{"id":39719,"date":"2022-07-01T11:30:20","date_gmt":"2022-07-01T17:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/why-the-millions-of-dollars-democrats-spent-in-colorados-republican-primaries-didnt-work\/"},"modified":"2022-07-01T17:30:20","modified_gmt":"2022-07-01T17:30:20","slug":"why-the-millions-of-dollars-democrats-spent-in-colorados-republican-primaries-didnt-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/why-the-millions-of-dollars-democrats-spent-in-colorados-republican-primaries-didnt-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the millions of dollars Democrats spent in Colorado\u2019s Republican primaries didn\u2019t work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=ea59dc95-1fe9-52c9-a56e-10bfd332807e&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" alt=\"Joe O\u2019Dea, Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Michael Bennet, speaks during a primary election night watch party late Tuesday in Denver. (David Zalubowski\/Associated Press file)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Joe O\u2019Dea, Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Michael Bennet, speaks during a primary election night watch party late Tuesday in Denver. (David Zalubowski\/Associated Press file)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Democrats have little to show for the millions of dollars they spent over the past month on TV ads, mailers and text messages seeking to influence the outcome of Colorado\u2019s Republican primaries for U.S. Senate, governor and in the hotly contested new 8th Congressional District.<\/p>\n<p>All of the more extreme GOP candidates Democrats wanted to see win on Tuesday lost, most by significant margins.<\/p>\n<p>The spending strategy has worked before in Colorado for Democrats, and it was successful for the party in Illinois, where they were able to help a far-right Republican gubernatorial candidate win his primary over a more moderate opponent backed by the GOP establishment. So what happened in Colorado this year that made all that spending and the deluge of messaging it paid for so ineffective?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe messages were confusing to me,\u201d said Ted Trimpa, a longtime Democratic lobbyist and strategist in Colorado who worked on a successful Democratic effort to affect the outcome of the state\u2019s 2010 Republican gubernatorial primary. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t think (the spending) took into account unaffiliateds voting in this primary.<\/p>\n<p>He added: \u201cWe\u2019ve got to give voters credit. They\u2019re smarter than you think. Trying to manipulate only goes so far.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2010, Trimpa was among a group of Democrats who ran TV ads to block former-U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis from securing the GOP gubernatorial nomination. The plan worked, as voters advanced tea party Republican and entrepreneur Dan Maes to the general election, where he lost to Democrat John Hickenlooper.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPlaying in a primary like that is a one-trick pony,\u201d Trimpa told The Colorado Sun. \u201cWe did it to Scott McInnis and it worked. One, it was new. Two, it went to a character issue. Our message in that primary was really, really simple. You could have had an eye popped out and an ear missing and you would understand what the message was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The ads run against McInnis criticized him over plagiarism allegations.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DI8VX4qGsBw\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The ads run by Democrats in this year\u2019s Republican primaries mostly sought to boost the name ID of further right and more controversial GOP candidates, including state Rep. Ron Hanks in the U.S. Senate race, former Parker Mayor Greg Lopez in the gubernatorial contest and Weld County Commissioner Lori Saine in the 8th District. All three fell well short of winning.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats signaled that they thought Hanks, Lopez and Saine would be easier to beat in the general election because of their more conservative views. Hanks and Lopez, for instance, claimed that Donald Trump was the true winner of the 2020 presidential election, a claim that\u2019s unfounded.<\/p>\n<p>One difference between the Democratic spending in Republican primaries in 2010 and 2022 was that in 2010 Democrats were simply amplifying an existing story about McInnis rather than trying to shape voter opinion. The ads run this year tried to make the case that Hanks, Lopez and Saine were \u201ctoo conservative\u201d as a way to make them more attractive to Republican primary voters.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YneGVcaxIm4\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Alan Salazar, who worked on Hickenlooper\u2019s 2010 campaign, said there had been a big lead-up, including intense media coverage, to the Democrats ads criticizing McInnis, now a Mesa County commissioner, in the GOP primary.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a thing,\u201d said Salazar, who is now Denver Mayor Michael Hancock\u2019s chief of staff. \u201cThis was a problem for him. I think it worked in large part because it was based on a real problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A lot has also changed in Colorado\u2019s voting system since 2010.<\/p>\n<p>Voters, each of whom are now sent a ballot in the mail, can now cast their votes early, and unaffiliated voters can decide whether they want to vote in the Democratic or Republican primary for just the third election cycle.<\/p>\n<p>With so few primary races on the Democratic side, many more unaffiliated voters opted to cast GOP primary ballots this year than in 2018 and 2022.<\/p>\n<div class=\"naviga-element naviga-subheadline1\">Where the money was spent, and how much of it<\/div>\n<p>Most of the Democratic spending in the GOP primaries this year was in the U.S. Senate race, where Democrats made it clear that they didn\u2019t want to face first-time candidate Joe O\u2019Dea, a moderate Republican who owns a Denver construction company.<\/p>\n<p>Federal political action committee Democratic Colorado spent $4.1 million on TV ads trying to raise Hanks\u2019 profile and attacking O\u2019Dea. Other Democratic groups spent thousands on mailers with the same intent.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=403e56ce-81a1-56fe-b579-c879db93a78f&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"1384\" height=\"1161\" alt=\"Outside spending in three key Republican primary contests in 2022. (The Colorado Sun)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Outside spending in three key Republican primary contests in 2022. (The Colorado Sun)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>O\u2019Dea, who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to counter the Democrats\u2019 strategy, crushed Hanks in the primary. He was winning by 10 percentage points as of Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>Republican consultant Tyler Sandberg said the Democratic strategy may have backfired.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, they trolled some people into voting for\u201d Hanks, he said. \u201cBut they also lit up moderate and liberal unaffiliated voters to choose a Republican ballot and vote against him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=6e96f041-cb4f-5882-bc39-a9c90965abf3&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" alt=\"Republican U.S. Senate candidates Ron Hanks, left, and Joe O\u2019Dea discuss health care, abortion and election integrity during a debate on June 20 hosted by The Colorado Sun and CBS4. (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Republican U.S. Senate candidates Ron Hanks, left, and Joe O\u2019Dea discuss health care, abortion and election integrity during a debate on June 20 hosted by The Colorado Sun and CBS4. (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Alvina Vasquez, a spokeswoman for Democratic Colorado, defended the group\u2019s spending.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know that Democratic Colorado\u2019s efforts to educate voters on O\u2019Dea\u2019s record and expose his hypocrisy have laid the groundwork to defeat him in November,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Dea will run against Democratic U.S. Sen Michael Bennet in November.<\/p>\n<p>In the governor\u2019s race, Colorado Information Network, a state-level super PAC funded primarily by the Democratic Governors Association, spent $1.5 million on ads benefiting Lopez. A group affiliated with the liberal nonprofit ProgressNow Colorado spent another $467,000 on mailers contrasting Lopez with Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, painting Lopez as ultraconservative.<\/p>\n<p>But University of Colorado Regent Heidi Ganahl was beating Lopez by 6 percentage points on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=dd5ca3f6-f962-512d-ac08-e14ec014689f&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1350\" alt=\"Republican candidate for governor Heidi Ganahl speaks during the GOP assembly at the Broadmoor World Arena on April 9 in Colorado Springs. (Hugh Carey\/The Colorado Sun file)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Republican candidate for governor Heidi Ganahl speaks during the GOP assembly at the Broadmoor World Arena on April 9 in Colorado Springs. (Hugh Carey\/The Colorado Sun file)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Hugh Carey\/The Colorado Sun<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Democratic interests also appear to be behind mailers in the new 8th District contrasting Saine with Democratic nominee Yadira Caraveo, a state representative, painting Saine as highly conservative. Additionally, national Democratic super PACs, including one affiliated with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, spent nearly $300,000 on TV and digital ads in the 8th District promoting Saine and attacking her opponent, state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer.<\/p>\n<p>Kirkmeyer won the GOP nomination in the district by a wide margin.<\/p>\n<p>Kristi Burton Brown, chairwoman of the Colorado GOP, trolled Democrats in a tweet she posted Wednesday morning featuring a gif of a man dropping cash into a fire.<\/p>\n<p>She joked that the gif was \u201clive footage\u201d of Colorado Democrats.<\/p>\n<div class=\"naviga-element naviga-subheadline1\">Republican outside groups, plus better-funded candidates, win<\/div>\n<p>O\u2019Dea, Lopez and Kirkmeyer also outraised their Republican primary opponents and benefited from significant spending by GOP outside groups.<\/p>\n<p>American Policy Fund, a super PAC funded by several Colorado contractors, spent $1.1 million supporting O\u2019Dea, much of it on TV ads. O\u2019Dea\u2019s wife, Celeste, gave a shout-out to \u201cthe contractors association that also made this possible\u201d during the couple\u2019s victory speech Tuesday night.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Dea\u2019s campaign significantly outspent Hanks\u2019 campaign, dropping at least $618,000 on TV ads alone. As for Hanks, his entire campaign\u2019s overhead through June 8 was just 17% of the amount O\u2019Dea spent on TV airtime, according to Federal Election Commission filings.<\/p>\n<p>Kirkmeyer received support from Americans for Prosperity Action and Let America Work, including canvassing, TV ads and mailers. Her campaign also outspent Saine\u2019s campaign by a significant margin, $276,00 to $183,000, through June 8.<\/p>\n<p>Ganahl benefited from spending by state-level super PACs Defend Colorado and Make Colorado Affordable Again. And her campaign spent $1.1 million through June 22, compared to Lopez\u2019s $135,000 in spending during that period.<\/p>\n<p>The Republican primary in Colorado\u2019s 7th Congressional District was one race where the candidate whose campaign raised and spent the most money didn\u2019t win.<\/p>\n<p>Erik Aadland, an Army veteran from Pine, won the contest despite being outspent by multimillionaire economist Tim Reichert, of Golden.<\/p>\n<p>But Aadland also was aided by For Colorado\u2019s Future, a federal super PAC that supported him with nearly three times as much money as Reichert received from a federal super PAC that supported him, Conservative Leadership for Colorado.<\/p>\n<div class=\"naviga-element naviga-subheadline1\">Mainstream GOP, progressive Democratic candidates prevail with outside help<\/div>\n<p>More than $2.7 million was spent by outside groups in Colorado\u2019s legislative primaries, almost evenly split between Republican and Democratic races.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=c7a43a96-a5ce-5e94-8653-abfbf40c1160&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"1362\" height=\"1157\" alt=\"Outside spending in Colorado 2022 legislative primary contests. (The Colorado Sun)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Outside spending in Colorado 2022 legislative primary contests. (The Colorado Sun)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Ready Colorado Action, which is run by Sandberg, the GOP political operative, was the top spender on the Republican side, dropping $530,000 on contests. The group was followed by Make Colorado Affordable Again, which spent nearly $200,000 trying to influence the outcome of contests.<\/p>\n<p>Both of those conservative super PACs were funded primarily by nonprofit Ready Colorado, which advocates for conservative education policies.<\/p>\n<p>On the Democratic side, liberal super PACs backed by labor unions spent more money than in past election cycles and were successful in several contests.<\/p>\n<p>The top-spending progressive group was Colorado Labor Action, which was funded by the Service Employees International Union. The group spent about $530,000 on primary contests this year, including in the House District 42 Democratic primary in Aurora, where their candidate \u2013 Rep. Mandy Lindsay \u2013 won.<\/p>\n<p>Colorado Labor Action also successfully backed Thornton City Councilwoman Jenny Willford in her House District 34 Democratic primary in the northern Denver suburbs.<\/p>\n<p>Colorado Working Families Party\u2019s state-level super PAC, which was also funded by the Service Employees International Union, was the third top Democratic spender. It supported criminal justice activist Elisabeth Epps in her House District 6 Democratic primary against Katie March, a former legislative aide. The race was still too close to call Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>National nonprofit Education Reform Now Advocacy was the primary funder of a state-level super PAC called Raising Colorado. Raising Colorado gave money to another state-level super PAC, We Mean Business, which gave money to another group that backed March and opposed Epps in the House District 6 primary.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/coloradosun.com\/\" id=\"link-a24e89888b1edafc7053b7f4494d4a9a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em id=\"emphasis-7448677e3fe95d1000a22bfceb4386a1\">The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>the more extreme GOP candidates Democrats wanted to see win on Tuesday lost<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[2811,233,663,266,28,826,2972,1304,1621],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-39719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-campaign-finance","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-democratic-party","tag-election","tag-headlines","tag-political-campaigns","tag-primary","tag-republican-party","tag-voting"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39719"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=39719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}