February 04, 2022 12:52 PM UTC

Gino Campana: Worth $140 Million With A Belt That Proves It

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• by: Colorado Pols

Following up on the recent reports of previously-unknown Republican candidates writing big checks to goose their profile in the crowded GOP U.S. Senate primary to challenge Sen. Michael Bennet in November, Jesse Paul at the Colorado Sun’s Unaffiliated newsletter compares the estimated net worths of Gino Campana and Joe O’Dea based on the wide range they’re permitted to disclose in the interest of privacy.

It’s still more than 99.9999% of us will ever see in our lifetimes:

$140.5 million: That’s the maximum net worth of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Gino Campana, based on a personal financial disclosure he filed last weekend. His minimum net worth is $44.8 million. There’s a range because the disclosure doesn’t provide specific asset dollar amounts to protect candidates’ and incumbents’ privacy.

That’s nearly twice the $17.5 million to $77.4 million estimated net worth for another multimillionaire Republican U.S. Senate candidate, Joe O’Dea, who owns a Denver construction business.

If elected, Campana would be No. 15 on the list of the wealthiest members of Congress, just behind Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to a December report from Business Insider. That list used minimum net assets for its ranking.

Eagle-eyed observers took note in the recent debates of a particular high-end brand of belt that Campana favors, an Italian-made hammered calfskin Salvatore Ferragamo “Double Gancio”-buckled belt that retails for well over $400 (photo above right). Campana’s ostentatious display of wealth fits well with his strategy of running as Colorado’s wholly-owned subsidiary of The Trump Organization, but it’s a questionable strategy in a state like ours. While Campana accuses Democrats of “virtue signaling,” he’s clearly not above a little class warfare fashion-signaling–even though in Colorado the sporting of high-end brands doesn’t turn heads like it does in New York. And while it’s true that Colorado has a Democratic governor who by all accounts could buy and sell Gino Campana, Jared Polis doesn’t try to prove anything with his fashion choices (this could be a significant understatement).

From Rep. Ron Hanks’ unpretentious cargo pants and taupe sport coat look to Gino Campana’s Rodeo Drive-style conspicuous consumption, Republican primary voters have a diverse…no wait, that is definitely not the right word. They have a fashionably broad range of choices. But unless Campana’s plan is to self-fund all the way through November, it makes little sense to flash his bling like a music video.

Campana is signaling to at least some donors that he doesn’t need their money.