1 week Ago By Seth Klamann
Spending on the litany of measures on Coloradans’ ballots has surpassed $24.5 million, led by the campaigns to and to in the state constitution. Campaign finance reports updated in the last week show total fundraising has reached more than $31 million, including nonmonetary donations, among campaigns for and against more than a dozen state ballot measures in the Nov.
5 election. The campaign for , which would change the election system for many offices, has reported raising roughly $12 million and spending $9.1 million with just under three weeks to go until the end of voting.
Nearly $6 million has been spent on in the state constitution through Amendment 79, and $1.6 million has been spent to oppose , which would elevate the right to school choice to the constitution. The campaign to ban hunting of mountain lions and bobcats in state law through has spent nearly $2.
5 million, and the campaign to oppose it has dropped another $1.3 million. Other reported ballot campaign spending includes: But the largest fundraising haul belongs to the backers of Prop.
131, which would open Colorado’s primaries — with a single initial contest instead of party primaries — and in the general election, with the top four primary finishers competing. It would apply across a suite of races at the state and federal levels, including for governor, the State Board of Education, and congressional and statehouse seats. The campaign has drawn sizable contributions from a relatively small number of donors, with an official fundraising total reported at $10.
7 million. But that figure doesn’t include more than $1.3 million in major contributions disclosed last week in separate filings.
Backers include Kent Thiry, the Denver-based former CEO of dialysis giant DaVita who’s driving the effort and has donated more than $1.4 million, and Unite America, a group Thiry co-chairs that’s supporting similar ballot measures elsewhere. Other funders include Jeff Chambers, a Californian who works in private equity, and Ross Jones of Berkshire Partners, each of whom has given $321,685.
In addition to past donations from Reed Hastings of Netflix and Ben Walton of the Walmart-founding family, the campaign has added a $50,000 donation from Denver’s Larry Mizel, a megadonor to former President Donald Trump for the Republican presidential ticket in recent months, and $100,000 from Kimbal Musk, a Colorado restaurateur and the brother of Elon Musk, another Trump megadonor. Voters for the American Center, a dark-money group based in Washington, D.C.
, gave just under $500,000 to the campaign last week. The group, which registered in Colorado last month, shares an address and personnel with Longwell Partners, a communications firm that’s launched Republican groups opposing Trump. The primary group opposing Prop.
131, called Voter Rights Colorado, has raised roughly $243,000, and has spent $33,222. The group has received $20,000 total from Coloradans for Accessible and Secure Elections, another dark-money group that’s also provided $26,000 worth of research as a nonmonetary donation. That group has also received support from Cobalt Advocates, a Colorado abortion rights advocacy group; the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters; from the left-wing Working Families Party; and from local progressive groups Progress Now Colorado and New Era Colorado.
Last week, Thiry donated $50,000 to the Amendment J campaign to repeal Colorado’s same-sex marriage ban and $100,000 to Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom, the committee backing Amendment 79. If passed by voters — at least 55% support is needed to add to the constitution — the amendment would protect abortion access and allow public insurers like Medicaid to cover it in Colorado. The pro-Amendment 79 group has reported raising nearly $6.
3 million and spending just under $6 million in all. Its largest supporters include $1.6 million each from Cobalt Advocates and $1 million from the Open Society Policy Center, a New York-based group tied to billionaire liberal donor George Soros.
Former billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave $750,000. Three groups opposing Amendment 79, meanwhile, have raised far less: Support for Pro-Life Colorado, Vote No on 79, and Coloradans for the Protection of Women and Children totals $263,000, of which the campaigns have spent just under $70,000 combined..
