After a late scare, Rep. Doug Lamborn won the Republican primary in the 5th district and should win re-election in the fall.

Around 9:30 p.m. the Associated Press called the race for Lamborn, who had 69 percent to self-funding challenger Robert Blaha’s 39 percent with 87 percent of precincts reporting.

Blaha’s early spending was enough to make some of Lamborn’s backers nervous and the Blaha team confident. There was little in the way of public polling, and Blaha’s spending raised eyebrows. Still, in the end, it was not enough. (Except for a brief period when a snafu with AP results accidentally flipped the percentages, causing some confusion among close watchers of the race.)

Blaha heavily outspent Lamborn in the first quarter of the year. But by the time of the pre-primary Federal Election Commission reporting period, Lamborn matched Blaha’s rate of spending.

Lamborn should win re-election in the fall as Roll Cal rates this seat as Safe Republican.