One Colorado governor candidate holds clear cash edge; Boebert, Evans challengers rake in money

Attorney General Phil Weiser s early entrance into the Colorado governor s race has paid dividends as he competes with U S Sen Michael Bennet for Democratic backers and dollars Weiser rode his January announcement for the nomination to a surge in fundraising in the first quarter of the year and he continued the push through the lately closed second quarter As of June according to reports due Tuesday he held a clear cash advantage over Bennet who entered the race in April In all Weiser has raised million including million in the second quarter Bennet has raised million since his announcement Weiser started the second half of the year with about million in his campaign chest while Bennet shared about million Separate federal campaign finance filings due Tuesday indicated the expected Democratic challengers to Colorado s Republican members of Congress especially U S Reps Lauren Boebert and Gabe Evans raising crucial sums to take them on in the midterms In the governor s race the primary elections to determine the major parties nominees will be next summer The general poll will be in November We have raised substantially more money for our campaign have substantially more cash on hand and have more individual donors than Sen Bennet or any candidate in this race Weiser stated in a message about his fundraising This level of backing shows that we have the momentum ability and support to give Colorado voters the competitive race they deserve Bennet s association meanwhile argued his haul which far exceeded Weiser s since the spring set a record for the second quarter of an ballot off-year The three-term U S senator who brings the name recognition campaign infrastructure and fundraising connections those wins entail was seen by numerous as an immediate frontrunner to succeed Gov Jared Polis Polis who won elections in and is term-limited from running again In June Bennet followed up his campaign announcement with a splashy list of endorsements from more than leaders across the state The endorsers included top Democrats in the Colorado legislature and a handful of people who flipped from backing Weiser earlier or opted to co-endorse the two I m grateful to everyone who has stepped up to assistance this campaign Bennet declared in a message This record-breaking fundraising shows the strength of our movement Together we are forging the coalition it takes to build a Colorado where working people can get ahead and to show the entire country what leadership and hope look like at a moment when it couldn t matter more Colorado hasn t elected a Republican governor in more than two decades but several hopefuls are trying to win the office back for the party So far the Republican race for the nomination is decidedly less cash-heavy None of the top four declared candidates for the GOP nomination state Rep Scott Bottoms Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell former U S Rep Greg Lopez and Sen Mark Baisley have raised more than function use strict window addEventListener message function a if void a content datawrapper-height var e document querySelectorAll iframe for var t in a facts datawrapper-height for var r i r e i i if r contentWindow a source var d a input datawrapper-height t px r style height d Closely watched CD race heats up The race for the th Congressional District which runs from north metro Denver through Greeley began nearly as soon as Evans finished his swearing-in ceremony in January Democratic challengers have seized on President Donald Trump s return to power along with Evans backing for the president s massive spending and tax cuts bill in their bids to oust the new incumbent More than a half-dozen Democrats have already pledged to run against the freshman Republican in the highly contested swing district Together the challengers have raised more than Evans but the incumbent has hauled in more cash than any individual Evans raised more than million in this electoral contest cycle through June about half of which came in this past quarter He entered the second half of the year with nearly million in cash on hand Congressman Gabe Evans has hit the ground running in Washington delivering commonsense results National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Zach Bannon reported in a declaration This massive fundraising haul shows just how energized voters are to keep him in Congress State Rep Manny Rutinel a Commerce City Democrat and the first to enter the primary race in January has raised about million total this voting cycle but also has spent nearly half of it already About of the fundraising came in the second quarter State Rep Shannon Bird of Westminster declared for the seat in May and stated raising nearly through June Former U S Rep Yadira Caraveo who is running for the seat again after narrowly losing to Evans in stated total receipts of about since she entered the race in mid-April Direct candidate spending will likely be a fraction of what is spent in total on that race however The th District is one of the most of contested districts in the country and could be key for whichever party wins control of the House of Representatives in In the last cycle the candidates themselves raised about million but more than million was spent by outside groups according to Open Secrets U S Rep Lauren Boebert speaks during a press conference alongside U S Rep Gabe Evans left to address President Trump s budget bill outside the Colorado Capitol in Denver on Thursday May Photo by Andy Cross The Denver Post Boebert effect remains strong Democrats continue to raise beaucoup bucks in their attempts to unseat Boebert the Windsor Republican and MAGA diehard Related Articles Consultant claiming White House backing called Colorado clerks to gain access to voting machines Denver judge orders CBZ Management to turn over records from its rental properties to Colorado attorney general Amid criticism of planned pedestrian bridge Gov Jared Polis asks Coloradans Do you want this State Sen Jessie Danielson announces run for Colorado secretary of state Colorado Medicaid shipping company reaches settlement with state Retired U S Navy Rear Adm Eileen Laubacher a Democrat who launched her bid in mid-May communicated raising million since then almost all of which million was broadcasted as unitemized small-donor contributions She has also spent of that haul Trisha Calvarese the union activist who ran against Boebert in has published raising nearly Boebert who served two terms representing the Western Slope s rd Congressional District before moving to the even more GOP-friendly th Congressional District shared raising less than either anticipated challenger in the second quarter with about Her total fundraising this cycle bolstered by prior runs topped but overall spending chewed into that leaving her with in cash going into July She remains the strong favorite in the race having won the seat by about percentage points in November even as she outspent Calvarese by only about a quarter or million that cycle Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter The Spot