PHOTO: Democrat Adam Frisch, left, and Republican Representative Lauren Boebert, right, were running for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District seat. William Woody/Colorado Newsline.
This story by Sara Wilson was posted on Colorado Newsline on December 12, 2022.
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert and challenger Adam Frisch raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars in the weeks after the Colorado midterm election, as the outcome of their race was too close to call and they solicited donations to fund ballot curing canvassing efforts.
Frisch’s haul exceeded Boebert’s both in the total raised and number of individual contributors.
Frisch, the Democrat who gained national attention after Election Day as a potential upset against Boebert loomed, brought in approximately $400,000 from November 9 through November 28, according to itemized receipts in his post-election filing with the Federal Election Commission. His campaign listed 1,130 individual donations.
After Election Day, people around the country were tuned into the results of Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, where Boebert, the controversial Republican congresswoman, was underperforming to a surprising level. Frisch, a businessman from Aspen, had a slim lead over Boebert by the end of November 8, but slipped behind in the following days. Boebert ended up victorious with a razor-thin margin as Frisch conceded on November 18 when he was behind by about 600 votes.
Frisch’s most active day of fundraising was on November 10, when 238 donors gave $91,650 total. On November 9, Frisch tweeted a fundraising solicitation with a link to his ActBlue landing page, writing that the campaign needed “resources to get the ballots cured, get us through to the end, and defeat Lauren Boebert.” On November 9, 171 donors gave about $49,000.
Ballot curing is the process where voters can fix mistakes on their rejected ballot, such as signature discrepancies, to have their vote count. Both Frisch and Boebert saw the curing process as a strategy to push their vote total into the lead. That effort involves canvassers on the ground or people working a phone bank to contact affected voters.
Frisch received money from people across the country, including 144 donations from people in California and 124 donations from people in Colorado in the days after Nov. 8. He received a $5,000 contribution after the election from AmeriPAC, which is led by House Majority Leader U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer.
On the other side of the race, Boebert raised a little over $300,000 between November 9 and November 28 with 532 individual donations. Her most active day was also November 11, when 72 people donated $52,466. She benefited from $5,000 donations from three political action committees: the House Freedom Fund, the Eye of the Tiger PAC and the First in Freedom PAC.
Both Frisch and Boebert ended the midterm cycle with significant cash on hand. Frisch has about $540,000 in his campaign account and Boebert has about $865,000. Frisch has already filed to be a candidate in 2024, which he said was a legal maneuver suggested by his campaign, the Pueblo Chieftain reported.
Candidates have some options for what they can do with money leftover from an election cycle. They can save it for a run in the future, hand parts of it over to other candidates, give it to a political party committee or create a PAC, as examples.
A mandatory recount in the race must be concluded by Thursday, but it is not expected to reverse the outcome.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The recount was concluded on Monday, December 12. The following information was received from Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s office:
Today, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced that the recounts of Colorado’s U.S. Congressional District 3 and House District 43 race are complete. The mandatory recount of U.S. Congressional District 3 reconfirmed that Representative Lauren Boebert is the winner of the race…
“The mandatory recount for U.S. Congressional District 3 and permissive recount of House District 43 are complete and have confirmed the results of the races. Colorado’s elections are safe, secure, and accurate,” said Secretary of State Jena Griswold. “I commend the election workers from across the state and my office for conducting these recounts and for their continued work to make Colorado the best place to cast a ballot.”
The final vote tallies as determined by the recounts…
Lauren Boebert: Net Change in Votes: -3, Percentage of Vote Total: 50.06%
Adam Frisch: Net Change in Votes: +1, Percentage of Vote Total: 49.89%