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Senate District 8: Roberts leads Solomon by nearly 7,500 votes

John LaConte
Vail Daily
Dylan Roberts addresses a crowd at a Routt County Democrats fundraiser on Saturday, May 14, 2022, at the Catamount Lake House. Roberts had a big lead over over Matt Solomon in the State Senator District 8 race on Tuesday, Nov. 8.
Spencer Powell/Steamboat Pilot & Today

After a long campaign which saw six debates and a seemingly endless stream of mailers, Dylan Roberts led Matt Solomon by nearly 7,500 votes as of 9:04 p.m. Tuesday.

Roberts had 30,678 votes to Solomon’s 23,631 votes in the race for the Colorado State Senate District 8 seat.

Roberts, at 9:30 p.m., said he wanted to wait until every vote was counted before celebrating a victory, but said he was pleased with the results he saw.



“It was a long campaign, many miles on the road and meeting lots of people,” Roberts said.

Senate District 8 is currently represented by Bob Rankin, a Republican from Carbondale, but the newly redrawn Colorado Senate District Map puts Rankin’s hometown of Carbondale in Senate District 5. Eagle County, where Roberts lives, and Routt County, where he grew up, will both be in Senate District 8 when the new map takes effect following Tuesday’s election. Rankin will move to Senate District 5.



Roberts has served two terms in the state legislature as the representative for House District 26, but the race marks his first general election campaign in four years as he went unchallenged in 2020.

Roberts said in getting to know the voters of Senate District 8, he will look at his time in the state senate, if the results hold in his favor, as a fresh start.

“Senate District 8 is very different from House District 26,” Roberts said on Tuesday. “So if I do end up serving in the senate, I’ll have the legislative experience, but I’ll have to end up focusing on different issues and a broader portfolio of ideas.”

Matt Solomon
Courtesy photo

Solomon, a former member of the Eagle Town Council, was seeking his first term as an elected official in the state legislature.

Roberts was appointed to the state house in 2017 when Diane Mitch-Busch vacated her seat to focus on her campaign for Congress.

Roberts was then challenged for the seat in 2018 by Republican Nicki Mills, who he defeated handily. He went unchallenged in 2020.

In 2022, following a redrawing of the state Senate district lines to include Avon in Senate District 8, the 33-year-old announced an intention to run in that district, as he lives in Avon.

Roberts said he was suited particularly well to understand the needs of the new district as he was born in the former Senate District 8, in Steamboat Springs, and now lives in the newly incorporated part of the district in Avon.

“The senate is different than the house, there’s smaller margins and it will force more bipartisanship,” Roberts said.


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