Looking at the Money – Senate District 24

If you want to know who REALLY wants to get someone elected to our state legislature, it’s always a good idea to follow the money. I did just that (using TRACER data as of 3:00 am on August 7, 2018) to look at who is supporting the Democratic candidate for SD24 – Representative Faith Winter, as well as the support for her Republican opponent, incumbent state senator Beth Martinez-Humenik.

The results are shocking: Winter has raised $235,220 from 2,222 donations (1,283 unique donors) since May 31, 2017, an impressive amount. One would think that there is a groundswell of support for her candidacy. But when you dig into the numbers a little bit, you find a different story.

A full $28,330 of Winter’s money has come from donors in California, or 12% of the total funds raised. Another 10% comes from states from Washington to Connecticut, with a nice chunk coming from New York.

Faith Winter donations received by state

“So what!” a #GottaHaveFaith supporter would say. “That means that 78% of her donations came from donors in Colorado”. And this is true – $184,164 of her donations came from donors with addresses in Colorado. But of that, fully $117,412 came from Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins. When you look at the number and amount of donations from the zip codes that make up Senate District 24, you find that only 132 donors contributed a mere $22,910 to her campaign, 10% of the total raised. Hardly a grassroots campaign.

Composition of donations from Colorado addresses

Representative Winter’s donations also include $44,112 from 57 political and small donor committees (the “PACs” of Colorado campaign finance).

Top 10 cities donating to Faith Winter’s campaign.

By contrast, Senator Beth Martinez-Humenik has raised $57,508 from 190 unique donors since October 1, 2014. However, of the total amount she’s raised, fully 93% comes from donors in Colorado. Of that, 19% – over double – of her donations come from donors who live in her district. This is a grassroots campaign.

From this data, it is clear that Representative Winter has a vast network of progressive donors on call across the country. And, as was discussed in The Blueprint: How the Democrats Won Colorado (And Why Republicans Everywhere Should Care), the Gang of Four (Tim Gill, Pat Stryker, Jared Polis (candidate for governor) and Rutt Bridges (father of Representative Jeff Bridges) can raise millions of dollars with a click of a mouse.

Because they’re both women, I can’t use the “David vs Goliath” analogy. But this is clearly a battle between a scrappy grassroots campaigner and a candidate who openly yearns for one party tyranny with a huge war chest and a likely avalanche of dark money, union support and progressive activists working to get her elected.

One thing is clear. If Faith Winter is elected to the state senate, she will be 90% NOT representing the people of Senate District 24.

#WinterIsComing