January 31, 2020 01:33 PM UTC

Danger, Scott Tipton

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Denver Post’s Justin Wingerter updates on the CD-3 money race, where incumbent Rep. Scott Tipton finds himself with a new challenge: a wealthy Democratic opponent who can effectively counter Tipton’s financial advantage as a protected GOP incumbent:

Republican Rep. Scott Tipton was outraised by a Democratic opponent last quarter.

Tipton raised $181,843 and had $529,668 on hand Jan. 1.

James Iacino raised $294,825 — including $19,070 in donations to his own campaign — and had $165,717 on hand. #CO03 #copolitics

— Justin Wingerter (@JustinWingerter) January 31, 2020

Honestly, we would have expected James Iacino’s self-funding to be a much larger percentage of his almost $300,000 total than $20,000–an indicator that this heretofore politically unknown businessman can compete in this race on Tipton’s level, and in the 4th quarter of 2019 well above Tipton. That’s a new data point for everyone watching this race to consider.

Although Tipton’s upstart primary challenger Lauren Boebert logged a little less than $30,000 in the fourth quarter–in fairness raised in just a few weeks after Boebert announced her run in early December–Tipton’s lackluster fundraising relative to one possible Democratic challenger could actually have the effect of boosting her campaign. Boebert can counter that she would have all the money she needs to defend the seat in the event she wins the primary, and Tipton isn’t pulling away enough to take her out of the running just yet.

Either way we’re looking at different dynamics in the 2020 CD-3 race so far than we’ve seen in previous election years, which have ended anticlimactically for Scott Tipton. In 2020, an easy cruise to victory for the GOP incumbent in this race cannot be guaranteed.