There are 25 contested primaries for seats in the Colorado state House and Senate seats next month, but a half-dozen of those races have already raised six-figure campaign warchests.

The lines are also being drawn within the House Democratic caucus, with numerous donations from current lawmakers flowing into the pockets of candidates challenging incumbent progressive Democrats. The battle lines are also being drawn between candidates whose campaign money is coming from unions and candidates who are being funded by apartment managers and medical groups.

Ballots for the June 25 primary will start being mailed to voters around June 3.

Five of the six races where candidates raise the most money are in the House, all featuring Democrats.

Five of the 24 races target incumbents.

In House District 4, which covers northwest and west Denver, Rep. Tim Hernández will vie for his first election against former appellate judge Cecilia Espenoza. This is a repeat of the vacancy committee selection in August 2023 that put Hernández into the seat.

Espenoza has raised $81,000 so far and loaned her campaign $5,000. As of May 1, she has almost $50,000 in the bank heading into the last six weeks of the primary season.

Hernández has raised $66,887 and has just over $35,000 in the bank.

Among his donors are Reps. Elisabeth Epps, Javier Mabrey, Manny Rutinel, David Ortiz, House Majority Leader Monica Duran, Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez, and Sen. Nick Hinrichsen.

From outside the Capitol, Hernandez has contributions from Denver City Councilwoman Jamie Torres, former mayoral candidate Lisa Calderon, and $495 in total contributions, which exceeds the state limit, from activist Shannon Bucci.

His largest donations come from the Colorado Education Association ($6,200), Colorado WINS ($6,000), and the Service Employees International Union Local 105 ($6,000).

Espenoza counts among her largest donors the Apartment Association of Metro Denver ($5,800), the medical liability insurance company COPIC ($4,000), and the Colorado Medical Society ($3,000).

She’s also received contributions from former state Rep. Adrienne Benavidez’s leadership fund, former state Reps. Dan Pabon, Joel Judd, and Polly Baca, former state Sens. Lucia Guzman and Joyce Foster, former Lt. Gov. Gail Schoettler, and Blue Rising founder Dawn Reinfeld.

In House District 6, Epps and Sean Camacho are competing for the seat that saw the largest spending on a legislative race in 2022. The district begins at the state Capitol and heads east to Windsor Gardens.

This race also shows the impact of a new campaign finance rule that has some folks scratching their heads.

Camacho’s 2024 campaign reports show nearly $5,800 in donations from the state Democratic Party in December 2022, explaining its “rollover” funds from the previous election cycle.

However, the donation is rollover funds tied to the 2022 election cycle. The rule says when a candidate committee reaches the end of an election cycle and decides to remain open, the committee must report its retained balance as the beginning balance in the next election cycle. “This balance becomes a political party contribution to the candidate committee for the new election cycle and is thus subject to the applicable political party contribution limit if a limit applies.”

It’s real money, not just on paper, but is confusing since it shows up as a political party contribution, although the party didn’t make that contribution. State Democratic Party Chair Shad Murib told Colorado Politics the party does not contribute to primary candidates.

Epps started the campaign cycle with $20,000 from the 2022 cycle and raised about $18,000 between the end of 2022 and through December 2023. She’s raised about $16,000 since Jan. 1, compared to Camacho’s $58,000 in the same reporting period.

As of May 1, Camacho had raised more than $122,000 for the 2024 race and had $65,000 on hand. Epps had about $47,000 remaining in the bank, with a total raised of just over $54,000, including the $20,000 rollover from 2022.

Epps’ largest donation came from the small donor committee for Colorado WINS ($6,000). Camacho received large contributions from the Apartment Association, COPIC and the state medical society. He’s also received the maximum $450 donation from more than 125 donors, including a dozen of Epps’ current colleagues in the legislature.

That includes Duran, Reps. Shannon Bird, Judy Amabile, Karen McCormick, William Lindstedt, Steven Woodrow, Lindsey Daugherty, Andrew Boesenecker, Meg Froelich and Cathy Kipp. Contributions from senators or senate leadership funds have come from Senate President Steve Fenberg; Sen. Chris Hansen, whose senate district includes House District 6; Jeff Bridges and Kyle Mullica.

Camacho has been endorsed by 19 current Democratic members of the Colorado General Assembly. Epps does not list any endorsements on her website.

While Epps has advocated for an assault weapons ban for two years, donations from some in that community, including Eileen McCarron of Colorado Ceasefire and Dawn Reinfeld of Blue Rising, are headed to Camacho.

Epps has received contributions from Reps. Elizabeth Velasco and Junie Joseph.

House District 10 in Boulder will be a rematch between Joseph and her August 2022 vacancy committee challenger, Tina Mueh. Joseph went on to win the seat in the November 2022 general election.

Joseph transferred about $35,000 from her 2022 campaign, including $20,000 as part of the campaign finance rule, and has since added about $88,000 to her campaign coffers. Mueh has raised about $53,000 so far. But the cash on hand makes the race tighter. Joseph has about $35,000 in the bank compared to $30,000 for Mueh.

Mueh’s largest donations, at $3,000 each, came from the Boulder Valley Teachers’ Union and the Colorado Medical Society. She also received contributions from Joseph’s predecessor, former Rep. Edie Hooton, former House Speaker KC Becker and current Reps. Amabile and Daugherty.

Joseph received donations from Duran, Epps, Velasco, Ortiz, Rutinel, and Mabrey; Reps. Marc Snyder, Mary Young, Kyle Brown, and Jennifer Bacon; the leadership fund of House Speaker Julie McCluskie; Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett; and Gov. Jared Polis.

The race that has so far collectively raised the most money for the primary season is an open seat in House District 30, currently held by Speaker Pro tem Chris deGruy Kennedy, who is term limited.

His wife, Kyra, faces off against Lakewood City Councilwoman Rebekah Stewart.

Lawmakers are lining up to support Kennedy over Stewart.

As of May 1, DeGruy Kennedy had raised about $84,000, with about $34,000 left in the bank. Stewart had raised more than $111,000, with about $78,000 left for the final six weeks.

DeGruy Kennedy’s largest donation is $2,000 from Colorado WINS. She’s also received contributions from 17 current Democratic lawmakers and their leadership funds, including McCluskie, Duran, and former Rep. Max Tyler, Rep. deGruy Kennedy’s predecessor.

Stewart’s largest donation to date came from the Colorado Medical Society and COPIC. She’s also received donations from Duran and Lindstedt.

The open seat in Aurora’s House District 36 comes in second for money raised. It’s currently held by Rep. Mike Weissman, who is term-limited and running for the state Senate.

Bryan Lindstrom has so far raised over $71,000, with a $400 loan, to Michael Carter’s $53,000, which includes a $5,700 loan. Lindstrom has just over $15,000 on hand heading into the last six weeks. Carter has about $10,000 left.

Lindstrom’s top seven contributions, ranging from $1,000 to $6,200, come from unions, either teachers or groups like Colorado WINS. He also has contributions from Democratic lawmakers, including Epps, Mabrey, Rutinel, Kennedy, Ortiz, Reps. Chad Clifford, Mandy Lindsay and Lorena Garcia.

Carter’s biggest donations came from the Apartment Association ($5,800) and COPIC ($2,000). Carter also received contributions from leadership funds controlled by Bird, Sen. Janet Buckner and Hansen, as well as from Bacon, Mullica, Hinrichsen and Sen. James Coleman.

Other incumbents facing primary challenges for June 25 include Republican Rep. Mary Bradfield, in Colorado Springs House District 21. Her two Republican opponents, Bill Garlington and Jan Koester, are reporting campaign contributions of about $1,800 and $4,200, respectively, almost entirely from loans.

Sen. Larry Liston, a Colorado Springs Republican, also has a primary challenge and has raised more than $126,000 plus $3,000 in loans in Senate District 10. Charles Stiver has raised $450 along with a $17,000 loan; Rex Tonkins, husband of El Paso County GOP Chair Vicki Tonkins, has raised just over $2,000 plus a $450 loan.