Four years ago, before Donald Trump was president, Colorado Republicans had a place at the table. They held one of Colorado’s U.S. Senate seats and three statewide offices: attorney general, secretary of state and treasurer. The GOP was even in power at the Colorado Capitol, where the state Senate was in the party’s hands, forcing […]
Beth Martinez Humenik
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
Super PAC money dominated 2018 election and Democrats controlled the cash race
Super PAC money led Colorado to record-setting spending in the 2018 election, totaling $74 million in all state-level races and exceeding the sums expended by candidates. The total spent in the two-year election cycle surpassed $219 million, according to a Colorado Sun analysis. The amount is a rough estimate that includes publicly disclosed candidate and […]
Posted in2018 Voter Guide, News, Politics and Government
GOP super PACs make big TV buys to influence last-minute voters in Colorado governor’s race
The 2018 midterm election isn’t over until the spending ends. That’s evident from the $1.8 million GOP super PACs — trying to entice older voters who still watch broadcast TV — poured into spots opposing Democratic Congressman Jared Polis in the final days of the race for Colorado governor. Polis leads Republican Treasurer Walker Stapleton […]
Posted in2018 Voter Guide, News, Politics and Government
Spending 5 times higher on state Senate races this year than in 2016
Candidates and committees still are scooping up political TV ad time with only eight days until the election comes to a close, adding nearly $2.5 million in spending last week. That brings total election-year spending to $66.9 million, $52.1 million of that on the general election alone. Many of the ads airing focus on the […]
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
The nastiest Colorado campaign attacks filling your mailbox — and the truth behind them
The images are scary, the text is frightening. The flyers filling Coloradans’ mailboxes are often the political version of a horror movie. Many of them stretch the truth. Some of them are outright wrong. Others are cookie-cutter templates with different candidate photos pasted in. They rarely mention whether a candidate is a Republican or Democrat. […]
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
61,000 Adams County voters are still missing ballots (and other voting problems around Colorado)
A quarter of voters in Adams County — a key 2018 battleground in Colorado — have yet to receive their ballots because one of four trucks carrying them to be mailed didn’t make it to a postal processing center last week. About 61,000 Adams County ballots — mostly for residents in Thornton, Brighton and Aurora […]
Posted inPolitics and Government
Who’s paying for those political ads? Dark money is tough to track in Colorado
It’s not easy to figure out who paid for a political TV ad or mailer in Colorado. The presence of “dark money” — campaign cash that can’t be traced to its original source — is now a staple each election season. It’s particularly prevalent in the race for governor and battleground state Senate districts. And […]
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
In the battle for the Colorado Senate, Dem candidates raise more money, but cash from outside groups gives GOP the edge
Republican state Sen. Beth Martinez Humenik and her Democratic challenger, state Rep. Faith Winter, are hustling — ringing doorbells and hoping to win votes — in a race that may determine the balance of power in Colorado. But they’re not the only ones knocking on doors or sending mailers. Outside groups are spending heavily in […]
Posted in2018 Voter Guide, News, Politics and Government
A quick rundown of the top five election 2018 races in Colorado
Here’s a quick rundown of the top five races in Colorado (excluding ballot questions; we’ll cover those later) in less than 200 words: Governor’s race: Democrat Jared Polis v. Republican Walker Stapleton THE NARRATIVE: The two major candidates easily won their primaries, picked little-known lawmakers as their running mates and then spent the summer shifting their messages […]
Posted inEnergy, News, Politics and Government
Colorado business leaders are behind dark-money political group spending big on state Senate races
A nonprofit with large donors from the oil and gas industry is spending big on cable TV ads to help Republicans in four state Senate contests. The Colorado Economic Leadership Fund is spending $621,370 on ads, according to cable TV contracts filed last week with the Federal Communications Commission. The ads began airing Aug. 22 and are set to […]