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The week that was in the Colorado governor's race: Speed dating, money-raking, and a campaign 'under new management'
This week found the candidates reveling— or not— in their new fundraising numbers, which became public. Meanwhile, one gubernatorial hopeful went through a campaign staff overhaul, and most of them spent a day speed dating (no, really) with unaffiliated voters as TV cameras rolled.
There are 46 days until the June 26 primary and the race hasn't yet captured national attention.
It was four months ago when Frank Bruni of The New York Times dropped in and left Colorado saying our race is "the country's most interesting, bringing together an eclectic cast whose fates will speak volumes about what kind of candidate — young or old, male or female, entrepreneur or technocrat, affluent or not — voters want in the aftermath of Trump's election."
That will likely change in the coming weeks as national reporters train their eyes on our square, swing state to see what kind of Democrat and Republican is catching fire.
On May 7, the campaigns of the eight candidates opened their books and showed us how well— or not— they have been able to ask people to donate money to their campaigns.
As we wrote, Boulder Democratic Congressman Jared Polis, who is self-funding his bid, loaded $6.3 million into his war chest so far, "and there's plenty more where that came from." Polis is running as a "bold progressive," and his message this week has been about his background as an internet tech entrepreneur, how he created schools for immigrant children, and that he'll stand up to the NRA. As the first openly gay parent in Congress, Polis is also giving his son Caspian a starring role in his ads about his plan for universal, full-day pre-school and kindergarten.
Former State Treasurer Cary Kennedy showed the biggest fundraising haul of the past three months, bringing in $818,531, which is more, her campaign points out, "than any other gubernatorial candidate, Democratic or Republican, has raised in a reporting period this cycle." Kennedy this week is still talking about how she's trying to get her family "away from Donald Trump"— and his tweets— name-dropping him in the first five seconds of her new TV ad, which also goes hard on her support for public schools. She's promoting a program she created to rebuild public schools, saying she wants to raise teacher pay, "stop teaching to the test," and keep schools gun free.
Former Democratic Sen. Mike Johnston has the most money in the campaign bank out of anyone in the race— $838,400— though Polis has much more in his personal bank account. Johnston is using it this week to push a message of bridging political divides, a theme on which he launched his campaign. For voters wondering how the country ended up in such a divisive place, Johnston, says the bigger question for him is how we get out. Coloradans, he says, will do so together. (One supporter this week even got a letter to the editor in Vail Daily about it.) A Super PAC-style group supporting Johnston, we reported, has a whopping $3.8 million to spend. We're waiting to see what the group does with it.
In second place with a fat campaign wallet is Republican State Treasurer Walker Stapleton who is rolling in $831,795 as of this week. His operation since winning a spot on the ballot in mid-April has been stealthy, and according to his campaign, the end of the legislative session ate up most of his time. On the " Latest" verticle of his gubernatorial campaign website, the most recent posting is from March 6.
Last in fundraising on the Democratic side is Lt. Gov. Donna Lynne who we reported this week has lost her campaign manager and her top consultant in the final stretch of the campaign, and is now under new management.
Bolting the Lynne campaign in this final stretch is Curtis Hubbard, whose OnSight Public Affairs firm guided the gubernatorial bids of current Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper and who served as a communications consultant for Lynne. Hubbard confirmed his upcoming departure will be May 18 and said he will instead focus all his campaign energy on a statewide redistricting reform ballot initiative. "I've only got a limited bandwidth to work on projects," says Hubbard, who has been with the Lynne campaign since she announced last summer. "They now have a full-time communications person, so they're in a good spot."
Also out the door is Ethan Susseles, a 27-year-old Democratic consultant from Washington, D.C. who has handled races in half a dozen states and served as Lynne's campaign manager since she announced in August. He confirmed today that he left the campaign at the end of April as others came on board. "I was with the campaign through the important milestone of getting Donna on the ballot and encouraged the campaign to bring on new leadership for the final two months of the race," Susseles told The Colorado Independent.
The campaign's new full-time spokeswoman is Michele Ames, a former reporter and PR professional who signed on about two weeks ago along with a new campaign manager and three other new co-chairs. She says the campaign is "under some new management" and is "moving forward." She rejected any notion that the exit of Hubbard and Susseles are an indication of a campaign overhaul in the final stretch before the June 26 primary. Ballots for the race start hitting mailboxes around mid-June.
Ames told us the Lynne campaign will soon be doing a "strong social media push" that highlights Lynne's policy vision and tells her personal story. "She does as much as she can," Ames says about the lieutenant governor's campaign schedule. "She's not able to do it full time."
In the world of Republican Doug Robinson, the ex-investment banker and first-time candidate held a fundraiser with his uncle Mitt Romney at a home in Cherry Creek Village where about 100 people showed up, according to the campaign. Romney, who spoke for about 10 minutes, discussed the traits of the Romney family, and lessons learned from George Romney, who was governor of Michigan, according to a spokesperson. Romney "said the family has a characteristic stubbornness that makes them doggedly determined and able to get things done."
Republican Greg Lopez, the former Parker mayor, restaurant owner, and only Hispanic and veteran in the race, campaigned at a Cinco de Mayo festival in Denver's Civic Center Park where he allowed Colorado Public Radio to trail along. There, he told at least one voter that he wants concealed weapons reciprocity across state lines— similar to drivers' licenses.
Six out of the eight candidates for governor also met at New Terrain Brewing in Golden on Friday for five hours where they spent five minutes apiece with 10 voters. Eight were unaffiliated, one was a Democrat and one a Republican. The whole set-up was a form of candidate speed dating. "Based on our informal survey, most [voters] were fiscally moderate to conservative and most were socially moderate to liberal," says anchor Kyle Clark whose KUSA 9News hosted and filmed the event.
According to Clark, at least two of those voters came in leaning toward a Democrat and left with "interest" or were "pleasantly surprised" by Republican Victor Mitchell, a businessman who served a term in the state legislature and is spending $3 million of his own money on the race. Mitchell's campaign said unaffiliated voters he has met on the trail like the idea of an outsider businessman with a track record of getting things done. Reporter Brandon Rittiman says to keep an eye on the station's media platforms to see where the footage will show up. Republicans Walker Stapleton and Doug Robinson missed the voter speed-dating session, their campaigns said, because of previously scheduled events.
Rounding out the week is our columnist Mike Littwin's rankings where his panelists have Polis moving into the No. 1 slot for the Dems based on his $6 million bankroll, which we'll note is twice what Kennedy earlier asked each Democrat to promise not to exceed in the primary. "Who wants to start the pool on how much money Polis puts into this race?" Littwin asks. For the Republicans, the panel has Stapleton in the lead because "the establishment is behind him and also, yes, Tom Tancredo."
Because, seriously, what's another Colorado governor's race without Tancredo. That's the news from the campaign trail this week. See you in your inbox next Friday. — Corey
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