Colorado federal candidates have raised $48.4 million for the 2026 elections — up from $38 million at year-end, a 27 percent increase in three months. Democrats account for $37.2 million against Republicans’ $11 million, a 3.4-to-1 advantage essentially unchanged from the ratio HCA reported in February. Senator John Hickenlooper leads every federal candidate in the state with $6.82 million raised — 214 times what the only remaining Republican Senate candidate has raised. Three of his top five individual donors give out-of-state addresses, including two from New York and California. With the June 30 primary ten weeks away, three races — CO-03, CO-04, and the Senate — have already narrowed to single-candidate primary situations with dominant fundraising leaders.
Federal Fundraising Totals — Q1 2026
| Party | Amount Raised | Candidates | Average per Candidate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | $37,226,545 | 31 | $1,200,856 |
| Republican | $10,973,300 | 12 | $914,442 |
| Other | $163,295 | 2 | $81,648 |
| All | $48,363,140 | 45 | $1,074,736 |
The $10.4 million added in Q1 didn’t come from a broadened field. It came from donor money consolidating into candidates whose primary opponents were leaving the race. Five candidates account for more than half of Q1 growth: Eileen Laubacher (CO-04) added $2.13 million; Gabe Evans (CO-08) added $1.21 million; Manny Rutinel (CO-08) $952,000; Jason Crow (CO-06) $939,000; Shannon Bird (CO-08) $560,000. Trisha Calvarese, John Padora, Jenna Preston, Ike McCorkle, Solomon Radner, Yadira Caraveo, Dave Young, Hope Scheppelman, George Washington Markert V, and Janak Joshi have all exited since Q4 through withdrawal, suspension, or failure to qualify at the state assembly. Their donors stayed in the field and concentrated.
Top 10 Fundraisers — All Colorado Candidates
| Rank | Candidate | Party | Race | Amount Raised |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Laubacher, Eileen | Dem | US House CO-04 | $8,577,847 |
| 2 | Hickenlooper, John W. | Dem | US Senate | $6,818,283 |
| 3 | Weiser, Philip | Dem | Governor | $4,527,219 |
| 4 | Evans, Gabe | Rep | US House CO-08 | $4,259,928 |
| 5 | Rutinel, Manny | Dem | US House CO-08 | $3,479,360 |
| 6 | Bennet, Michael | Dem | Governor | $3,347,953 |
| 7 | Hurd, Jeffrey | Rep | US House CO-03 | $2,996,054 |
| 8 | Crow, Jason | Dem | US House CO-06 | $2,565,978 |
| 9 | Killin, Jessica | Dem | US House CO-05 | $2,323,367 |
| 10 | Neguse, Joseph | Dem | US House CO-02 | $2,238,812 |
The $2 Million Club
Hickenlooper, John W. (Dem, Senate, incumbent) raised $6.82 million. Colorado donors provided 28.4 percent of his itemized individual contributions. New York ($506,376), California ($494,517), Massachusetts ($236,927), Illinois ($224,607), and Texas ($203,460) together supplied $1.67 million — nearly half his itemized total. Top individual donor: Alan Jones of New York, $14,000 across four contributions. ActBlue processed 8,462 transactions for $2.14 million, with 92 percent of dollars from donors giving $200 or more. Three of his top five individual donors are out-of-state; Denver’s Cintra Pollack and Snowmass Village’s Michael Kendrick are the Colorado exceptions.
Laubacher, Eileen (Dem, CO-04, challenger) raised $8.58 million — the highest total of any Colorado candidate at any level. She is now the sole Democrat on the CO-04 primary ballot after Trisha Calvarese’s withdrawal in late March and earlier exits by John Padora, Ike McCorkle, Solomon Radner, and Jenna Preston. Her $2.13 million Q1 gain arrived as the primary contracted around her. California ($216,917), Texas ($74,891), and New York ($61,190) are her top out-of-state sources; top individual donor John Mustin of New York, $7,000. Only Sarah Bushong-Weeks of Denver ($6,500) makes her top five from Colorado. ActBlue processed 10,861 transactions for $1.17 million, with 63 percent from large donors — the lowest large-donor concentration among top-tier Democrats, reflecting genuine small-donor volume layered on top of the institutional money.
Evans, Gabe (Timothy Gabriel Joseph; Rep, CO-08, incumbent) raised $4.26 million — the largest Q1 gain of any candidate in Colorado. Texas ($494,444) and Florida ($291,094) supplied 37 percent of his itemized individual contributions. Top individual donor: David Ahlquist of San Antonio, $12,540. Evans’ WinRed presence — 806 transactions for $349,000, with 95 percent of dollars from large donors — structurally mirrors what top Colorado Democrats do on ActBlue. The platform differs. The institutional donor base does not.
Rutinel, Manny (Dem, CO-08, challenger) raised $3.48 million — 87.1 percent from out of state, the highest out-of-state concentration of any competitive candidate in Colorado. California alone supplied 29.4 percent of his itemized contributions at $356,468. His top three individual donors are all out-of-state: Eric Neyman of Berkeley ($13,600); Joshua Mermelstein of New York ($13,600); Thomas Crowley of Austin ($13,200). ActBlue: 5,136 transactions for $1.2 million, 87 percent from $200+ donors.
Hurd, Jeffrey (Rep, CO-03, incumbent) raised $2.99 million, adding $609,000 in Q1 as his primary shifted. Hope Scheppelman — the most Colorado-funded Republican in the Q4 field at 85.5 percent — suspended her campaign in March with $257,000 raised. Hurd draws 39.4 percent of his itemized contributions from Colorado — a higher Colorado share than Evans, Rutinel, or Laubacher. Top out-of-state states: Texas ($242,498), Florida ($237,810), California ($142,183). Top individual donors include Jeffrey Silverman of Miami Beach ($11,340) and Stephen Wynn of Las Vegas ($10,500). Hurd’s online-platform use is minimal — 59 WinRed transactions totaling $88,000 — the lowest of any competitive federal candidate in the state. His fundraising operates on traditional large-donor solicitation outside the ActBlue and WinRed infrastructure.
Boebert’s Category of One
Boebert, Lauren (Rep, CO-04, incumbent) raised $813,119, adding $90,000 in Q1 — her slowest quarter of any Colorado federal incumbent. The number to watch isn’t her total. It’s her platform signature. Of her 2,523 WinRed transactions in the cycle, 78.6 percent of the dollars came from contributions under $200. In February, HCA reported Boebert at 80.4 percent small-donor on WinRed. In Q1 the number is 78.6 percent — essentially unchanged. Every other Republican in the Colorado federal field runs WinRed at 90 percent or higher from large donors. With George Washington Markert V having failed to qualify at the Republican state assembly, Boebert is now the only Colorado federal candidate of either party running a majority-small-donor online fundraising operation. That finding was a Q4 anomaly. In Q1 it’s a category of one.
The Races Beyond the Profiles
The Republican Senate field has collapsed. George Washington Markert V failed to qualify at the Republican state assembly. Sean Pond, previously classified as a Republican challenger in HCA’s Q4 analysis, failed to qualify at the Republican state assembly on April 11 and is now registered with the FEC as the American Constitution Party’s Senate candidate, with $29,537 raised through Q1. Janak Joshi also failed to qualify at the assembly; his committee remains registered with $485,403 raised, but he is not on the primary ballot. That leaves Mark Baisley ($31,866) alone on the Republican Senate primary ballot — a 214-to-1 gap against Hickenlooper’s $6.82 million. Both Baisley and Pond report zero PAC, party committee, or candidate-loan funding — their cycle totals are entirely small-to-mid individual contributions. Julie Gonzales ($443,495, 66.6 percent out-of-state) remains the only Democratic primary challenger. In financial terms, the race is decided before primary ballots print.
CO-01, CO-02, CO-06, and CO-07 are safe Democratic seats. Diana DeGette ($977,000) faces primary challengers Melat Kiros ($379,000) and Wanda James ($252,000). Joe Neguse ($2.24M), Jason Crow ($2.57M), and Brittany Pettersen ($1.40M) are unopposed by Republicans. Pettersen draws 85 percent of her itemized individual contributions from out of state — the lowest Colorado base of any Colorado incumbent.
CO-03 beyond Hurd: Alex Kelloff leads the Democratic side at $1.05 million with 71.7 percent out-of-state. Dwayne Romero raised $505,781, but geographic attribution is unavailable for his Q1 data. CO-05 pits Jessica Killin ($2.32 million, 88 percent out-of-state — the highest concentration of any candidate in the state) against Republican incumbent Jeff Crank ($1.74 million, 76.5 percent Colorado — the strongest Republican Colorado base). CO-08 beyond Evans and Rutinel: Shannon Bird ($1.77 million, 94.7 percent Colorado-funded) is the only competitive Democrat in the state drawing majority support from Colorado donors. Caraveo and Young have exited.
Coastal Money, Texas Exception
Two largely non-overlapping donor networks fund Colorado’s federal races. Democratic US House out-of-state money concentrates in California ($1.22 million), New York ($839,000), DC ($358,000), Maryland ($201,000), and Massachusetts ($196,000). Republican US House out-of-state money concentrates in Texas ($808,000), Florida ($577,000), California ($263,000), New York ($236,000), and Louisiana ($137,000). The same five-state structure produces different five-state lists.
Texas appears as a top source for both parties in Q1 data, complicating the coastal-money framing — Texas donor networks fund both Rutinel on the Democratic side and Evans and Hurd on the Republican side. Outside of Texas, the two donor pools do not overlap. Eric Neyman, Joshua Mermelstein, and Thomas Crowley — three of Colorado’s top 15 individual out-of-state donors — between them sent $40,400 to Manny Rutinel alone. That’s more than Mark Baisley’s entire reported Republican Senate fundraising.
Bottom Line
Field consolidations haven’t slowed the money. They’ve concentrated it into survivors. Laubacher’s $2.13 million Q1 gain, Evans’ $1.21 million, and Rutinel’s $952,000 all arrived as their fields narrowed around them. CO-04 is already a single-Democrat race in financial terms. The Republican Senate field has collapsed to a single candidate with $32,000 raised against Hickenlooper’s $6.82 million. None of those matchups will change between now and June 30. The money has already consolidated.
A companion article on state-level money — including the Colorado Republican Committee’s $1,243 first quarter — follows.
Figures reflect FEC data as of the Q1 2026 reporting deadline. John Hickenlooper’s cumulative total reflects amendments filed through the Q1 deadline and may differ from earlier reporting. Cash-on-hand figures are not available in the current data pipeline and will be restored in a subsequent update. Geographic attribution unavailable for Dwayne Romero’s itemized contributions in Q1 data. Sean Pond failed to qualify at the Republican state assembly on April 11 and is now the American Constitution Party Senate candidate per FEC registration (ID S6CO00515). Janak Joshi failed to qualify at the Republican state assembly and is not on the primary ballot; his committee remains registered.
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