Three candidates emerge to challenge Eppie Griego for Pueblo County commissioner's seat

Pueblo County Commissioner Epimenio “Eppie” Griego hasn’t yet finished his first term, but there are already three people who have filed to run against him in the District 1 commissioner race.

Facing a likely primary challenge from his own party, Griego left the Democratic party last month to register as an unaffiliated candidate amid backlash for allegedly saying an anti-gay slur to a city councilor.

So far this month, three candidates — two Democrats and one Republican — have filed to run in Griego’s district, which includes most city neighborhoods east of Interstate 25, the eastern part of Pueblo County as well as Colorado City and Rye.

Here’s who they are and why they’re running for county commissioner.

Miles Lucero

Lucero grew up in Pueblo and recently moved back to the area to live full time. Lucero works as a project manager at a software company that makes products for the freight railway industry. He also coaches tennis at Pueblo County High School.

He told the Chieftain that he's running for county government because he wants to give back to the community, especially children. He filed to run on Nov. 1, as a Democrat. He said he is not related to Pueblo County Sheriff David Lucero.

“I'm just trying to do what I can to make a difference in the community,” Lucero said.

Lucero has not run for office before. He said that he has enjoyed coaching tennis but that he wanted to take up an opportunity to run for county commissioner.

“If I want to take a chance, and I'm going to give this thing a shot, why not now — what's going to be the difference between now or four years or eight years down the road if this is something that I want to do?” Lucero said.

Over the next few months, ahead of county precinct caucuses and the county assembly in March, Lucero said that he would work on making connections with local Democratic leaders, since he’s new to the political space.

Lucero said he aligns with several tenants of the national Democratic party, including access to healthcare, public education and being pro-choice. But he said people in Pueblo, especially in the context of local politics, have more values in common than not.

Darren ‘Woody’ Percival

Darren “Woody” Percival retired last month after nearly 30 years with the Pueblo Fire Department, where he most recently worked as an administrative captain. Percival has lived most of his life in Pueblo and he filed to run as a Democrat on Nov. 9.

Percival told the Chieftain that he’s been thinking about running for a few years, but the timing of his retirement from the fire department and Griego’s departure from the Democratic party made now a good time to run.

“I think we need some fresh leadership in there,” Percival said.

If elected, he wants to “be a fighter for inclusivity for everyone” and advocate for people regardless of their political background. He would also want to increase transparency: for example, Percival said many people in Pueblo don't know much about why a new county jail is being built after the idea was rejected multiple times by voters in the past.

This is Percival’s first time running for political office. He said he has been a registered Democrat for a while and aligns with the party’s core values, such as on labor laws and workers’ rights.

“It's not that I have distaste or distrust in other parties or anything along those lines, it's just that this is who I am,” Percival said.

Percival said that over the next few months, he will be organizing a steering committee with diverse voices as well as town halls with potential voters.

Steven Rodriguez

Steven Rodriguez, the only Republican candidate in the District 1 race so far, filed to run on Nov. 4.

Rodriguez has previously sought political office in Pueblo at least five different times but does not appear to have won any elections.

Rodriguez most recently was in the District 2 city council race earlier this year. He was the first person to file to run for the seat representing the East Side, Belmont and University Park, but dropped out of the race sometime over the summer.

He did not respond to a request for comment prior to the Chieftain’s deadline.

Griego’s path as in independent candidate

Griego filed to run as an unaffiliated candidate on Oct. 4. He was elected in November 2020 and has served most of his first term so far as a Democrat.

Griego is currently the chairperson of the BOCC.

He will bypass internal party nominating procedures but will need to collect at least 1,000 valid signatures from eligible voters next year to make it onto the ballot in November 2024, according to the Colorado Secretary of State's Office.

Anna Lynn Winfrey covers politics for the Pueblo Chieftain. She can be reached at awinfrey@gannett.com. Please support local news at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: 3 candidates already challenging Griego for Pueblo County commissioner seat