AURORA — Andrew Edmonson is confident that Hillary Clinton will win the Democratic Party’s nomination for president.

“I think she’s the best qualified candidate. Period,” the 77-year-old retired teamster said.

But on the sidelines of a recent congressional district convention in Aurora, Edmonson acknowledged he is worried.

“The thing that bothers me: Whoever gets the nomination, will the other candidate’s side support them?” he asked. “We can’t go the way of the Republican Party, and if we don’t look out, the Republican Party will find someone to beat Hillary or Bernie.”

The question is front and center in Colorado, a Bernie Sanders stronghold, as the Democratic race enters its final stages and the state party holds its convention Saturday in Loveland.

The Vermont senator is projected to win 39 of the 66 delegates at stake in Colorado if his supporters turn out in the same proportion as his overwhelming win in the March 1 presidential preference poll.

The remaining dozen in the state’s 78-member delegation are superdelegates who mostly support Clinton, suggesting the rivals may split Colorado’s prize.

Clinton’s campaign expects to clinch the nomination soon, and despite a hopeful Sanders camp, the conversation is starting to shift toward November.

The presidential contest bred a deep-seated divide among Democrats in Colorado: one that rivals the schism in the Republican Party about Donald Trump and threatens its hopes in the all-important November election.

One of the Sanders campaign’s most visible supporters in Colorado, state Rep. Joe Salazar, said in an interview this week that he may not support Clinton if she is his party’s nominee.

“I haven’t decided at this point,” he said, citing a host of issues regarding the secrecy surrounding her paid speeches.

The sentiment is echoed by Sanders’ supporters, many of whom are adamant in their opposition to the former secretary of state.

“I wouldn’t vote for her for dog catcher,” said Audrey Franklin, a 77-year-old retiree from Brighton. “I will just vote for other things on the ballot, but I won’t vote for president.”

Given the 60 percent vote for Sanders in Colorado, his supporters are distrustful of the state’s caucus system, particularly after a frenzied March 1 vote that shut out hundreds of voters.

And the admission from Democratic Party chairman Rick Palacio earlier this week that the party misreported the caucus results to the detriment of the Sanders campaign — and kept it quiet until The Denver Post uncovered the mistake — only amplified the misgivings.

On Thursday, Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, the House speaker and a national delegate for Clinton, said Sanders “added a lot to the presidential race.” And she pushed back against the criticism from his supporters about the caucus system.

“I wish some of his followers were a little more in tune with the process you have to go through,” Hullinghorst said. “I think they’ve created a lot of dysfunction in some instances.”

The fear about a split party helps explain why Democratic leaders in Colorado are emphasizing the need for a united front.

“I know there are Bernie supporters here and there are Hillary supporters here,” U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet told the crowd at the recent Jefferson County convention. “But we need to come together as Democrats at the end of this process and make sure we elect a Democratic president and have a Democratic majority in the Senate.”

In the audience, Dakota Cousineau, a 29-year-old tech worker from Lakewood, said he won’t vote for Clinton. He wants to write-in Sanders’ name on the November ballot.

“It wouldn’t be a wasted vote in the sense that we are making our voice heard and we are not allowing the Democratic Party to push their candidate upon us,” he said.

Next to him, and holding a Sanders campaign sign, Chris Cowan said he is considering doing the same.

“I’m tired of having to settle for what I’m told. I want to vote for what’s in my heart and what I know is right,” the 46-year-old from Lakewood said.

Other Democrats, however, are seeing the bigger picture.

Matt Crow, a 26-year-old Sanders fan, said he can probably migrate to Clinton, but he won’t be happy about it.

“I would probably hold my nose and vote, depending on who she is running against,” he said, tentatively expressing interest in Republican candidate John Kasich.

“I’m not a huge supporter of Hillary Clinton,” he continued. “I’m a little dicey on her record as far as foreign relations and more. And I don’t like the idea of a candidate that might get indicted while running for president. That’s a little scary for me.”

Diane Roberts supported President Barack Obama instead of Clinton in 2008 and now she wants Sanders in the White House.

The 46-year-old speech pathologist is still shocked that she isn’t “voting for the woman.” She considers Clinton “incredibly smart, but a little too establishment.”

Will she support Clinton in November if she wins the nomination?

Yes, she said, “I would vote Democrat no matter what.”

Diego Martin Del Campo, a 28-year-old supporting Clinton, said the candidates will need to drive home the message of harmony in order for it to work.

“I’m not worried. But it all depends on what happens at the end of the primaries,” he said. “In 2008, both candidates were really good about unifying the party. But you’ve been hearing some talk about contested conventions. It’s certainly not what I want as a Democrat.”

John Frank: 303-954-2409, jfrank@denverpost.com or @ByJohnFrank

Staff writer Joey Bunch contributed to this report.