserman, Vernon Jones Jr., Jane Shirley and Nicky Yollick), with Esserman winning by more than 10,000 votes. In District 2, unofficial results show Xóchitl “Sochi” Gaytán winning by 64 votes over Karolina Villagrana. In District 4, Michelle Quattlebaum defeated Gene Fashaw by 267 votes, with José Silva a distant third.

IECs spent more than $1 million to back the slate of Jones, Villagrana and Fashaw. The Denver Classroom Teachers’ Association and its IEC backed Olson, Quattlebaum, Gaytán and Esserman, although spending considerably less.

Cherry Creek

Heated discussions have characterized school board meetings in this Arapahoe County school district, including accusations that the district is teaching critical race theory (the district says it isn’t) and arguments over over mask mandates.

Unofficial results show incumbent Kelly Bates in District D cruising to victory over opponents Jen Gibbons and Schumé Navarro, who sued the district and won a temporary injunction that allowed her to participate in the final candidates’ forum without a mask. In District E, Kristin Allan defeated Jason Lester and Bill Leach by large margins.

Bates and Allan were both backed by teachers’ unions.

Aurora (Adams-Arapahoe) 

The Aurora school district, known as Adams-Arapahoe 28J, saw some of the biggest spending by independent expenditure committees, both from the teachers’ union committee and from conservative IECs that don’t disclose their donors.

Six candidates — voters could choose up to four for the at-large seats — vied for four seats on the seven-member board: Michael Carter, Christy Cummings, Tramaine Duncan, Debbie Gerkin, Anne Keke and Danielle Tomwing.

IECs spent heavily to back Keke and Tomwing, including from Ready Colorado and the Colorado League of Charter Schools. Unofficial results show Keke, Gerkin and Carter comfortably taking three of the four seats with the fourth won by Duncan.

Mesa County

The Mesa County school board election has had a rocky year; one member, Paul Pitton, resigned in September, citing politicization of issues. In August, school board members had to be escorted to their cars by police officers after one particularly heated meeting over public comments.

Conservative groups, such as Stand for the Constitution, backed the slate of Andrea Haitz in District C, Will Jones in District D and Angela Lema in District E. The Mesa County Education Association endorsed Nick Allan (District D), David Combs (District E) and Trish Mahre, the incumbent from District C. Also in that race, Austin DeWitt.

Unofficial results show Haitz, Jones and Lema were the victors.

School board races in Colorado were the ones to watch Tuesday night, as statewide ballot issues seemed settled in early returns.

Big spending and high passion yielded mixed results.

The slate of conservative-backed candidates in Douglas County appeared to have won all four races, the biggest victory of the night, based on unofficial returns.

Results were split in other districts, including the board for Aurora Public Schools and in Mesa County. The biggest spending was for four seats in Denver Public Schools, and early results show candidates backed by the teachers’ union winning two of the four seats with two seats too close to call.

Driving the fervor in many locations were Colormask mandates, arguments about critical race theory, school closings and testing tied to COVID-19, and even fights over issues unrelated to school boards. Spending by dark money groups (which don’t disclose who funds them) has topped $2 million, with the big bucks going to candidates in Denver and Douglas County.

Jefferson County

At stake in the state’s second-largest school district: control of the board by candidates backed by teachers’ unions or those supported by conservative causes.

Incumbents who chose not to run again held two of the three seats on this year’s ballot. All three were backed by the union in past elections.

Early results show the Jeffco Kids slate of Danielle Varda (District 1), Paula Reed (District 2) and Mary Parker (District 5) winning by comfortable margins. The slate was backed by the Jefferson County Education Association and the Colorado Education Association, as well as from an independent expenditure committee (IEC), Students Deserve Better, funded by CEA and several other teachers’ unions along the Front Range. IECs are allowed to collect unlimited contributions but are forbidden by state law from coordinating with candidates they support.

Should those results stand, Varda wins over Jeffrey Wilhite, Reed defeats Therese Shelton and David Johnson, and Parker defeats Kathy Miks.

The Jefferson County GOP endorsed Shelton, Miks and Wilhite.

Brooke Williams, president of the Jeffco Education Association, told Colorado Politics “Voters showed they trust the educators in the classroom. I’m very excited because these are the candidates who will help unite our community for our students’ future…they’re going to be focused on our students, expanding career and technical education programs and career opportunities, what our students need and what educators need to improve education in Jeffco and give students the best possible experience.”

Douglas County

Douglas County school board meetings have become raucous affairs in recent months, with accusations on both sides of bad behavior.

One candidate, incumbent Kevin Leung, filed a police report claiming he was attacked by an audience member at a candidates’ forum.

Four seats were up for grabs on the seven-member board. As of 9 p.m., the conservative Kids First slate of Mike Peterson, Kaylee Winegar, Christy Williams and Becky Myers are defeating the CommUNITY slate of incumbents Kevin Leung and Krista Holtzmann, as well as Ruby Martinez and Juli Watkins.

The board would would shift from one largely supported by teachers’ advocates to a 4-3 board backed by conservative education groups. IECs spent heavily to back the Kids First Slate.

Tyler Sandberg of Ready Colorado Action, one of the big funders of the DougCo Kids First Slate, said the wins are “a repudiation of a union-backed board that kept schools closed for too long. The election is shaping up as a tsunami of parent power across the state,” he said, pointing to results in D11 in Colorado Springs and D6 in Greeley.

Denver

The seven-member Denver Public School board had 13 candidates vying for four seats.

Only one incumbent, Carrie Olson, ran for re-election, and as of 9 p.m. Olson holds a strong lead over Mike DeGuire. Five candidates ran for the at-large open seat (Marla Benavides, Scott Esserman, Vernon Jones Jr., Jane Shirley and Nicky Yollick), with Esserman in front of all challengers by a more than 10,000 vote lead. In District 2, Xóchitl “Sochi” Gaytán has a 46-vote lead over Karolina Villagrana, In District 4, Michelle Quattlebaum leads Gene Fashaw by 235 votes, with José Silva a distant third.

IECs spent more than $1 million to back the slate of Jones, Villagrana and Fashaw. The Denver Classroom Teachers’ Association and its IEC backed Olson, Quattlebaum, Gaytán and Esserman, although spending considerably less.

Cherry Creek

Heated discussions have characterized school board meetings in this Arapahoe County school district, including accusations that the district is teaching critical race theory (the district says it isn’t) and arguments over over mask mandates.

As of 8:30 p.m., incumbent Kelly Bates in District D held a commanding lead over her two opponents, Jen Gibbons and Schumé Navarro, who sued the district and won a temporary injunction that allowed her to participate in the final candidates’ forum without a mask. In District E, Kristin Allan also holds a strong lead over Jason Lester and Bill Leach.

Bates and Allan were both backed by teachers’ unions.

Aurora (Adams-Arapahoe)

The Aurora school district, known as Adams-Arapahoe 28J, saw some of the biggest spending by independent expenditure committees, both from the teachers’ union committee and from conservative IECs that don’t disclose their donors.

Six candidates — voters could choose up to four for the at-large seats — vied for four seats on the seven-member board: Michael Carter, Christy Cummings, Tramaine Duncan, Debbie Gerkin, Anne Keke and Danielle Tomwing.

IECs spent heavily to back Keke and Tomwing, including from Ready Colorado and the Colorado League of Charter Schools. Early returns show Keke, Gerkin and Carter taking three of the four seats; the fourth is still too close to call but Duncan leads the other two candidates by 306 votes as of 8:30 p.m.

Mesa County

The Mesa County school board election has had a rocky year; one member, Paul Pitton, resigned in September, citing politicization of issues. In August, school board members had to be escorted to their cars by police officers after one particularly heated meeting over public comments.

Conservative groups, such as Stand for the Constitution, backed the slate of Andrea Haitz in District C, Will Jones in District D and Angela Lema in District E. The Mesa County Education Association endorsed Nick Allan (District D), David Combs (District E) and Trish Mahre, the incumbent from District C. Also in that race, Austin DeWitt. As of 9 p.m., the race in District C has tightened, with Mahre’s 932-vote early lead over Haitz down to 320 votes. Jones holds a 609-vote lead over Allen and Lema leads Combs by 3,068 votes.