This story was originally published by ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom, in partnership with the Mountain State Spotlight in West Virginia. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Series: The Secret IRS Files Inside the Tax Records of the 0.001% By Ellis Simani, Robert Faturechi […]
Election 2018
Gun control groups are investing millions in Colorado as gun rights spending has dramatically waned
Gun rights and gun control groups spent $15 million on congressional and state-level races in Colorado from 2012 to 2020, according to a Colorado Sun analysis. Gun-issue groups dropped an additional $2 million to lobby state lawmakers. The big spending is expected to continue this year following the shooting deaths of 10 people last month […]
How Colorado’s congressional delegation helped their friends – and themselves – with leadership PACs in 2020
Ten current and former members of Colorado’s congressional delegation raised $3 million via leadership political action committees separate from their campaign accounts during the 2020 election cycle, a Colorado Sun analysis shows. But the leadership PACs operated by Republican former U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner and the Democrat who defeated him, U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, accounted […]
How the Cardboard Cory protest in Colorado helped Democrats defeat Gardner in the U.S. Senate race
Days before the election, even as the outcome of the U.S. Senate race in Colorado looked all-but-certain, Katie Farnan refused to believe it. The mother-turned-activist from Boulder worked for the better part of four years for this moment, all in the hopes of defeating Republican incumbent Cory Gardner. She carried a cutout known as Cardboard […]
How high will the blue wave crest in Colorado? Democrats are predicting big wins once again.
In the final days of the 2020 campaign, Lisa Cutter is not taking anything for granted. The state representative is the first Democrat to win her western Jefferson County district, part of a Democratic wave in 2018 that gave the party control of state government and the lawmaking process. Cutter feels the pressure to win […]
In 2016, more than 24,000 ballots in Colorado didn’t count. Here are 6 graphics that explain why.
In the 2016 election, 24,189 Colorado voters cast ballots that did not count. It’s a small fraction of the 2.86 million votes tallied, about 0.8%, according to data from the state. But it’s still a notable sum in a state that bills itself as one of the easiest places to vote. The most alarming number: […]
Colorado hits a new milestone with unaffiliated voters and busts the myth about its even partisan split
To make a case that he can win over a divided nation, Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bennet often points to his home state. “This is a state that is exactly a third Democrat, a third Republican and a third independent,” the Colorado senator says, as he did recently at a town hall in Denver. The […]
Proposition CC campaign is door-to-door combat as both sides turnout supporters ahead of 2019 election
Kane Randolph presses the doorbell at the home of a voter in Denver and readies his pitch. In the next few seconds — which is all the time he expects to get — he needs to explain Proposition CC, a 60-word question on the 2019 statewide ballot that is mired in baggage. When the door […]
National Democrats call Colorado Republican Scott Tipton’s seat a top pickup opportunity. But is it winnable?
National Democrats have vowed to try to dislodge U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District next year, calling his seat one of the party’s “top pickup opportunities.” But of the three candidates so far vying to replace the Cortez Republican — including one who announced his bid just earlier this month — the […]
A prominent Republican announces challenge to Jason Crow amid uncertainty GOP can win back 6th District
A year ago at this time, the battle for the 6th Congressional District drew national attention and big money as a top-tier swing district in the fight for control of the U.S. House. Jason Crow won that race by defeating five-term Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, making him the first Democrat elected to hold the […]