The House District 6 Democratic primary is one of the more expensive and closely watched races in the city.
Incumbent Elisabeth Epps running against attorney Sean Camacho. Kyle Witter is running unopposed in the Republican primary.
District 6 covers parts of Capitol Hill, Congress Park, Montclair and Lowry (check your district here).
Whoever wins the Democratic primary will likely win the seat in the November general election. House District 6 is highly Democratic — Epps beat her Republican challenger in 2022 with more than 80 percent of the vote.
Unaffiliated voters can vote in either party’s primary.
🗳️ House District 6 Candidate Sean Camacho
Camacho unsuccessfully ran for the seat in 2020 and 2022.
He is a former Republican who became a Democrat and got involved in party leadership in the 2010s.
Camacho grew up in Colorado Springs and served in the Air Force before becoming an attorney, working on government contracts and commercial litigation. He is also a Reservist in the Air Force.
Camacho is endorsed by leading state Democrats including Attorney General Phil Weiser and a number of State House and Senate representatives. He has currently outraised Epps.
If elected, Camacho’s top priorities include housing, cost of living and the environment. He said he also wants to work on protecting reproductive freedom, which will be on the ballot this November.
“The things that this district needs most is affordable housing, bar none,” he said.
Camacho said he would support land use reform that would promote density and credits for first time home buyers. He also wants to reform Colorado’s tax code, including challenging or recalculating TABOR.
“I think what I bring to the table is a different approach and a different focus on collaboration,” Camacho said about his candidacy. “Most importantly, when I'm knocking doors, people just want to feel heard, and they want a representative that will listen to them and feel like they can engage with them. And that's not been happening, and that's what I would provide.”
🗳️ House District 6 Candidate Elisabeth Epps (Incumbent)
Epps was elected to the seat in 2022.
Before her election to the state House, she worked as an attorney, community organizer and criminal justice reform advocate.
She founded the Colorado Freedom Fund, a nonprofit bail organization, worked with ACLU of Colorado and was arrested and convicted in 2015 for obstructing a peace officer while helping a person in crisis.
In 2022, a group of George Floyd protesters, including Epps, won a $14 million police misconduct lawsuit.
Epps is seen as one of the more progressive members of the state legislature. She has challenged her own party leadership, bringing a lawsuit alleging a culture of secret meetings, leading to a settlement that included open meeting reform.
"I'm most proud of bringing long overdue transparency to the general assembly, while in my legislative advocacy being the principled, proven, progressive legislator that my community elected me to be," Epps said in an email to Denverite.
She has brought forth assault weapons ban legislation multiple times, most recently making it to the Senate before failing in committee. She has also worked on criminal justice reform, passing a bill reforming the clemency process that Gov. Jared Polis ultimately vetoed.
Epps was recently reprimanded by the Colorado Speaker for joining a pro-Palestinian protest at the Capitol and has spoken against the war in Gaza.
In a second term, Epps said the biggest issue in her district and in Denver more broadly is housing. She also wants to continue her work on criminal justice reform, public health and drug policy, an assault weapons ban, and labor protections for Capitol workers.
"The most important legislative accomplishments can not pass on the first attempt; that's not how the process works," she said in an email. "So while I celebrate our wins like establishing remote court watch in every Colorado judicial district, sending a ballot measure to Colorado voters to remove the marriage ban from the Constitution, passing just cause for eviction and more, I am even more proud of initiating the courageous work to tee up future wins, particularly in the areas of public health/drug policy and gun violence prevention."
🗳️ House District 6 Candidate Kyle Witter
Kyle Witter is running unopposed in the Republican primary.
A political newcomer, Witter grew up in Fort Collins and moved to Denver in 2023. He works in production at WeatherNation, a weather news network.
If elected, his top issues include funding for transportation, health care and public assistance programs.
“I'm not entirely sure, I've been thinking about that for a long time,” said Witter about how he would raise more funding for transit and healthcare. “I know none of us want to pay more taxes, but I think it would be a combination of a little bit of a tax raise plus a little bit of general fund budget work.”
Witter said he knows the general election will be difficult given the district's political makeup.
“I'm definitely aware of how tough it would be to win a race in a heavily Democratic district,” he said. “I consider myself pretty moderate and able to work across the aisle with people.”
