The Colorado Springs Gazette final

Republican groups outspending Democrats in state Senate races

Finance report finds 2-to-1 margin

BY MARIANNE GOODLAND marianne.goodland@coloradopolitics.com

The latest campaign finance reports show the “soft money” group dedicated to supporting Republicans running in Colorado Senate races is outspending its Democratic counterpart by nearly a 2-to-1 margin.

The Senate Majority Fund’s independent expenditure committee, which backs Senate Republican candidates, and All Together Colorado, the Democrats’ independent expenditure committee, collectively spent about $6 million on six contests, all of it since the beginning of September.

But $4.1 million of that sum comes Senate Majority Fund spending, compared to $2.3 million spent by All Together Colorado, according to Sept. 30 filings with the Colorado Secretary of State’s TRACER campaign finance database.

Independent expenditure committees are prohibited by law from coordinating with the candidates they support, and that means the

messaging may be different than that coming from the candidates.

It’s a sign of the stakes at hand.

Republicans are seeking control of the state Senate and an opportunity to slow down the Democrats’ progressive agenda at the statehouse. For Democrats, the aim is to keep one-party control in the General Assembly, given that House Democrats are expected to keep control of that chamber.

The Gop-backing majority fund’s biggest spending to date has been in Senate District 20, where Littleton Democratic Rep. Lisa Cutter is facing off against Republican businessman Tim Walsh of Golden. The fund has so far spent just shy of $765,000 in a little more than a month to back Walsh.

In second place, the contest between Rep. Kyle Mullica, D-northglenn and Adams 12 school board member and Republican Courtney Potter. The fund has spent $711,324 on that race between Aug. 19 and Sept. 22, according to TRACER reports.

Next on the list is Senate District 8, where Rep. Dylan

Roberts, D-eagle, is facing Republican challenger and businessman Matt Solomon, also of Eagle. The fund has so far spent $688,066 in that race to back Solomon.

SD 27, a seat without an incumbent, features Democratic Rep. Tom Sullivan and businessman Tom Kim, both of Centennial, and spending from the fund to the tune of $668,002.

SD 11, the contest in El Paso County between Republican Sen. Dennis Hisey and Democratic

Rep. Tony Exum Sr., is viewed as a seat that Republicans must hold if they have a chance of taking control of the Senate, now split 21-14 in favor of Democrats. The fund has put $665,092 into that race in a little over a month.

Finally, the fund has put $597,032 into the race in Pueblo’s SD 3, the contest between Democratic Sen. Nick Hinrichsen and Republican challenger Stephen Varela.

One race the Republican-supporting fund hasn’t yet invested in: Senate District 15 in Larimer County, including Loveland, where incumbent Republican Sen. Rob Woodward faces Democrat Janice Marchman. It’s also a seat that Republican must hold onto, and the state’s independent redistricting commission rated its performance as dead even with no advantage to either political party. It’s the only General Assembly seat in the entire state that was rated that way.

The Senate Majority Fund gets its money from a related 527 committee, and that committee has taken in almost $1.7 million from the GOPAC Election Fund. Most of GOPAC’S largest contributions fall into the category of dark money — their donors are not always disclosed. However, GOPAC has taken contributions in the past from the tobacco, casino and payday lending industries.

GOPAC is also backing state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, R-brighton, in her bid for the 8th Congressional District.

On the other side of the ledger, Democrats haven’t spent the big bucks on the Senate races that one might expect with just two weeks to go before ballots drop. All Together Colorado, the Democrats’ softside independent expenditure committee, has taken in $6.6 million in contributions but spent just $2.3 million on the same Senate races through Sept. 30.

Democrats are investing most heavily in the races for the Senate seat in central Jefferson County, SD 20, where All Together has so far spent $622,296 between Aug. 31 and Sept. 28.

The Mullica-potter contest in SD 27 has drawn $573,899 from All Together to support Mullica.

Next is the race for the Senate seat in northwest Colorado, SD 8, with $520,847 spent between Aug. 31 and Sept. 27, according to TRACER.

The contest in Centennial has drawn $385,862 from All Together to support Sullivan; $92,595 in Pueblo’s SD 3 and $97,872 in Colorado Springs’ SD 11.

Dark-money groups, such as the Sixteen Thirty Fund, have been the biggest donors to All Together Colorado.

Sixteen Thirty has so far given $1.5 million. Education Reform Now Advocacy, which is tied to Democrats for Education Reform, a pro-charter and anti-teacher union group, has given $7540,000. An arm of the Colorado Education Association has given $200,000. Stand for Children, which Influence Watch says has been funded in the past by executives with Microsoft and Bloomberg Philanthropies, among others, has chipped in $500,000.

Notably, All Together Colorado also isn’t spending in SD 15, in Larimer County, but the independent expenditure committee put $9,000 into defending newly minted Democratic Sen. Kevin Priola of Henderson four days after he announced he would switch parties in August.

The soft-money committees are not the only ones spending in the state Senate race.

Unite for Colorado’s committee, another dark-money group, has spent $1.65 million in the past month, with most of that in support of the six Republican Senate candidates.

Coloradans Creating Opportunities, which takes contributions from many of the same Democratic-affiliated organizations as All Together, has spent about just over $250,000 in the last month on Democratic House and Senate candidates, including in the most hotly contested Senate races.

Another group, Coloradans for Responsible Leadership, has taken in $175,000 in contributions but has yet to spent it, with support targeting Roberts in SD 8 and Mullica in SD 24. The independent expenditure committees’ money comes from Education Reform Now Advocacy, the Colorado Association of Realtors and Conscience Bay Research, an investment firm in Boulder.

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2022-10-06T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-10-06T07:00:00.0000000Z

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