Cracks in Colorado’s left: Democrat infighting spills into the headlines

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project

Colorado Sun follows Democrat dark money?!

Like a Yukon fur trapper making his semi annual visit to town to see the store, bar, and brothel, the Sun recently decided to delve into Democrat dark money. Their story is linked first below and details a Vail conference some Democratic state lawmakers recently had.

The conference was put on and attended by a group of lawmakers going by the name the Opportunity Caucus. This caucus is set up as a nonprofit and doesn’t reveal its donors, though it also gets funding from its legislator members. The Opportunity Caucus was helped (incubated?) by one of Colorado’s copious lefty nonprofits, One Main Street.

Why would the Sun pick these groups to investigate and report on out of all the various NGOs and nonprofits they could have chosen? A quote from the story helps illuminate:

“Like the Opportunity Caucus, One Main Street has in the past declined to name most of its donors and has riled progressives in recent years by backing more moderate candidates in Democratic legislative primaries”

The Colorado Sun, more precisely a progressive Democrat mouthpiece than a strictly Democrat one, is likely covering this because of progressive concern rather than out of a spirit of describing and outlining the Democrat dark money machine in Colorado in general. It’s the riling up of progressives that spurred the story.

But to their credit, they are (finally?) giving some attention to the well-funded nonprofit Democrat political machine in this state** as well as revealing an undercurrent in Colorado’s politics that’s been been growing for some time now: the schism between more mainstream Democrats and their progressive party-fellows.

There’s another detail about this to be aware of, however, and another quote from the story tees it up:

“Members of the Opportunity Caucus are considered among the more moderate Democrats in the legislature. The retreat the weekend of Oct. 4 has stoked ire among Capitol progressives, who are quietly asking questions about who funded the gathering and its intent.”

There’s ire being stoked? Check.

Asking questions about the groups funding this sort of thing? Check.

Asking out loud? Going on record? Nope. Asking quietly and only someone from the ultra-left Colorado’s Working Family on record.

It might be tempting to think a divorce is imminent, that serious political infighting on the Democrat side is going to be bad news for them. I don’t know though.

They strike me now as a couple who is fighting a lot and unhappy, but still has concern enough to mostly hide their arguments. On top of this you have the decidedly sparse coverage in the media.

I hope to see more of both, frankly. One of the reasons why the Democrats have held such considerable power in this state has been their ability to keep the various factions inside the party moving in lockstep. If that were to change, it spells opportunity for conservatives.

Capitalizing on that opportunity means being ready when it comes. Given the current state of the Republican party in Colorado, I don’t think they’re going to be able to do much right now. So the onus here falls on you and I. It falls on us to start laying the foundations so that when (and I do think it’s a when rather than if) Democratic infighting weakens them, we can spring.

If you would like to be a part of that and don’t know where to start, get with me and I’ll see about connecting you to resources.

**In addition to a little at the end discussing big money groups influencing lawmakers behind closed doors. Glad they’re doing it, don’t get me wrong, but this little nibble at that particular issue by the Sun is nowhere near enough coverage of the NGO/nonprofit/dark money ecosystem in Colorado!

https://coloradosun.com/2025/10/13/colorado-opportunity-caucus-retreat-vail/

Related:

A later addition to the story above.

https://coloradosun.com/2025/10/17/colorado-opportunity-caucus-one-main-street/

READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT THE COLORADO ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT

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