This article by Chase Woodruff appeared on Colorado Newsline on June 7, 2024
Battles between wealthy conservative donors and far-right extremists over the future of the Republican Party — and at least one controversial effort by a Democratic group to give the upper hand to the latter — are fueling millions of dollars in outside spending on congressional races ahead of Colorado’s June 25 primary.
Voters in all three of Colorado’s GOP-held congressional districts will elect new representation in November, and the party is also aiming to flip the 8th District seat held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo of Thornton.
The congressional primary campaign was upended in December by Rep. Lauren Boebert’s decision to move from the 3rd District, which she has represented for two terms, to the 4th District, in an attempt to win the safe Republican seat previously held by former Rep. Ken Buck, who resigned his seat in March.
In the race to succeed Boebert in the 3rd District, Grand Junction attorney Jeff Hurd has benefited from more than $133,000 in independent expenditures by Americans for Prosperity, the deep-pocketed super PAC funded in large part by conservative billionaire Charles Koch, according to disclosure reports from the Federal Election Commission.
Congressional candidate committees are subject to donation limits of $6,600 from individuals, but wealthy donors and corporations can contribute unlimited sums to super PACs, which can in turn spend the money on behalf of or in opposition to a candidate but are barred from coordinating directly with candidates or their campaigns.
Hurd had already announced a primary challenge against the far-right congresswoman before her district switch, which came amid mounting doubts about Boebert’s ability to win a third term after her 546-vote margin of victory in 2022. Republicans hold a moderate advantage in the 3rd District, which covers most of the Western Slope, along with Pueblo.
Another first-time candidate, Lew Webb of Durango, has received $96,000 in support from Our American Century, a super PAC closely aligned with former President Donald Trump. Past donors to the group include hotel magnate Steve Wynn, but its only reported contribution during the 2024 election cycle is a $100,000 donation from Apex Spendthrift Trust. Our American Century reported spending the money on a TV ad supporting Webb and opposing Hurd.
“There are two different types of Republicans. One is the America First, voice-of-the-common-man type, like Lew Webb,” the ad says. “The other is the Chamber of Commerce, Liz Cheney type, like Jeff Hurd.”
But the largest outside spender in the 3rd District’s Republican primary has been Rocky Mountain Values, a Democratic-affiliated super PAC. The group has spent over $288,000 on ads nominally opposing far-right former state Rep. Ron Hanks, calling Hanks “too conservative” and linking Hanks with Trump, as well as ads highlighting Hurd’s refusal to say whether he voted for Trump for president.
It’s the second time that a Democratic super PAC has engaged in an apparent effort to raise the profile of Hanks, an election denier who was present outside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection, and help him prevail in a GOP primary over more moderate rivals. A similar attempt to boost Hanks over construction executive Joe O’Dea in Colorado’s 2022 U.S. Senate primary didn’t succeed.
Three other GOP candidates in the 3rd District — State Board of Education member Stephen Varela, financial adviser Russ Andrews and realtor Curtis McCrackin — haven’t been the beneficiary or target of any reported super PAC spending. Nor has Adam Frisch, the former Aspen City Council member who nearly upset Boebert in 2022 and is the only candidate on the Democratic primary ballot, received any super PAC support, though his campaign committee has continued to smash fundraising records with direct contributions.
5th District showdown
The most expensive battle in Colorado’s 2024 primary is the head-to-head showdown between state GOP chair Dave Williams and longtime political operative Jeff Crank in the 5th District, which is centered on Colorado Springs and is being vacated by retiring Rep. Doug Lamborn.
Crank, a regional vice president for Americans for Prosperity and a former congressional aide, has been endorsed by Lamborn and many other top Republicans, including U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson. He has benefited from nearly $1.5 million in outside spending by AFP and other groups bankrolled by wealthy right-wing donors and businesses, in what observers call a “battle for the soul of the GOP.”
That total includes over $917,000 spent on ads attacking Williams by two super PACs, Conservatives for American Excellence and America Leads Action, which are funded by influential conservative billionaires including Paul Singer, Ken Griffin and Rob Walton, as well as by “dark money” nonprofits that do not disclose their donors. The PACs’ spending is part of a national effort by GOP megadonors to oppose candidates who could align with the far-right House Freedom Caucus, NBC News reported earlier this year.
Williams was endorsed by Trump in March. Though no super PAC has reported any spending on Williams’ behalf, the state party chair has repeatedly used Colorado GOP resources to endorse his own candidacy and attack Crank, including a recent mailer paid for by the Colorado Republican Committee highlighting Trump’s endorsement of Williams, the Colorado Sun reported. Williams’ conduct has drawn an FEC complaint alleging the party’s support of his candidacy violates campaign finance laws.
Other races
The House Freedom Fund, a super PAC that backs members of the Freedom Caucus, previously spent over $190,000 to back Boebert’s 3rd District candidacy in 2023. But neither that group nor any other PAC has waded into the six-way primary race in the 4th District, where a recent poll showed Boebert is the heavy favorite.
Meanwhile, in the 8th District, state Rep. Gabe Evans of Fort Lupton has received over $272,000 in support from Americans for Prosperity ahead of his head-to-head primary contest with former state Rep. Janak Joshi.
In a debate last week, Joshi accused Evans of being “a stooge of Americans for Prosperity,” a group that Joshi characterized as working to undermine Trump’s agenda. Evans brushed aside the criticism, saying that he was willing to accept help from “anyone who believes in the same broad principles that I do.”
The winner of the 8th District GOP primary will face Caraveo, who was narrowly elected to her seat in 2022, in a general election match-up widely expected to be one of the costliest and most closely-watched congressional races in the country. The 8th District is Colorado’s newest and most competitive district, encompassing both Democratic-leaning suburbs north of Denver and more conservative areas in southern Weld County.
Colorado’s primary election will be held on June 25.
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