Cash News
Colorado congressional campaigns Thursday filed their final campaign finance reports before Election Day, and Democrats have big cash advantages in the 3rd, 4th and 8th congressional districts, which are home to the state’s most competitive races.
The contests may decide which party controls the U.S. House next year.
Here are the big takeaways from the reports, which reflect fundraising and spending from Oct. 1 to Oct. 16. The next filings aren’t due to the Federal Election Commission until after Nov. 5, which is Election Day.
8th Congressional District
U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo, D-Thornton, raised nearly $580,000 from Oct. 1-16, compared with the $274,000 haul of her Republican opponent, Republican state Rep. Gabe Evans.
Caraveo spent $1.6 million during the reporting period, about $1.4 million of it on advertising, and had $2.4 million in cash for the final weeks of the campaign. Evans, meanwhile, spent $732,000 — mostly on advertising, too — and had $363,000 in cash at the end of the reporting period.
The reports showed Caraveo and Evans each paid for polling in the first weeks of October. They haven’t made public the results of those surveys.
Public polling has shown the race in the highly competitive 8th District, which stretches from Denver’s northeastern suburbs along U.S. 85 into Greeley, is neck and neck.
Caraveo beat her Republican opponent in 2022 by roughly 1,600 votes.
Candidates have to report donations above $1,000 this close to Election Day, and the campaigns’ reports to the Federal Elections Commission show since Oct. 16 Caraveo has raised nearly $96,000 from donors giving $1,000 or more compared with the roughly $22,000 raised by Evans.
While Caraveo and Evans are each raising and spending big sums, most of the campaign cash in the 8th District is being spent by super PACs, which can raise and spend unlimited amounts as long as they don’t coordinate with the candidates.
Super PACs had reported spending more than $23 million on the contest through Friday morning. That eclipses the $16.6 million spent by super PACs in the district in 2022.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, a Republican super PAC tied to House Speaker Mike Johnson, is the top spender in the district, at nearly $5.5 million reported through Friday morning.
Still the spending to benefit Caraveo by super PACs — $12.5 million — has been greater than the roughly $10.6 million spent to help Evans. The bulk of the total spending — $17 million — has been on negative messaging.
One of the main groups helping Caraveo is the mainstream Colorado Fund, which was founded in August and has raised most of its money from political nonprofits that don’t disclose their donors. The Sun refers to those organizations as dark money groups.
The Mainstream Colorado Fund reported spending $1.2 million through Friday morning. The group raised more than $750,000 from Oct. 1 to Oct. 16 — all of it from nonprofits that don’t disclose their donors — and spent about $500,000 during that period, heading into the final stretch before Election Day with $700,000 in cash on hand.
3rd Congressional District
In the 3rd Congressional District, which spans Colorado’s Western Slope into Pueblo and southeastern Colorado, Democrat Adam Frisch continues to dominate the campaign cash game.
He reported raising $475,000 from Oct. 1 through Oct. 16. Frisch, a former Aspen city councilman who ran unsuccessfully in the district in 2022, spent $1.1 million during that period — most of it on advertising — and still had $1.4 million in campaign cash for the final stretch before Election Day. His Republican opponent, Grand Junction Attorney Jeff Hurd, raised $166,000, spent $560,000 and had $312,000 in the bank.
The super PAC spending in the 3rd District race has been a fraction of the expenditures in the 8th District, but Republicans are ramping up their aid to Hurd.
The Congressional Leadership Fund spent more money this week to help Hurd, bringing its investment in the district to more than $190,000.
The 3rd District leans in Republican’s favor, but it became competitive in 2022 because of incumbent U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert’s unpopularity. She has since switched congressional districts.
Frisch spent $80,000 on polling during the fundraising period but hasn’t released the results of those surveys.
4th Congressional District
Democrat Trisha Calvarese raised seven times more than Boebert from Oct. 1 through Oct. 16 in the 4th Congressional District, which spans the Eastern Plains into Loveland and Douglas County.
Calvarese also outspent Boebert nearly fivefold during the reporting period.
Calvarese raised $573,000 during the period and spent $1.6 million, mostly on advertising. She had $257,000 in cash as of Oct. 16. Boebert raised about $80,000 and spent $333,000, also on advertising, finishing the period with about $296,000 in cash.
The 4th District has traditionally been a Republican stronghold, but Boebert’s national unpopularity among Democrats has led to a fundraising boon for Calvarese. Super PACs are mostly ignoring the race so far in an indication that national Democrats and Republicans don’t see the contest as competitive.
The one outlier is Defeat Boebert PAC, the Florida-based federal super PAC formed this summer to oppose Boebert. It spent $100,000 on Oct. 22 on digital ads attacking the congresswoman.
A 30-second spot being aired by the group implores voters in the 4th District to reject Boebert to maintain their quiet, rural way of life.
The PAC has reported raising $629,000 since its inception in July and has spent about half that sum.
Colorado Sun correspondent Sandra Fish contributed to this report.