Incumbent Republican Commissioner Mike Samson and outgoing Republican State Sen. Perry Will are the winners of Tuesday’s Garfield County Commission races, according to unofficial election results from the Garfield County Clerk and Recorder. 

Two seats were up for election on the three-person county commission this year. 

District 2 candidate Will leads with 15,429 votes (54%) to Democrat and New Castle Town Councilor Caitlin Carey’s 13,409 (46%). Around 77% of active Garfield County voters cast their ballots in Tuesday’s election, as of the county’s most recent update on Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 12:24 p.m.

Will is set to replace County Commissioner John Martin, who has served seven four-year terms, in January. Martin decided not to run again earlier this year. 

“I gave up a state senate seat to come home and do this, so obviously I wanted to do this and to serve the people of Garfield County,” Will told the Post Independent Tuesday night as he awaited another unofficial election report.

Carey, who lost by a little over 2,000 votes, would have been the first female Garfield County Commissioner in well over a decade. 

“I am extraordinarily disappointed in the results,” Carey said Wednesday morning, after the fourth unofficial report from county election officials had been released. “I’m grateful for the people of Garfield County who have shared their hopes and their ideas and their passion for making sure that this place is here and taken care of. Moving forward, I really hope that my opponent makes good decisions that represent Garfield County.”

District 3 incumbent Samson leads with 14,712 (52%) to Democrat Steven Arauza’s 13,837 (48%). 

“I’ve been really proud of running a competitive grassroots campaign. It’s really a mark of the engagement of the community…I’m really honored just to be a part of that,” Arauza said Wednesday. “My main hope at this point is that others will see that there are a lot of barriers that prevent a member of the workforce or a working parent, or just a resident in a community, from running for office and from being engaged at this level, but that they are not insurmountable. A working stiff like me can do it, and I hope that other people will see themselves as belonging in this space in the future.”

This will be Samson’s fifth four-year term as Garfield County Commissioner. 

“A lot of people came together to make it possible, more so than I’ve ever had in the previous four elections, and I’m truly humbled for all the help that I received,” Samson said Wednesday. “I am happy that I was reelected because I think we’ve got some important work yet to do, and I’m really glad what happened nationally, to tell you the truth. I think I’ll be able to do a lot of good for Garfield County working with the new administration that’s coming in on the federal level.”