As votes are being counted in Tuesday night's Primary Election, the first set of results shows candidate Darren Weekly is leading the race for the Republican nomination for Douglas County sheriff with 20,258 votes as noon on Wednesday.

In second place in the four-person race is John Anderson with 19,612 votes. Anderson is followed by Holly Kluth and then Lora Thomas.

Since at least 1947, every Douglas County sheriff has been a Republican. Other candidates in the general election will be Darren Hill, a Libertarian, and Michael Phibbs, who is unaffiliated with any party. There are no Democrats running for sheriff.

Whoever wins the general election will replace Sheriff Tony Spurlock, who has served in the role since 2014. 

The Republican candidates all came with various backgrounds in law enforcement. Weekly is the captain of investigations for the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, Kluth is a former longtime undersheriff for Spurlock and DCSO, Thomas served as a State Trooper, and Anderson is the former commander of the Castle Rock Police Department.

Public campaign finance data shows that candidates focused heavily on the primary, with Thomas spending more than $140,000 during the campaign, including a $100,000 loan, according to the Colorado Secretary of State’s TRACER website. She raised about $49,000. Weekly spent about $130,000 and raised $124,000. Anderson raised $67,000 and spent about the same. Kluth raised $68,000 and spent about $64,000.

Here’s how the candidates responded to questions from Colorado Community Media regarding the Red Flag law, mass shootings, crime rates, fentanyl and more.