In the first full fundraising quarter in her new congressional district, donations to U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert’s campaign continued a decline that started in 2023.
But the $462,000 she raised from January through March — her smallest haul since the final quarter of 2022 — still eclipsed the funds amassed by her Republican primary opponents in the 4th Congressional District. And the nearly $1 million in her campaign’s bank account at the end of last month was far more than what was in any of her rivals’ warchests.
Boebert spent $767,000 in the first three months of the year, according to Federal Election Commission reports. That nearly equals the combined spending of her nine potential Republican opponents since they started their campaigns to replace GOP Rep. Ken Buck, who announced in November he’d retire from Congress.
Buck’s retirement prompted Boebert in late December to ditch the 3rd Congressional District, where she faced uncertain re-election odds, and run instead in the 4th District, which is more favorable to Republicans.
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The Boebert campaign’s deep pockets have allowed it to get an early start on airing TV ads — she spent $105,000 in March on TV — in the district that includes Douglas County and Loveland and spans the Eastern Plains. Her campaign also spent $178,000 on direct mail and nearly $83,000 on digital advertising last quarter.
Conservative commentator Deborah Flora was a distant second in fundraising in the Republican primary in the 4th District after raising nearly $180,000 in the first quarter of the year. She ended March with $167,000 in cash on hand.
Logan County Commissioner and former state Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg raised the third most among Republican primary candidates in the district, at $158,000. He had $224,000 in cash at the end of the quarter.
None of the other GOP primary candidates in the district — including state Reps. Richard Holtorf and Mike Lynch — raised more than $100,000 from January through the end of March without self funding.
Boebert will appear first on the June 25 primary ballot after she received 41% of the delegate vote at the 4th District Republican nominating assembly. She’ll face at least four other candidates who made the ballot by gathering voter signatures, and possibly more depending on whose petitions are verified by the Secretary of State’s Office.
Getting those signatures was expensive for several 4th District Republican campaigns:
- Boebert paid Patriots Grassroots, a signature-gathering firm, $88,000 for “grassroots engagement.” Since she won more than 30% of the delegate vote at the 4th District Republican nominating assembly, however, the signatures she gathered to make the ballot were unnecessary.
- Businessman Floyd Trujillo spent $56,250 on signature gathering. His signatures haven’t been verified by state elections officials yet. He donated $95,000 to his campaign.
- Lynch spent $32,300 for petition signatures, accounting for 82% of his spending last quarter. He finished March with only $3,000 on hand after raising $42,000.
- Former congressional staffer Chris Phelen spent $12,119 on signature gathering. State election officials haven’t verified his signatures yet. He donated $38,000 to his campaign.
- Flora paid Taylor Petition Management, a signature gathering firm, $47,195.
It’s unclear if Sonnenberg’s, Holtorf’s or businessman Peter Yu’s campaigns paid for signature gathering.
Holtorf donated $47,000 of his own cash to his campaign last quarter, and had $98,000 in the bank at the end of quarter, though he raised only about $31,000. Yu has put $250,000 into his campaign, but spent little of that.
Those vying for the Democratic primary nomination in the 4th District used Boebert’s entrance into the race to bolster their fundraising last quarter:
- Marine veteran Ike McCorkle raised $786,000 in the first three months of the year. That’s $342,000 more than Boebert. But he reported having only $158,000 in cash on hand at the end of March after spending heavily on fundraising. The campaign filed an update with the FEC saying there was an error in the ending cash on hand that would be corrected.
- Addiction recovery advocate John Padora raised $197,000 and had $48,000 in cash at the end of the quarter.
- Former congressional staffer Trisha Calvarese raised $40,000 and finished the quarter with $32,000. She won the Democratic nominating assembly in the district and will have the top line on the June 25 primary ballot.
Calvarese will face Republican Greg Lopez, who unsuccessfully ran for governor twice, in a special election that will also be held June 25 to determine who serves out the remainder of Buck’s term. Heleft Congress on March 22 even though his term was to end in January 2025.
The limits for how much money donors can give to Calvarese are higher because she is running in both the special and primary elections.
GOP primary in the 5th District becomes a two-way race. Jeff Crank leads Dave Williams in fundraising.
The second closest-watched Republican congressional primary in Colorado this year will be in the 5th Congressional District in El Paso County, where Americans for Prosperity Regional Vice President Jeff Crank faces Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams.
Crank raised $302,000 last quarter and ended March with $228,000 left in the bank. He paid Blitz Canvassing, a signature gathering firm, $33,000 for “field consulting” and made the ballot via petition.
Williams, who is running in the 5th District for the second straight election cycle, raised $171,000 last quarter, though $100,000 of that was a loan Williams made to his campaign. He finished March with $166,000 in the bank. At the end of last quarter, Williams’ campaign was still $98,000 in debt from 2022, when U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, defeated him in a four-way primary. Lamborn won 47% of the vote, while Williams won 34%.
Lamborn is retiring at the end of his term, leaving the seat open.
State Sen. Bob Gardner put $30,500 of his own money into his campaign and paid $27,000 for petition signatures, but those signatures were deemed insufficient and he failed to make the Republican primary ballot, making the 5th District race a two-way contest between Crank and Williams.
Adam Frisch continues his huge fundraising edge in the 3rd District
In the 3rd Congressional District, which spans Colorado’s Western Slope into Pueblo and southeastern Colorado, Democrat Adam Frisch raised $1.4 million from January through the end of March, the most of any Colorado congressional candidate in the quarter.
But that was much less than what he raised in each of the four previous fundraising quarters, when he was ostensibly running against Boebert.
But nearly four months after Boebert switched congressional districts, Frisch continues to invoke her in nearly every fundraising email he sends out.
“Please, will you give $5 or more right now — whatever you can afford before midnight tonight — to help me hit our critical fundraising goal, win this seat, and replace Lauren Boebert in Congress?” Frisch said in an email to supporters Wednesday evening.
The Frisch campaign followed up with another Boebert-centric fundraising email Thursday morning.
Frisch, a former Aspen city councilman who lost to Boebert by 546 votes in 2022, had $5.8 million in cash at the end of March, dwarfing the totals of the half-dozen Republicans vying to face him in November.
Frisch is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination in the 3rd District. He’s been among the top fundraisers among all congressional candidates nationwide.
Here’s how his GOP competition shapes up:
- Grand Junction attorney Jeff Hurd brought in $241,000 last quarter and had $528,000 in cash at the end of March. He made the ballot via petition, but didn’t report any signature expenses.
- State Board of Education member Stephen Varela raised $70,000 last quarter and had $23,000 in cash at the end of March. He’ll be on the top line of the ballot after winning the most delegate votes at the 3rd District GOP nominating assembly.
- Former state Rep. Ron Hanks, who ran unsuccessfully for the 2022 GOP U.S. Senate nomination, raised only $2,000 and donated nearly $7,000 of his own money to his campaign. He had about $5,700 at the end of March, and made the primary ballot via the nominating assembly.
- Retired businessman and hunting enthusiast Lew Webb of Durango donated $150,000 to his campaign and had $130,000 left at the end of March. He, too, submitted petition signatures, but they haven’t been verified by the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office. It’s unclear if he paid to gather them.
- Carbondale investor Russ Andrews raised $25,000 and had $128,000 in cash at the end of the quarter. The campaign spent nearly $40,000 on petition signatures, which have yet to be verified.
- Delta County business owner Curtis McCrackin raised $36,000, spent nearly $43,000 on petition signatures and finished the quarter nearly $11,000 in the red. He made the primary ballot by collecting petition signatures.
Yadira Caraveo hauls in $855,000 in 8th Congressional District
Democratic U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo of Thornton had her best fundraising quarter of the 2024 cycle, bringing in $855,000 from January through the end of March and finishing last month with nearly $2 million in cash.
Her 8th Congressional District is considered one of the most competitive in the nation this year.
Caraveo’s lead challenger, GOP state Rep. Gabe Evans of Fort Lupton, raised $251,000 and finished the quarter with $339,000 in cash. Evans received fundraising help from House Speaker Mike Johnson’s Grow the Majority joint fundraising committee, as well as the Koch Industries PAC and Congressional Leadership Fund PAC.
Evans will face former state Rep. Janak Joshi in the June 25 primary.
Joshi loaned his campaign $100,000 and spent little last quarter, finishing last month with $117,000 in cash.
Here’s a look at summary numbers for all the Democratic and Republican congressional candidates: