Colorado Sees Significant Spending by Outside Groups on Ballot Measures and Statehouse Races
Outside groups in Colorado are significantly increasing their spending on ballot measures and state legislative races as Election Day approaches. Over a two-week period in early September, issue committees reported spending over $3 million on three key ballot initiatives. The Colorado Voter Trust Initiative, backing Amendment 84 which requires additional identification for returned mail ballots, accounted for $2 million of this spending, having raised $4.2 million, largely from an undisclosed Ohio-based 'dark-money' group. Yes for Colorado Kids, supporting Proposition NN to increase education funding, spent $715,000, bringing its total to over $1.2 million. Coloradans for Real Safety Solutions, opposing a measure to increase penalties for fentanyl possession (Proposition 132), spent $426,000, with total spending nearing $700,000 and over $1 million raised from donors including philanthropist Lynn Schusterman and the ACLU of Colorado. Concurrently, the Senate Majority Fund, supporting Republican state legis...
