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Colorado Graduated Tax Initiative Draws Major Support From Democratic Lawmaker’s Nonprofit
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Graduated Tax Initiative Draws Major Support From Democratic Lawmaker’s Nonprofit

By Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado DENVER – State Rep. Lorena Garcia, a Westminster Democrat, has been working overtime to ensure a progressive state income tax initiative makes it in front of Colorado voters this November, including donating big bucks via a tax-funded nonprofit to the issue committee charged with getting the measure on the ballot. If passed, Initiative 195 would raise the current flat tax rate of 4.4 percent to 7.4 percent for those earning more than $500,000, and increasing as incomes rise to a top rate of 8.4 percent for those earning more than $1 million. A majority of Colorado taxpayers might see a slight income tax reduction, with many eventually getting caught up in the graduated brackets, as they are not indexed for inflation. ...
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Colorado’s Citizen Initiative Process Faces Growing Influence From Deep Pockets
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado’s Citizen Initiative Process Faces Growing Influence From Deep Pockets

By Colleen Slevin | The Colorado Sun High cost of getting a measure on the ballot has given wealthy interests more power to push their agendas. Colorado loves its ballot questions, ranking among the top states for the most on the ballot. But voters also like to say no — a lot. In the over 100 years that Colorado voters have been able to petition to put questions on the state’s ballot, only 36% of the 256 questions that made it on the ballot have passed, according to a tally by the state legislature. Questions referred to the ballot by state lawmakers have done better, passing nearly 60% of the time. Between 1960 and 2024, Colorado had the third highest number of voter-initiated ballot measures, behind California and Oregon, according to John Mat...
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Bennet Agrees To Settlement Over Improper Campaign Spending On Travel
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Bennet Agrees To Settlement Over Improper Campaign Spending On Travel

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet’s gubernatorial campaign has agreed to pay a $7,433 fine for using his Senate campaign account to pay for gubernatorial campaign travel expenses. The July 31 settlement includes an admission by Bennet and his campaign that they violated state campaign finance laws. The settlement is tied to multiple complaints filed last year. The complaints said Bennet traveled for his gubernatorial campaign in 2025, paying for it with funds from his U.S. Senate campaign account. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT COLORADO POLITICS
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Colorado Election Officials Allege Victor Marx Campaign Repeatedly Exceeded Donation Limits
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Election Officials Allege Victor Marx Campaign Repeatedly Exceeded Donation Limits

By Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado The Colorado Secretary of State's Office says the Republican gubernatorial nominee Victor Marx's campaign received nearly 200 illegal campaign contributions during the primary election. Campaign finance law caps individual donations at $1,450 to reduce the outsized influence of wealthy donors and prevent quid pro quo corruption. Colorado Secretary of State The Election Division received complaints alleging the Marx Campaign had repeatedly violated the law. It launched an investigation and found the campaign accepted 197 illegal contributions totaling more than $78,000 over the limit. It says he also accepted another $1,000 in illegal cash donations. Darcy Schoening filed the complaints against the campaign. She says Marx m...
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Record Political Spending Could Not Buy Every Victory in Colorado Primaries
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Estes Park Trail Gazette, Approved, State

Record Political Spending Could Not Buy Every Victory in Colorado Primaries

By Nick Coltrain | Estes Park Trail Gazette Analysis shows major amounts spent by campaigns, outside interests — mostly in Democratic races The $67 million storm has passed. For now. That is roughly how much was spent on all of Colorado’s competitive primaries for statewide and federal office — and almost all of it went to influence Democrat-vs.-Democrat contests as voters picked who would represent the party in November’s election, according to an analysis by The Denver Post. Millions more went to down-ballot races, such as local legislative races. The rain from the proverbial storm of cash poured down in the form of candidate mailers, door knockers, and TV and digital ads, and in less apparent campaign infrastructure and polls. The vast majority of the ...
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Money didn’t win Colorado’s primary. The ground game did.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Money didn’t win Colorado’s primary. The ground game did.

By Rocky Mountain Voice Editorial Board One of Colorado's biggest races still isn't settled. Two days after the polls closed, the Republican primary for governor had not been called. Victor Marx led Barb Kirkmeyer by about 2,000 votes statewide—39.86 percent to 39.43 percent, with Scott Bottoms third at 20.71 percent—in the Secretary of State's Thursday morning count. Marx's edge, 2,181 votes out of more than 500,000 cast, sits just outside Colorado's mandatory recount range, which trips at half a percentage point.  On the Democrat side, the race was settled. Attorney General Phil Weiser defeated U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, 56.71 percent to 43.29 percent. Colorado doesn't finish voting when the polls close. And neither do Colorado's campaigns. The real story from Tues...
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High Court Removes Limits on Party Coordination With Federal Candidates
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Approved, DENVER7, National

High Court Removes Limits on Party Coordination With Federal Candidates

By Shannon Ogden | Denver7 The ruling allows national parties to make direct contributions to candidate campaigns and is expected to give Republicans a short-term financial advantage. The Supreme Court struck down limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates for Congress and president. The limits had been in place to prevent large donors from circumventing caps on contributions to a candidate by directing money to a party with the understanding the money would be spent for that candidate. The ruling means national parties will now be able to make direct contributions to candidate campaigns. The decision is also expected to give Republicans a short-term boost because they have a large cash advantage over Democrats. READ ...
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Democratic Socialist Melat Kiros Puts DeGette’s Three Decades in Congress at Risk
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Democratic Socialist Melat Kiros Puts DeGette’s Three Decades in Congress at Risk

By: Colleen Slevin and Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun Kiros has tapped into the national discontent for incumbents among Democratic voters and parlayed her social media savviness into a campaign that has DeGette’s supporters incredibly nervous. 29-year-old democratic socialist is giving U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette her biggest challenge in the 30 years since she was first elected to represent Denver, appearing on the verge of pushing Colorado’s longest serving member of Congress out of Washington. Melat Kiros, who was endorsed by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders last week, has tapped into the national discontent among Democratic voters toward incumbents and parlayed her social media savviness into a campaign that at the very least has DeGette’s supporters incre...
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Colorado Democrats Clash Over Identity and Electability in High Stakes CD8 Primary
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Washington Examiner, Approved, State

Colorado Democrats Clash Over Identity and Electability in High Stakes CD8 Primary

By: James A. Downs | Washington Examiner Rep. Gabe Evans (R-CO) will find out his opponent on Tuesday from a contentious Colorado primary that has reopened some of the Democratic Party’s old political wounds.  State Rep. Manny Rutinel, a Hispanic progressive, takes on former state Rep. Shannon Bird, a white moderate, in a race that has been shaped by who is best fit to succeed in a battleground, Latino-plurality district.  Latino members of Congress in recent weeks chastised the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for its involvement in primaries after Randy Villegas prevailed in California’s 22nd District, a Central Valley battleground held by Rep. David Valadao (R-CA). The DCCC endorsed Jasmeet Bains, a moderate assemblywoman, but Vil...
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Colorado Secretary of State now prosecutes Pueblo Democrats in bingo finance case it dismissed
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado Secretary of State now prosecutes Pueblo Democrats in bingo finance case it dismissed

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The Colorado Secretary of State's office dismissed the complaint. Now, after a judge sent the case back, the state itself is the one prosecuting it. On June 15, the office's Elections Division filed its own complaint against the Pueblo County Democrat Party. The complaint alleges the Pueblo County Democrat Party failed to report contributions and expenditures tied to its affiliated Central Committee and its bingo-funded headquarters. 2026.06.15 - AHO Complaint_Pueblo County Democratic Party (1)Download The filing advances a case Pueblo resident Jonathan Ambler spent nearly two years building: that the party financed operations through an affiliated nonprofit and its bingo operation without reporting that activity in state campa...
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