Over the next 10 months, Colorado voters can expect to see millions of dollars’ worth of ads fill airwaves and mailboxes as supporters of candidates and causes — some disclosed, others anonymous — seek to push their point of view.
Much of that won’t be directed by the campaigns, either.
More than $4 million has been raised by outside committees already in the Democratic primary for governor between U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Attorney General Phil Weiser, offering a preview of what’s to come.
Independent expenditure committees, colloquially known as state super PACs, can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money so long as they don’t coordinate with the campaigns they’re supporting. While the committees often report the names of contributors, the donors are sometimes cloaked in anonymity, either through obscure business entities or separate nonprofits that don’t need to disclose their donors.
That’s true of some of the money flooding into the independent committees in the Bennet-Weiser race. While some large checks have been cut by big names like New York City billionaire Michael Bloomberg and figures well known in the local or national business worlds, others have come from deep pockets that are harder to identify.
The vast majority of the super PAC money in the primary, $3.6 million, has gone to Rocky Mountain Way, the committee supporting Bennet’s bid. About $563,000 has gone to Fighting for Colorado, the committee supporting Weiser’s candidacy.
Bennet and Weiser have largely cleared the field on the Democratic side of the race, which also has several declared lesser-known candidates. On the crowded Republican side, where there are 20-odd contenders, there’s been little fundraising by independent expenditure committees so far. The GOP field also lags significantly behind the Democratic side in direct campaign fundraising. Coloradans have elected only one Republican as governor — Bill Owens, who won in 1998 and 2002 — since the 1970s.
The outside cash backing them likely represents the tip of the iceberg this year, observers said — especially in the first competitive Democratic governor’s race in over a decade where one candidate doesn’t promise to steamroll the competition’s spending with self-funding.
In 2018, Democrat Jared Polis spent more than $22 million of his own money on his way to winning the governor’s office. Polis is now term-limited from running again.
Presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg moments before taking the stage to campaign and open his Denver field office on Feb. 1, 2020. He has donated heavily to Colorado committees and campaigns in recent years, including to an outside committee supporting U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet's bid for governor. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)Differing rules for direct, outside donations
Statewide races can cost tens of millions of dollars to organize and get a campaign message across. But Colorado candidates can raise only $725 from an individual donor for each leg of the race, or $1,450 combined for the primary and general elections.
That, in effect, caps wealthier donors at a fraction of what they might want to give directly to candidates.
In the Democratic primary alone, 34 individuals and organizations have cut checks of $10,000 or more to the independent committees. The single largest donor, Bloomberg, has contributed $750,000 to the committee backing Bennet’s bid — a sum more than 500 times greater than what he’d be able to give to Bennet’s campaign directly.
Biggest donors to pro-Bennet super PAC
These are the top two donors to Rocky Mountain Way, an independent expenditure committee. See more donors, and a listing of sources, at the bottom of the story.
► Michael Bloomberg: $750,000 | The former New York City mayor, businessman and billionaire philanthropist ran for president at the same time Bennet did, in 2020. In addition to national and international work, Bloomberg has donated millions to Colorado-specific causes, including $2 million to a committee supporting now-Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s campaign for governor in 2018; $2 million to oppose Republican gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl in 2022; $1 million to support gun control; $750,000 to a 2024 campaign to protect abortion access in the Colorado Constitution; and $5 million to the successful campaign asking voters to retain Denver’s flavored tobacco ban in November’s election.
► Brighter Future for Colorado: $150,000 | The nonprofit group, whose name mirrors phrasing that has been used in Bennet’s campaign messaging, does not disclose its donors. The group has given to other committees that support Democrats in other state races, including All Together Colorado and Moving Colorado Forward.
The lack of limits on donations or spending by outside groups that operate independently of campaigns stems from the fallout of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which found such spending was protected as free speech.
“Because direct campaign contributions in Colorado are capped at $725 per individual, these independent expenditure groups are really key for building cash at scale,” said Aly Belknap, executive director of Colorado Common Cause, a government watchdog group.
Add in the ability for other nonprofits to donate to the committees, she said, and “this effectively washes the money and obscures the original donors, and creates a lack of transparency for the public and the voters about what kinds of special interests are contributing to the campaigns.”
(Common Cause is also a nonprofit that is not required to disclose its donors. Belknap said the organization has a policy of disclosing all donors who give more than $2,500 automatically, and of making the smaller donor list available for inspection at its Denver office.)
Ian Silverii, a Democratic political strategist, said the independent expenditure committee arm’s race is an “ironic” side effect of state campaign finance reforms. Silverii worked on the Weiser campaign when it was first starting up last year but has since stepped back from the race.
The caps on campaign contributions didn’t stop big money from pouring into races. They merely shift where the big checks go and how they get spent, Silverii said.
Biggest donors to pro-Weiser super PAC
These are the top two donors to Fighting for Colorado, an independent expenditure committee. See more donors, and a listing of sources, at the bottom of the story.
► Tom Ray: $50,000 | The founder of Buckhorn Capital, an investment firm based in Broomfield, was listed as a founding investor in a private equity commercial real estate investment and development firm headquartered in Denver. He’s also a co-founder of EdgeCore Data Centers, a data center investment and operating company.
► Art Reimers: $50,000 | The retired partner at Goldman Sachs is also listed as a board member for Red Mountain Capital Advisers. His bio at Red Mountain describes him as a “social impact investor who advises entrepreneurs working to solve society’s most pressing issues at scale.” He has long donated to Democratic causes, including $50,000 to a committee supporting now-Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s campaign for governor in 2018 and federal committees to support Democratic campaigns.
The separate pot of money also comes with its own drawback.
Candidate campaigns get favorable ad rates from TV stations and other outlets compared to independent expenditure committees, meaning direct donations go further.
When it comes to candidate fundraising, Bennet’s campaign has directly raised about $3.5 million and started the year with about $1.6 million in the bank, according to the most recent campaign finance reports that cover activity through the end of December. The Weiser campaign has directly raised about $4.6 million and started the year with about $3.5 million in the bank.
Colorado gubernatorial candidate U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, right, answers a question as fellow candidate Attorney General Phil Weiser looks into the audience during a forum hosted by the Colorado Young Democrats on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 68 in Denver. (Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post)Lack of control over message
Since candidates legally can’t coordinate with the independent committees, they thus lose the ability to control the story they want to tell when the money goes to outside groups. That can result in candidates sustaining collateral damage if they end up tied to messages or messengers that repel voters.
Silverii used ultrabillionaire Elon Musk’s massive spending on last year’s Wisconsin state Supreme Court election as an example. Voters associated the Republican candidate with Musk as overall views of the billionaire were cratering amid his involvement in Trump administration initiatives, and his preferred candidate lost by 10 percentage points.
“It is probably always better to have more resources to tell your story than it is to have fewer resources, but there is also a risk of your support being a liability,” Silverii said.
Case in point: Each of the gubernatorial campaigns, asked to comment generally on the outside money sure to flood the race, attacked the other’s third-party support while highlighting its candidate’s own direct donor base.
“The momentum behind Phil’s campaign is surging, so it’s no surprise that out-of-state billionaires and special interests are dumping millions into this race to try to stop him,” Anna Huck, Weiser’s campaign manager, said in a statement. “Phil isn’t beholden to special interests, corporations or out-of-state-billionaires — he’s powered by the people of Colorado, with more in-state donors, more local endorsements and more than double the cash on hand than Michael Bennet.”
Jordan Fuja, a campaign spokesperson for Bennet’s campaign, highlighted contributions to third-party committees that supported Weiser’s prior campaigns. She claimed Weiser had “a clear conflict of interest” because of donations from attorneys and people with ties to the oil and gas industry that may have business before the attorney general’s office.
She also singled out support for the Weiser-backing independent expenditure committee from Blair Richardson, a private equity CEO who donated to President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, though he has also contributed to Democratic causes.
“Michael is honored to have the grassroots support in this race with more supporters, more contributions, and a lower average donation than any other candidate in this primary,” Fuja said in a statement. “Phil Weiser, on the other hand, publicly condemns billionaire money while quietly taking it himself — including millions in donations from billionaires in past races.”
In a statement, the director of Rocky Mountain Way, Sarah Andrews, said the committee exists to bolster Bennet’s story and “is focused on ensuring voters understand Michael Bennet’s long history of steady leadership and real results for Colorado.”
“This effort is about making sure Coloradans hear clearly about the proven leadership that delivers for hardworking people and provides more opportunity for Colorado families,” Andrews said.
Attempts to reach representatives from the committee supporting Weiser and some of the largest donors to both committees — including Bloomberg and Paramount President Jeff Shell on the pro-Bennet side and Richardson and investor Tom Ray on the pro-Weiser side — were unsuccessful.
Other donors to outside committees
Here are the third- through fifth-largest donors to each of the independent expenditure committees supporting U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Attorney General Phil Weiser in the Democratic primary for Colorado governor. (See boxes above for each committee’s top two donors.)
Rocky Mountain Way (pro-Bennet)
► Broe Holdings: $50,000 | The Denver-based private equity firm has $6 billion in assets across 41 states. CEO Pat Broe has donated to Republican and Democratic candidates in Colorado and elsewhere. The company’s other large donations have gone to support Amendment B, a successful 2020 effort to repeal the Gallagher Amendment to the state constitution, and Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s reelection campaign in 2017.
► Jeff Shell: $50,000 | The president of Paramount had previously given $500 to former state Treasurer Cary Kennedy’s Democratic campaign for governor in 2018. He has also contributed to Democratic campaigns in California, New York, Pennsylvania and elsewhere. He was previously CEO of NBCUniversal but was fired in 2023 amid allegations of sexual harassment.
► Rocky Mountain Business Unit, Inc.: $40,000 | Campaign finance filings show the entity is based in Topeka, Kansas. Searches of business records kept by the Colorado and Kansas secretaries of state did not show an entity registered with that name in either state, though a business with that name is registered in Delaware.
Fighting for Colorado (pro-Weiser)
► Laura Mitzner Paletz: $30,000 | The founder and CEO of Spaciel, a commercial interior design firm, is also listed as the vice president of design for RIDA Development Corporation, an international real estate development and investment firm led by her father, Ira Mitzner.
► Merle Chambers: $25,000 | The longtime philanthropist is a donor to Democratic causes and the first woman inducted into the Rocky Mountain Oil and Gas Hall of Fame. She now runs the Chambers Fund, which is focused on equity, democracy and women’s economic security. She has donated millions to Democratic candidates and causes in Colorado and nationally.
► Blair Richardson: $25,000 | He is the CEO of Bow River Capital, a private equity, private credit and real estate firm in Denver. He has contributed to Democrats and Republicans, including President Donald Trump in 2024 and, in 2022, the Movement Voter PAC — which is self-described as working to “end the MAGA era.” He also donated $100,000 to support Proposition 131, the 2024 Colorado ballot initiative backed by Kent Thiry that would have instituted ranked-choice voting, and $100,000 to support Amendment B in 2020, which repealed the Gallagher Amendment in the state constitution.
Sources: Colorado Secretary of State’s campaign filings; OpenSecrets.com; Denver Post research.
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