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Tag: Election 2026

Dark Money Groups Pour Millions Into Key Colorado Democratic Primary Battles
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Dark Money Groups Pour Millions Into Key Colorado Democratic Primary Battles

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun The dollars are aimed at helping more moderate candidates beat their more liberal opponents, including a handful of incumbents. It’s paying for ads and mailers in districts across the Denver area and one in the high country. About $2 million in untraceable money has flowed into a handful of Democratic statehouse primaries in recent weeks to help more moderate candidates beat their more liberal opponents, including several incumbents. The funds come from three nonprofits that don’t have to report their donors and are being routed through a convoluted web of eight state-level super PACs, some of which have names that appear aimed at deceiving people into thinking they are grassroots organizations. The dark money is paying for ads and ma...
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Colorado Voters Prepare for Sweeping Legislative Changes in 2026 Elections
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Voters Prepare for Sweeping Legislative Changes in 2026 Elections

By: Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics This year’s general election will feature an unusually high number of state Senate races — 21 seats, the most in at least three decades. The surge stems from the number of new senators appointed to fill vacancies during the 2025 and 2026 legislative sessions, which triggered additional seats to go before voters. That group of 21 includes six senators who are term-limited, running for other offices, or simply choosing not to return. Fifteen House members, meanwhile, will not return next term — they are either term‑limited, running for another office, or choosing not to seek reelection. Here’s a look at the lawmakers who are wrapping up their service in the General Assembly. Open Senate seats The 2026 elec...
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Colorado Road Funding Initiative Nears November Ballot After 180,000 Signatures Submitted
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The Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado Road Funding Initiative Nears November Ballot After 180,000 Signatures Submitted

By Marissa Ventrelli | The Gazette Organizers of a proposal seeking to dedicate hundreds of millions of dollars to road construction and maintenance have submitted signatures to state election officials in their campaign to put the initiative on the ballot this November. If officials certified the signatures as sufficiently meeting the threshold — organizers need 124,000 to be valid — the battle shifts to persuading voters to embrace or reject the ballot question. The measure, Initiative No. 175, would require that all transportation-related revenue be used exclusively for building and repairing roads and bridges, improving safety, conducting transportation planning and engineering, and supporting Colorado State Patrol operations. The battle over road funding ha...
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Texas GOP Voters Send Cornyn Packing in Landslide Win for Paxton
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The Daily Signal, Approved, National

Texas GOP Voters Send Cornyn Packing in Landslide Win for Paxton

By George Caldwell | Daily Signal Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defeated incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn in the state’s primary runoff Tuesday, adding to President Donald Trump’s hot streak of unseating those he considers insufficiently loyal and ending Cornyn’s multi-decade career in the Senate. The Associated Press declared Paxton the victor at 9 p.m. EDT, when he held a 25 point lead over Cornyn. Paxton had secured 62.5% of the vote to Cornyn’s 37.5%. In his victory speech, Paxton credited his victory to Trump and pledged to work with him. “When everyone in Washington told him to abandon me and abandon the people of Texas, he didn’t listen,” Paxton said of Trump. Paxton added, “Instead, he gave me his complete and total endorsement....
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Sharp Divides Emerge in Colorado Republican Governor Debate
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Sharp Divides Emerge in Colorado Republican Governor Debate

By Óscar Contreras | Denver7 Watch key moments and the full debate between State Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer and State Rep. Scott Bottoms. DENVER — Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidates State Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer and State Rep. Scott Bottoms took the stage Thursday evening in their first televised debate ahead of the June 30 primaries. Victor Marx, a third contender in the GOP gubernatorial race, was invited to participate in the debate but declined Denver7's invitation. Both candidates fielded questions before a live studio audience of a few dozen people as they tried to make the case as to why it was time for Coloradans to hand power back to Republicans this November after nearly 20 years of Democratic control in the state. It was the first major televised deba...
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Former NYC Mayor Bloomberg’s Support For Bennet Governor Campaign Reaches $2.5M
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Former NYC Mayor Bloomberg’s Support For Bennet Governor Campaign Reaches $2.5M

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun Michael Bloomberg has given $2.5M to Rocky Mountain Way, the state-level super PAC supporting the US senator’s gubernatorial campaign. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s support for U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet’s gubernatorial campaign reached $2.5 million last month, which is more than any Republican has raised in the race.  Bloomberg gave $1.25 million to Rocky Mountain Way, the state-level super PAC supporting the Democrat, between Jan. 1 and April 29, which was Colorado’s last campaign finance reporting period. That’s in addition to the $1.25 million the billionaire gave to the group last year.  The Colorado Sun reached out to Bloomberg’s philanthropic arm for comment Tuesday but didn’t immediately hear back. State-...
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Weiser’s record: A system falling behind
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Weiser’s record: A system falling behind

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Every time a convicted felon in Colorado decides to fight their case on appeal, the state has to answer. Homicide. Sexual assault. White collar crime. Death row. It doesn't matter — the Attorney General's Criminal Appeals Section picks up every one. Thirty-four attorneys. Every felony appeal in the state. And for three straight years, they haven't been able to keep up. The cost of that starts before a single case is decided. The state tracks response briefs through mandatory SMART Act performance filings. One metric counts how many are overdue — cases where the office has not filed within the deadline set by the Colorado Appellate Rules.  The Attorney General's office sets its own annual target for how ma...
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Weiser’s Record: The Lawsuit Machine and the Scorecard
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Weiser’s Record: The Lawsuit Machine and the Scorecard

By Shaina Cole | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Marya Washburn is a federal Forest Service firefighter. She was fired by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins last year, right before fire season. At a January forum in Denver, Attorney General Phil Weiser singled her out by name as evidence of what his office has accomplished. "My office got involved in one of the 50 lawsuits we brought against this administration," Weiser told the Colorado Young Democrats forum. "We got our job back." It is also incomplete in ways voters should understand. The lawsuit Weiser was describing is captioned State of Maryland v. USDA. Maryland filed it. Maryland's attorneys drafted the complaint and argued the case. Colorado was one of several states that added its name to the filing. Weiser's o...
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Trump re-endorses Hurd in CD3: Says Scheppelman will exit race
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Trump re-endorses Hurd in CD3: Says Scheppelman will exit race

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional reporting, including comments from Colorado Republican Party Secretary Russ Andrews and a statement from Hope Scheppelman confirming she has suspended her campaign. President Donald Trump on Friday morning reversed course in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, re-endorsing Rep. Jeff Hurd and announcing that former challenger Hope Scheppelman would step out of the race to join his administration—a move she later confirmed in a campaign statement. In a Truth Social post, Trump said Scheppelman and her husband Steven—both Navy veterans—will leave the campaign trail “to join my Administration, in a capacity to be determined,” calling them “wonderful and patriotic” supporters of the...
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The grassroots upset: How 3,320 volunteers pushed three child-focused measures onto Colorado’s ballot
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

The grassroots upset: How 3,320 volunteers pushed three child-focused measures onto Colorado’s ballot

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Three citizen-led ballot initiatives—focused on youth medical procedures, girls’ sports and child trafficking penalties—are now officially headed to Colorado’s November 2026 ballot, a result supporters say wasn’t supposed to happen. That final step came this week, when Propositions 109 and 110 were certified, joining Proposition 108 after a campaign that gathered more than 500,000 signatures statewide. For Erin Lee, executive director of Protect Kids Colorado, the moment lands as something bigger than a successful petition drive—it’s the end of a campaign many didn’t think would get this far. The campaign they said couldn’t work Asked about the process, Lee called it “the hardest, most impossible thing” she’s ever taken on. She s...
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