May 05, 2026 11:01 AM UTC

Fundraising for Governor: Democrats Continue to Dominate

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• by: Colorado Pols

Fundraising numbers for statewide races were made available on Monday, the last big quarterly batch of numbers we’ll see ahead of the June 30 Primary Election.

As you can see below, Democrats Phil Weiser and Michael Bennet continue to operate in a class of their own when it comes to fundraising. Weiser is outpacing Bennet in his campaign account, though it’s important to note that Independent Expenditure Committee (IEC) money is heavily tilted in Bennet’s favor. “Rocky Mountain Way,” an IEC supporting Bennet, raised $2.5 million in Q1 and ended the period with $4.6 million in the bank; the “Fighting for Colorado” IEC backing Weiser raised $477k and ended the quarter with $961k cash-on-hand. The bottom line is that both Weiser and Bennet have plenty of resources to effectively communicate to Primary voters.

On the Republican side, Cajun Karate master Victor Marx has established himself as the only one of the three GOP contenders with any ability to bring in money. Marx is in a different financial category than his two Republican opponents and appears to be the only candidate on the right who will have any ability to fund a decent television buy ahead of the Primary Election.

These numbers are pretty grim for State Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer, the most experienced campaigner of the three Republican candidates running for Governor. In addition to her time in the State Senate, Kirkmeyer has served as a Weld County Commissioner and was the GOP nominee for Congress (CO-08) in 2022. In spite of that history — or, perhaps, because of it — Kirkmeyer is having a hell of a time raising money. Barring some financial surprises, Kirkmeyer is unlikely to have the resources to do much of anything to get her name in front of Republican Primary voters before ballots start dropping in early June.

Bringing up the rear is State Rep. Scott “Rock” Bottoms, who is continuing a trend from previous years in which the candidate who earns top line on the Republican Primary ballot via the state GOP assembly proves to be utterly incapable of translating that support into dollars. Bottoms finished the quarter with $8,103 in the bank, which isn’t enough to even cover postage for a decent direct mail campaign.