BRIGHTON, Colo. — With Election Day just 2.5 away, Coloradans are being inundated with TV ads, including for the 8th Congressional District, which could be one of the closest races in the country.
Millions of dollars are being spent on the race, but most of the money is coming from outside groups.
The race between Democratic incumbent Rep. Yadira Caraveo and Republican challenger Gabe Evans could help determine which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives next year. Right now, Republicans hold a super slim majority, 220 to 212, with three vacancies.
According to the latest filings from the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Caraveo’s campaign has spent more than $4 million defending her seat while Evans has spent more than $1.2 million.
Caraveo’s campaign reports having $2.3 million cash on hand. Evans’s campaign reports having $800,000 cash on hand.
But those figures don’t tell the whole story.
While the campaigns have spent more than $5 million combined, super PACs have spent over $15 million on the race.
“It's generally easier for [super PACs] to both raise and spend money,” said Seth Masket, a political science professor at the University of Denver. “There's fewer reporting requirements on them. There's fewer limits on them as to how much they can raise at one time and how much they can spend at one time."
Masket said fewer rules means super PAC money is harder to trace.
"They are giving money to people because they trust them to vote a certain way on a range of issues, whether that's taxes or guns or abortion or the environment or something else,” said Masket.
By law, super PACs aren't allowed to coordinate with the campaigns, but Masket explained they don't need to in order to be effective.
“They know what candidate and what party they're advocating for. They know who they're advocating against,” said Masket.
Nationwide, super PACs have spent $5.8 billion on campaigns in the 2024 cycle, more than double the money raised by candidates themselves, according to FEC data.
FEC data shows most of what the candidates in Colorado raised for their campaigns came from outside the state. About 72% of the money Caraveo’s campaign raised was sent by donors who live out of state, while 63% of Evans’s campaign contributions came from outside Colorado.
So, while Colorado voters will ultimately determine the winner to represent them in Congress, millions of dollars are pouring in from people and groups outside of Colorado, trying to influence their votes.
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