DENVER — Just days before the 2026 Colorado Primary election, thousands of dollars in dark money continue to pour into the state.
“It doesn't really come from the parties, it doesn't come from the candidates themselves," Seth Masket, University of Denver political science professor said. "It comes from organizations that, thanks to various changes in rules and Supreme Court rulings, they don't really have to report who their donors are.”
Denver7 anchor Micah Smith follows the trail of dark money in Colorado politics in the video below:
Masket said this election cycle, a lot of the dark money is being spent on Democratic primaries in Colorado by special interest groups.
The Colorado Sun reports many of these groups want to help moderate Democrats candidates beat progressive opponents, including several incumbents.
“In the last few election cycles, it's become clear that Colorado is just a very solidly Democratic state," Masket said. "Republicans haven't won a statewide race here since 2014. They're not in any real shot of taking control of any house of the state legislature right now. So, increasingly, interest groups, donors are seeing that the Democratic party is really the only game in town if they want to be influential on what happens in the next legislative session.”
Masket said dark money is flowing into races that are considered safe Democratic districts.
“It's mostly going to be what sort of Democrat ends up representing that,” Masket said.
Political Strategist David Sabados is running several Democratic campaigns this election season and said some Democrats viewed as “business-friendly” are receiving the dark money.
“In one of the races I'm helping, for about every dollar that the opponent's actual campaign is spending, there's $9 of dark money supporting that race, instead,” Sabados said. “There are policy differences between candidates, but the money ends up being this overarching piece.”
Sabados said some of the nonprofits raising dark money and funding super PACs are using deceptive practices.
“Democratic primary voters aren't going to respond well to 'vote for so-and-so paid for by the oil and gas industry’, and so they're taking corporate money, they're washing it through nonprofit organizations, and then it pops up into these independent expenditure committees that appear overnight, start sending out mail and attack ads that same day,” Sabados said.
One nonprofit that’s spent a lot of money in Democratic primaries is One Main Street Colorado
“They seem to be rallying around a little more moderate candidates, more mainstream Democrats,” Masket said.
One Main Street Colorado Executive Director Andrew Short said the nonprofit supports moderate and progressive Democrats.
Short sent the following statement to Denver7:
One Main Street Colorado is a labor-led coalition of blue-collar workers, tradespeople, firefighters, Colorado business owners, and community leaders committed to expanding the middle class and delivering results for Colorado families.
We believe progress means lowering the cost of living, creating high-quality jobs, building more housing, strengthening unions, investing in infrastructure, and expanding opportunity. The difference isn't who calls themselves progressive. The difference is who delivers progress for everyday people.
That's what we're focused on because that's what Colorado families expect from Democratic leaders.
Colorado Public Radio reports One Main Street has supported some members of the Colorado Opportunity Caucus, a group of Democratic lawmakers that describes itself as “not focused on moving to the left or to the right. We're about moving forward.”
Within the past year, an ethics complaint was filed against some members of the caucus after they attended a retreat in Vail, funded in part by One Main Street, with lobbyists from the GEO Group, which runs the ice detention facility in Aurora, Xcel Energy.
Sabados said voters who want to know the agenda of organizations supporting their preferred candidates should research who’s contributing to candidates advertising campaigns.
“When you get a piece of mail from an organization you've never heard of with some name like Promoting Progressive Women, look up what that organization is. And if the only hits you're getting on Google are news articles about them being a dark money group, that gives you your answer about who's really backing these people,” Sabados said.
Masket said in the past, voters have expressed frustration about dark money.
“There tends to be a lot of voter anger about the amount of money being spent, particularly when it's coming from sources that are hard to trace," Masket said. "That has fueled various campaign finance reform efforts in the past.”
Masket said depending on what happens this election, we could see another campaign finance reform push in the years to come.
