Nearly $25 million spent on Colorado ballot measures — led by backers of election overhaul, abortion amendment

Spending on the litany of measures on Coloradans’ ballots has surpassed $24.5 million, led by the campaigns to overhaul the state’s election system and to protect abortion access in the state constitution.

Campaign finance reports updated in the last week show total fundraising has reached more than $31 million, including nonmonetary donations, among campaigns for and against more than a dozen state ballot measures in the Nov. 5 election. The campaign for Proposition 131, which would change the election system for many offices, has reported raising roughly $12 million and spending $9.1 million with just under three weeks to go until the end of voting.

Nearly $6 million has been spent on the campaign to enshrine abortion access in the state constitution through Amendment 79, and $1.6 million has been spent to oppose Amendment 80, which would elevate the right to school choice to the constitution.

The campaign to ban hunting of mountain lions and bobcats in state law through Proposition 127 has spent nearly $2.5 million, and the campaign to oppose it has dropped another $1.3 million.

Other reported ballot campaign spending includes:

Fundraising on election reform

But the largest fundraising haul belongs to the backers of Prop. 131, which would open Colorado’s primaries — with a single initial contest instead of party primaries — and then institute ranked-choice voting in the general election, with the top four primary finishers competing. It would apply across a suite of races at the state and federal levels, including for governor, the State Board of Education, and congressional and statehouse seats.

The campaign has drawn sizable contributions from a relatively small number of donors, with an official fundraising total reported at $10.7 million. But that figure doesn’t include more than $1.3 million in major contributions disclosed last week in separate filings.

Backers include Kent Thiry, the Denver-based former CEO of dialysis giant DaVita who’s driving the effort and has donated more than $1.4 million, and Unite America, a group Thiry co-chairs that’s supporting similar ballot measures elsewhere.

Other funders include Jeff Chambers, a Californian who works in private equity, and Ross Jones of Berkshire Partners, each of whom has given $321,685. In addition to past donations from Reed Hastings of Netflix and Ben Walton of the Walmart-founding family, the campaign has added a $50,000 donation from Denver’s Larry Mizel, a megadonor to former President Donald Trump who’s hosted two fundraisers for the Republican presidential ticket in recent months, and $100,000 from Kimbal Musk, a Colorado restaurateur and the brother of Elon Musk, another Trump megadonor.

Voters for the American Center, a dark-money group based in Washington, D.C., gave just under $500,000 to the campaign last week. The group, which registered in Colorado last month, shares an address and personnel with Longwell Partners, a communications firm that’s launched Republican groups opposing Trump.

The primary group opposing Prop. 131, called Voter Rights Colorado, has raised roughly $243,000, and has spent $33,222. The group has received $20,000 total from Coloradans for Accessible and Secure Elections, another dark-money group that’s also provided $26,000 worth of research as a nonmonetary donation.

That group has also received support from Cobalt Advocates, a Colorado abortion rights advocacy group; the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters; from the left-wing Working Families Party; and from local progressive groups Progress Now Colorado and New Era Colorado.

Other notable fundraising

Last week, Thiry donated $50,000 to the Amendment J campaign to repeal Colorado’s same-sex marriage ban and $100,000 to Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom, the committee backing Amendment 79.