Issue groups start spending big on attempts to change Colorado laws through the ballot

Nick Coltrain, The Denver Post on Sep 23, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

DENVER — Outside groups weighing in on attempts to change Colorado law through the ballot have started spending big money, foreshadowing what’s sure to be a bruising six-week stretch before Election Day.

A handful of issue committees reported spending more than $3 million total on three ballot measures between Sept. 3 and Sept. 16, the period covered by campaign finance reports due Monday night. One backs an effort to increase state education funding, another is fighting a measure that would increase penalties for fentanyl possession and the third group backs an amendment that would require extra identification on returned mail ballots.

Most of the money was spent on advertising, according to campaign finance reports.

Two-thirds of that total, $2 million, was reported by the Colorado Voter Trust Initiative, a committee backing Amendment 84. That proposed constitutional amendment would require voters to write either the last four digits of their Social Security number, their full driver’s license number or an ID card number on their ballot return envelopes.

That committee has raised $4.2 million already, most of which has come from an Ohio-based dark-money group that doesn’t disclose its donors. It has spent more than $3.3 million this election cycle.

Yes for Colorado Kids, which is supported by education groups, spent $715,000. The committee backs Proposition NN, a measure that would funnel more money to education by allowing the state to keep revenue that would otherwise be returned under a cap set by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.

That measure was put on the Nov. 3 ballot by Democrats in the legislature. The recent spending has brought the group’s total up to more than $1.2 million.

Coloradans for Real Safety Solutions, which is opposing an Advance Colorado-led proposal to increase criminal penalties for fentanyl possession and distribution, reported spending $426,000 to fight against Proposition 132 over the two-week period covered by the campaign finance reports. It has spent almost $700,000 total and reported raising more than $1 million, including from philanthropist Lynn Schusterman and the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado.

Other groups involved with ballot advocacy haven’t yet ramped up public spending.

Meanwhile, the candidate races are also starting to see bigger cash dropped on them. The Senate Majority Fund, which supports Republican candidates for the state legislature’s upper chamber, reported spending almost $1 million to defend one GOP-held Senate seat and to flip two occupied by Democrats — further highlighting the battlegrounds that could determine if Republicans blunt Democratic power or sink into superminority status in the legislature.

Democrats are one seat shy of outnumbering Republicans by 2-to-1 margins in each chamber of the legislature.

The GOP independent expenditure committee is focusing its spending on supporting Dana Charles in Pueblo and former Sen. Rob Woodward in Loveland. Those two seats are currently represented by Democrats. The committee is also spending to support Sen. John Carson, a Highlands Ranch Republican, who is being challenged by former school board member Kevin Leung.

The Democratic legislative campaign committees, All Together Colorado and Colorado Way Forward, did not report spending on advertising, though each spent more than $100,000 on consultants and professional services.

Neither major party gubernatorial candidate reported spending more than $200,000 to kick off September. Republican Victor Marx reported $175,000 spent, versus $191,000 raised, with most of the money going to consultants and other professional services.

Democrat Phil Weiser reported spending $198,000, more than half of which went to advertising, while raising almost $275,000.

The spending is expected to ramp up as ballots start arriving in mailboxes. County clerks will start mailing ballots to voters on Oct. 2, a full month before Election Day.

_____