Third-quarter fundraising numbers are out, and it wasn’t next year’s marquee races that pulled in the big bucks, but Democratic challengers seeking to take on Republican incumbents in what are considered safe red seats.
Democrat Eileen Laubacher, a retired rear admiral, raised almost $2.5 million in her campaign to secure the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Lauren Boebert next fall. She ended the 3rd quarter with almost $2 million cash on hand, dwarfing Boebert.
“I’ve listened to veterans driving hours for care they’ve earned, hospitals struggling to keep their doors open, and families hit by rising costs,” Laubacher said in a statement that dinged Boebert for not being attentive to her constituents. “I’ll show up, I’ll listen, and I’ll fight for real solutions for the people of this district.”
As for Boebert, the firebrand conservative’s fundraising has become anemic since she moved to the 4th congressional district, the state’s safest GOP seat. She raised about $110,000 over the past three months and ended the quarter with about $184,000 cash on hand.
Boebert’s numbers also trail those of last cycle’s Democratic nominee in the 4th District. Trisha Calvarese, who’s running again, reported raising just over half a million dollars and ended the quarter with just under $350,000 cash on hand.
Meanwhile, another Democratic challenger for the seat, John Padora, raised just under $25,000. Padora also ran last cycle but lost the primary to Calvarese.
Dollars flow to Democrat in El Paso County district
In the 5th Congressional District, currently represented by freshman Republican Jeff Crank, Democrat Jessica Killin reported raising over $1 million. The former Army veteran and aide to Doug Emhoff ended September with more than $775,000 cash on hand.
There are other Democrats in the primary field, but none came close to her fundraising haul. Joe Reagan raised over $45,000, with $30,000 coming from a loan he made to his campaign. Jamey Smith reported raising just over $25,000, while Zuri Horowitz reported raising just over $10,000 and ended the quarter with just under $1,000.
Crank, who won his seat by 14 points in 2024, reported raising just over $500,000 and ended the quarter with just under $780,000. About half of Crank’s haul came from individuals. He raised $144,000 from PACs and just over $100,000 from a joint fundraising committee.
These numbers mean Crank and Killin head into the next fundraising quarter neck and neck, in terms of war chests.
Both the 4th District, which encompasses Front Range and Eastern Plains counties, and the 5th District, which is based around Colorado Springs, are considered safe Republican seats. However, in 2024, Boebert underperformed her predecessors in the seat and President Donald Trump, while the 5th District had one of the largest shifts to Democrats that cycle, per the Cook Political Report, although Crank overperformed Trump in the district.
What the money looks like in Colorado’s toss-up seat
GOP incumbent Gabe Evans raised just over $615,000 this past quarter and has banked just under $2 million for what will most likely be the state’s most costly House race. About $200,000 came in from individual donations, just under $200,000 from PACs and over $173,000 from joint fundraising committees.
The 8th Congressional District is Colorado’s most politically competitive; it flipped to red in 2024 by fewer than 2500 votes.
The wide Democratic field in total raised just as much as Evans, but each candidate individually has a much smaller campaign war chest.
State Rep. Manny Rutinel raised about $486,000, with about $1 million cash on hand. Veteran Evan Munsing raised about $260,000 and ended the quarter with about $174,000. State Rep. Shannon Bird raised just under $390,000 and has $560,000 in the bank. State Treasurer Dave Young only raised $90,000 and had just over $60,000 cash on hand by the end of September. Educator Amie Baca-Oehlert raised about $72,000 and had about $50,000 cash on hand.
Without Boebert, candidates in the state’s largest district pull in thousands, not millions
GOP incumbent Jeff Hurd, who succeeded Rep. Boebert in the 3rd Congressional District, raised just under $450,000. About $300,000 came from individuals, while just under $100,000 came from joint fundraising committees and about $45,000 from PACs. Hurd goes into the next quarter with almost $1.4 million in cash on hand.
Unlike the state’s other Republican incumbents, Hurd is facing a primary challenge from his right. Hope Scheppelman, a former vice chair of the state GOP, raised just over $130,000, including $100,000 from a loan to her campaign. She ended the quarter with about $140,000 cash on hand.
Hurd’s nearest Democratic challenger, Aspen businessman Alex Kelloff, raised just over $142,000 and loaned his campaign $110,000 this quarter. He has about $425,000 cash on hand.
Colorado’s Senate race
Incumbent Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper reported raising $1.7 million for his reelection and has over $3.6 million cash on hand.
Hickenlooper left his primary challengers in the fundraising dust. Karen Breslin reported raising just under $53,000, while Brashad Hasley reported raising $1,554, with nearly all of that coming from a loan he made to his campaign.
While almost two dozen Republicans have jumped into the open gubernatorial race, perhaps in a sign of how blue Colorado has become, only two GOP candidates have filed to try and run against Hickenlooper next fall. Neither have come close to Hickenlooper’s total.
Former GOP State Rep. Janik Joshi reported raising just under $150,000, $100,000 of which was a loan he made to his campaign. He ended September with just over $100,000 cash on hand. Meanwhile, George Markert reported raising about $21,000. He ended the quarter with just under $56,000 cash on hand.
Democratic primary for Denver seat
Democratic incumbent Diana DeGette has a few primary challengers as she runs for a 16th term in the 1st Congressional District. She raised more than $187,000 in the latest quarter, with more than $75,000 coming from individuals and more than $111,000 from PACs. She ended the quarter with about $412,000 cash on hand.
Wanda James, the CU Regent for the district, raised just over $100,000 after jumping into the race in the final weeks of the quarter. She goes into the next quarter with just under $100,000 cash on hand.
Meanwhile, another primary challenger, Melat Kiros, who entered the race this spring, raised just under $125,000 and spent more than half of the amount, to end September with about $45,000 cash on hand.
The other Democratic and Republican challengers who’ve filed paperwork to run did not report raising any money this quarter.
The rest of the races
Democratic incumbent Joe Neguse raised more than $566,000 and ended September with almost $2.8 million in his campaign war chest. Of that total, about $232,000 was from individual donations. About $200,000 came from PACs and more than $131,000 from joint fundraising committees.
Democrat Jason Crow raised over $310,000 and ended the quarter with about $2.1 million cash on hand. He raised about $220,000 from individuals, $30,000 from PACs and $60,000 from a joint fundraising committee.
Both Neguse and Crow have primary challengers, but neither filed fundraising paperwork for the quarter.
Democrat Brittany Pettersen raised over $300,000 and has just under $850,000 cash on hand. Pettersen received just under $160,000 from individuals and just over $130,000 from PACs.
Currently, none of these three Democrats have Republican challengers.
