Home Part of States Newsroom
News
Boebert leads GOP primary field in fundraising ahead of June primary

Share

Boebert leads GOP primary field in fundraising ahead of June primary

Apr 16, 2024 | 4:12 pm ET
By Chase Woodruff
Boebert leads GOP primary field in fundraising ahead of June primary
Description
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert speaks during the first Republican primary debate for Colorado's 4th Congressional district in Fort Lupton on Jan. 25, 2024. (Sara Wilson/Colorado Newsline)

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert will head into Colorado’s June 25 primary with a big fundraising advantage over a crowded field of rivals for the Republican nomination in the 4th Congressional District.

In her bid to switch districts, after representing the Western Slope’s 3rd District in Congress since 2021, Boebert had nearly $1 million in cash on hand at the end of the first quarter of 2024, according to Federal Election Commission reports. That’s a bigger campaign war chest than all of her GOP primary rivals combined.

Republicans hold a strong advantage in the 4th District, which includes Douglas County and most of Colorado’s Eastern Plains. Former Rep. Ken Buck resigned his seat last month, and the winner of the Republican primary on June 25 will be heavily favored to win a full term in Congress in November. A separate special election will be held the same day to fill out the remainder of Buck’s current term. Greg Lopez, who was selected by a party committee to be the GOP’s special election nominee, calls himself a “placeholder” candidate and is not a candidate in the 2024 primary.

Boebert’s best-funded rivals are former state Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, who has picked up endorsements from a long list of Republican establishment figures, and Deborah Flora, a conservative radio host who previously sought the party’s 2022 U.S. Senate nomination. Both had raised over $300,000 through March 31, according to FEC reports, though Flora’s campaign has spent her haul at a faster clip, more than doubling Sonnenberg’s expenditures to date.

State Reps. Richard Holtorf of Akron and Mike Lynch of Wellington have also qualified for the primary ballot. Holtorf, who had already floated a primary challenge against Buck and quickly jumped into the race following Buck’s retirement announcement in November, has raised less than $140,000 since then, disclosures show. Lynch, who resigned as House minority leader in January following revelations about a 2022 drunk driving arrest, has raised even less, and reported just $3,036 in cash on hand at the end of March.

State party chair behind in fundraising

Buck’s resignation, Boebert’s district switch and the retirement of Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado Springs, who has represented the 5th District there since 2007, mean that all three of Colorado’s GOP-held congressional seats are up for grabs in 2024.

Colorado Republican Party chair Dave Williams, a former state lawmaker who ran unsuccessfully against Lamborn in the 2022 primary before being elected as state party chair last year, is seeking the seat again. He announced his candidacy in an official state GOP email, and has been the target of a formal campaign-finance complaint and bitter criticism from fellow Republicans over his conduct as party chair, including additional emails and a mailer criticizing his primary opponent, longtime GOP operative Jeff Crank.

Crank, who has won endorsements from many establishment Republicans and the Colorado Springs Gazette, the newspaper owned by right-wing billionaire Phil Anschutz, holds a sizable fundraising advantage over Williams, having raised over $300,000 to date, FEC reports show. Williams has raised $71,511 from outside contributors and personally loaned $100,000 to his campaign, but reported expenditures of just $5,319 in the first quarter.

Frisch has largest haul

In the race for the 3rd District seat being vacated by Boebert, Grand Junction attorney Jeff Hurd, who had announced a primary challenge against the controversial congresswoman before her district switch last year, holds a substantial fundraising lead over another crowded field of hopefuls. Hurd’s $527,987 in cash on hand is four times the amount held by his nearest rival. Former state Rep. Ron Hanks, a far-right election conspiracy theorist who lost the 2022 U.S. Senate primary, trails far behind the rest of the field with barely $9,000 raised through March 31.

The GOP nominee in the 3rd District will face Adam Frisch, the former Aspen city council member who came within 546 votes of unseating Boebert in 2022. Frisch smashed fundraising records while campaigning against Boebert and continued his strong performance even after her departure from the race, according to FEC disclosures. The $1.4 million his campaign collected in the first quarter was by far the largest haul of any Colorado congressional candidate, and he has a $5.8 million war chest with which to compete in November’s general election in the 3rd District, where Republicans are generally favored.

Early super PAC spending

Congressional candidate committees are subject to donation limits of $6,600 from individuals, but wealthy donors and corporations can contribute unlimited sums to so-called super PACs, which can make “independent expenditures” on behalf of or in opposition to a candidate, but are barred from coordinating directly with candidates or their campaigns.

In recent elections, many of Colorado’s closest congressional races have become battles between deep-pocketed super PACs, which are able to raise and spend far more than candidates themselves. Republican state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, for example, raised just $1.5 million in her unsuccessful 8th District campaign in 2022, but benefited from more than $10 million in independent expenditures from Republican-aligned super PACs.

State Rep. Gabe Evans, who is challenging Democratic incumbent Rep. Yadira Caraveo of Thornton in the 8th District race this year, is already getting a boost from Americans for Prosperity, the super PAC funded largely by conservative billionaire Charles Koch, the Walton family and other wealthy GOP donors. The group has also backed Crank in the 5th District primary, and Hurd in the 3rd District.

To date, Americans for Prosperity hasn’t spent any money to influence the 4th District race, according to disclosure reports. And although the House Freedom Fund, a super PAC that backs members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, previously spent over $190,000 to back Boebert’s 3rd District candidacy in 2023, the group hasn’t reported any spending on her behalf since she jumped to the 4th District in December.

Caraveo and another first-term Democrat, Rep. Brittany Pettersen of Lakewood, received support from Fairshake, a super PAC funded by the cryptocurrency industry. The group, which has spent on behalf of candidates from both parties during the 2024 election cycle, says it aims to fund candidates who will provide “blockchain innovators the ability to develop their networks under a clearer regulatory and legal framework.”