The biggest news from today’s GOP Assembly was the failure of the McInnis campaign to capture top line on the primary ballot. While McInnis will still be heavily favored going into the August primary, the strong Maes showing combined with Joe Gschwendtner petitioning onto the ballot could cause headaches and a chaotic three-way race.

The second biggest piece of news was the fact that J.J. Ament not only secured top line but held rival Ali Hasan off of the ballot by a comfortable margin. Ament goes on to face Walker Stapleton in the August primary.

In noteworthy, but unsurprising, news Ken Buck won a vast majority of the votes and held all minor candidates off of the ballot. There had been speculation beforehand that delegates supporting Jane Norton or Tom Wiens would try to blunt Buck’s victory by casting their vote for Cleve Tidwell or Steve Barton instead of Buck, but Buck’s 77% victory indicates this probably did not happen.

Results

Ken Buck: 77%
Cleve Tidwell: 15%

Dan Maes: 49.35%
Scott McInnis: 48.89%

J.J. Ament: 79%
Ali Hasan: 19%