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District Attorney Bruce Brown wins re-election

Jack Queen
jqueen@summitdaily.com
Democratic incumbent Bruce Brown won a second term as District Attorney on Nov. 8.
Ben Trollinger / btrollinger@summitdaily.com |

UPDATE: With all four counties reporting complete unofficial election results, District Attorney Bruce Brown has won re-election by just short of 1,000 votes. Brown, the Democratic incumbent, won the most votes in Summit, Clear Creek and Lake counties, while Republican Bruce Carey won his home county of Eagle. Independent Sanam Mehrnia had her strongest showing in Summit, bringing in 4,016 votes to Carey’s 4,938 and Brown’s 5725. All told, Brown won 18,271 votes to Carey’s 17,286 and Mehrnia’s 7,151.

The race for District Attorney of Colorado’s Fifth Judicial District was too close to call at press time last night. Democratic incumbent Bruce Brown had 18,271 total votes in the district — which comprises Clear Creek, Eagle, Lake and Summit counties — while Republican Bruce Carey had 17,286 and independent Sanam Mehrnia had 7,151.

It was not clear how many more votes would be counted, and neither Brown nor Carey was ready to call the race at 10:15. Brown said that he when he ran in 2003, he won at night but lost by the morning because new ballots trickled in. Carey said that ballots were still being counted in Eagle County, where he had his strongest showing.



Brown faced a tough challenge from his two opponents, both of whom promised to bring restorative justice and alternative sentencing practices to the county. The incumbent placed more emphasis than his challengers on securing justice for victims.

Carey took his campaign on the offensive against Brown with radio ads accusing him of failing to properly report an accident after totaling his state-owned vehicle last year. Brown fired back with his own spots, criticizing Carey for bribery and witness tampering charges that he plead down to professional misconduct in 1993. Mehrnia largely stayed out of the back and forth, focusing instead on her campaign pledge to “bring humanity back to justice.”


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