Tens of millions of dollars in new cash has poured into a handful of Colorado ballot measure campaigns, in large part from obscurely-funded, out-of-state interest groups. Of the now $42 million contributed to the ballot measure committees during the 2020 election cycle, $17 million came just in September, and of that, $12 million came from political advocacy groups based outside Colorado.

The influx of contributions sets up an advertising blitz in the final weeks before the election, aimed at swaying Coloradans on issues ranging from taxes and state benefits to abortion and voting rights.

The opposition to a proposed abortion restriction brought in the most money, followed by the push for a family/medical leave program and the campaign proposing a national popular vote for president, instead of the electoral college, each with significant out-of-state campaign cash.

Big-dollar backers of a proposal to overturn Colorado’s property tax formula known as the Gallagher Amendment have emerged, and gaming operations have injected millions into an effort to have local voters decide gambling regulations. Both campaigns far outraised opposition to the measures.

Proposed abortion ban after 22 weeks

As recent polls have shown Coloradans split on the proposal to restrict abortions after 22 weeks, the local chapter of Planned Parenthood, along with other Planned Parenthood political action committees, put about $2 million into Abortion Access For All, the group opposed to the ballot measure, in the most recent quarter. The North Fund, a liberal advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., that doesn’t disclose the source of its money, also put $1.1 million into the effort to defeat the initiative in September. More than half of the $6.6 million funding the opposition to the proposed restrictions came from outside Colorado, and nearly all the rest came from Planned Parenthood.

The committees organized to advocate for the abortion restriction have relatively meager campaigns, with only around $1 million raised among them, mostly coming from inside Colorado.

Expanded family medical leave benefits 

The North Fund’s $1.1 million to help fight the proposed abortion restriction was only part of the total $3.2 million the out-of-state group put into Colorado ballot measures in September. The other $2.1 million went to help the campaign advocating for expanded family and medical leave benefits, which would be paid for with a new payroll deduction.

The family leave benefits expansion campaign, Colorado Families First, is funded almost entirely by out-of-state political groups, with only 6% coming from Colorado. In addition to The North Fund, another Washington, D.C.-based liberal advocacy group called Sixteen Thirty Fund, also which doesn’t disclose its donors, is largely funding the effort. They’ve put a total of $2.8 million into the effort.

The opposition to the family leave proposal has raised around $400,000, almost all coming from construction industry companies.

National popular vote 

The campaign to chip away at the electoral college system is another funded almost entirely by out-of-state interest groups, with just under half of their $3.7 million in funding coming from California, and less than 5% coming from inside Colorado.

Protect Colorado’s Vote, the outsized campaign fighting against the national popular vote measure raised about $761,000. The group got a major contribution in September, $175,000 or about a quarter of their total funding, from Unite For Colorado, a conservative group that gets its money from undisclosed sources and that also supported Proposition 116, which would lower the state’s income tax, and Proposition 117, which would require voter approval of certain new government programs.

Relaxed gambling limits and overturning Gallagher

Two campaigns, one to repeal the state’s property tax formula known as the Gallagher Amendment and another on gaming restrictions, got hefty infusions of cash in the past few weeks, putting them far ahead of their opposition.

Amendment 77, a ballot measure that would allow larger gambling limits and expanded games, is supported by Local Choice Colorado, a group that got $2 million from out-of-state casinos in September. The group’s total contributions come to $3.8 million, all from the gaming industry.

Amendment B, the effort to repeal a property tax limit known as the Gallagher Amendment recently got a $1 million infusion of cash, directly from Kent Thiry, former CEO of DaVita and a prominent philanthropist who has supported various political efforts, such as the push for Colorado’s new independent redistricting system and the efforts to allow party-unaffiliated voters to cast a ballot in partisan primary elections. With the contributions from Thiry and a few others, Yes on Amendment B now has $1.6 million. Thiry in 2017 weighed running in the Republican primary for governor but decided against it, saying at the time, “now is not the right time for me to run for governor of Colorado.”

The group opposed to Amendment B has raised only about $200,000 so far.

Expanded tobacco taxes 

Proposition EE, a proposal to further tax tobacco products and send the revenues to various educational initiatives, has seen $6 million in new campaign cash in recent months. The campaign supporting the effort got $2.3 million in new support, with the Gary Community Investments philanthropic group putting the most new money into the effort, with a $1 million investment in September.

The opposition to the expanded tobacco tax, called No On EE – A Bad Deal For Colorado, raised $3 million in recent months, almost exclusively from one tobacco company, Liggett Vector Brands.

Oil & gas backs away from 2020 election spending

A powerful political committee backed by the state’s oil and gas industry initially raised $4.1 million earlier this year, in an effort to put forward two ballot measures, one on natural gas, the other requiring fiscal impact statements for ballot measures. But the organization ended up shelving the plan after Gov. Jared Polis asked both sides to let Senate Bill 19-181 go into effect, along with a pledge to oppose any new ballot measures on oil and gas in 2020.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misidentified Unite For Colorado, the group opposed to the national popular vote ballot measure, as Unite Colorado, a political action group that was penalized for campaign finance violations in 2018.