The Colorado midterm ballot this year “rivals the (book) ‘War and Peace’ for how long it is,” said the Executive Director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, Matt Crane.
The reason that the Colorado’s midterm ballot is one of the longest in the country is due to Advance Colorado,the state’s most funded conservative political group Founded in 2020 with
support from former Colorado Gov. Bill Owens and real estate developer Terry Considine, the organization’s goal is to use ballot initiatives to implement Republican policies in the state, rather than through the legislature.
Some initiatives sponsored by the organization aim to expand Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) power, block clean energy policy and cut taxes for Colorado’s most wealthy.
Advance Colorado’s network is also far reaching, including three Colorado news outlets— the Colorado Springs and Denver Gazettes and Colorado Politics— all owned by billionaire Phil Anschutz.
An investigation found that in 2022, donors moved $11 million through Advance Colorado and its broader network, which included conservative think tanks and advocacy groups. About $9 million of that money was anonymous. The organization claims to advance policies that “empower taxpayers and families,” but Colorado voters do not know who are behind these initiatives.
The landmark 2010 U.S. Supreme Court case Citizens United v. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) struck down existing limits on how much a corporation can spend directly in support of a political campaign, opening the floodgates for billionaires and major corporations to use their money to influence elections.
Major donors, like Anschutz, give money to nonprofits like High Hopes Colorado and the Colorado Opportunity Foundation, who then funnel millions of dollars to Advance Colorado to draft ballot initiatives, run campaigns and hire signature collectors for measures on your ballot.
Advance Colorado also funnels money to the Common Sense Institute and media owned by Anschutz to back their policies. With its vast network of conservative-backed organizations, this method is how Advance Colorado is able to hide the identity of its donors from Coloradans.
Phil Anschutz is not the only billionaire helping fund dark money political organizations. In 2022, billionaire Peter Thiel spent tens of millions of dollars to boost the Senate campaigns of 2020 election deniers like J.D. Vance and Blake Masters. Also during the 2022 midterms, only a few billionaires generated about 15% of all federal election funding.
In 2024, President Donald Trump relied on just 10 individual donors for nearly half the money raised to support his candidacy. Vice-president Kamala Harris also received donations from dark money organizations.
To combat the coercive influence of money and billionaires in politics, voters can help push for both state and federal legislation, like the DISCLOSE Act. This act would prohibit these intermediary groups from concealing donors and improve overall campaign transparency. Another important way for voters to take back control is to actually vote and be knowledgeable about the issues on the ballot.
Mail-in ballots will be sent to Colorado voters between Oct. 2 and 9. Election day is on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
