DENVER — A Denver judge ruled Tuesday that Congressman Doug Lamborn, who represents Colorado Springs as a Republican, will be able to run for re-election on the June primary ballot.

A lawsuit had challenged the eligibility of Lamborn’s petition gatherers.

Lamborn had employed Kennedy Enterprises, a political consulting firm, to collect signatures, but the lawsuit claimed those gatherers were not Colorado residents, signing up to vote in the state just days before starting to work on signature gathering.

During the court hearing, attorneys for Lamborn and Secretary of State Wayne Williams had argued that since every petition gatherer considered themselves a resident of Colorado and were registered to vote in the state at the time of the petition, they were qualified to collect signatures.

The judge agreed.

The judge did rule out the signatures of one collector, who testified he considered Missouri home and would be moving there soon.

Removing the signatures gathered by that collector did not bring Lamborn below the threshold.

The ruling is a bit of good news for the embattled Kennedy Enterprises.

Gubernatorial candidate Walker Stapleton has threatened to sue the firm over signatures, procedures and irregularities that forced him to go through the assembly process to get on the June primary ballot.

The plaintiffs announced Tuesday night they intend to appeal the judge’s decision to the Colorado Supreme Court.