Garfield County voters elected Democrat Jonathan Godes to an open seat on the Board of County Commissioners, marking the first time in two decades the board will include a Democratic member. Godes, a former Glenwood Springs mayor, will replace outgoing Republican Commissioner Tom Jankovsky, who chose not to seek reelection after 16 years on the board.
The vote tally itself carries some conflicting numbers depending on the source and timing of the count. According to Aspen Daily News, unofficial results showed Godes with 53.05% of the vote, while postindependent.com reported preliminary numbers putting him at 53.29%, with Eric Rudd at 46.71%, as of 9:12 a.m. Wednesday. That outlet put Godes’s lead at 1,389 votes out of 21,123 counted in the race at that point.
A District Spanning Carbondale to Glenwood Springs
Godes and Rudd ran for the District 1 seat, which covers Carbondale, Glenwood Springs and the southeast portion of Garfield County, according to aspenpublicradio.org. Whoever won would serve a four-year term alongside Republican Commissioners Mike Samson and Perry Will, who together oversee county spending, road maintenance and planning for the board.
Godes brings a long local resume to the job. He served on Glenwood Springs City Council from 2017 to 2025, including four years as mayor, and most recently worked as director of the I-70 Coalition, the postindependent.com report noted.
Affordability And South Bridge Dominated The Debate
The campaign centered on familiar concerns for a mountain-valley county squeezed by growth. Both candidates acknowledged that Garfield County is becoming increasingly difficult for working families to afford, according to the same postindependent.com report on their debate. They also found common ground on infrastructure: both supported continued county funding for the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority’s Hogback route, and both said South Bridge is needed as a second emergency route for residents in South Glenwood Springs.
Money flowed unevenly into the race. The two campaigns reported combined spending of $87,862, with Rudd spending $66,220 compared to Godes’s $21,642, per aspendailynews.com. Rudd confirmed his campaign was fully self-funded, that report noted.
Comparing This Race To Garfield’s Other Recent Contests
Spending in this year’s District 1 race was notably lower than in Garfield County’s other recent commissioner fights. In the 2024 west Garfield County race, candidates spent nearly $166,000 combined, and Mike Samson spent about $67,000 while winning reelection with 51% of the vote, the article on county campaign finance reported. In the 2024 east Garfield County race, the two leading candidates spent a combined $141,107, and Caitlin Carey lost to Republican Perry Will by about six percentage points, according to the same account.
The outcome ends a long Republican hold on the Garfield County board. Jankovsky, who had held the seat since 2011, decided against another run after 16 years in office, postindependent.com reported.
