The 18 independent expenditure committees spending money just on the General Assembly have poured nearly $9.8 million into their campaign advertising through the most recent reporting period that ended on Oct. 14.

The biggest spender: Leading Colorado Forward, which has put more than $3.4 million into advertising in the last two months either supporting Democrats or opposing Republicans running for the state legislature.

The committee’s biggest spending has been to oppose Republican Suzanne Staiert, running for Senate District 27 and who is attempting to succeed Republican Sen. Jack Tate of Centennial.

Leading Colorado Forward has spent almost $1.4 million in negative advertising on Staiert as of Oct. 16, an amount that includes what’s known as 48-hour spending that won’t show up officially until the next reporting period. An additional $94,191 was spent to back her Democratic opponent, Chris Kolker.

Several Republican-leaning committees have spent in Staiert’s favor, including Americans for Prosperity Action and Unite for Colorado, which collectively have spent at least $238,000 to back her. Notably, the Senate Majority Fund, the primary committee backing Republican Senate candidates, has not spent any money to back her candidacy. 

Totals listed in the chart below do not include expenditures that cover multiple candidates; that’s an additional $250,000 supporting virtually all of the Democratic candidates in the hot House and Senate races.

IEC spending in a couple of other races are worth mentioning:

In HD59 (southwestern Colorado, including Durango), IECs have spent $72,689 to back the Republican challenger, Marilyn Harris, versus incumbent Democrat Barbara McLachlan. IECs backing McLachlan have spent about $42,031.

In HD 43, Highlands Ranch, considered a safe Republican seat but one that has been targeted by Democrats, spending in favor of challenger Jennifer Mitkowski has totaled $267,919; spending to support the incumbent Republican, Kevin Van Winkle, totals $129,598.

In HD22, Democrats have also targeted this Littleton district represented by Republican Colin Larson. Spending to favor his Democratic challenger, Mary Parker, is $215,214, with $5,900 spent to back Larson.

So where’s all this money coming from? A lot of it is dark money, meaning donors are often unknown.

Leading Colorado Forward, which backs Democrats running for the state Senate, has raised $5.9 million, and some big checks came from dark money groups: The Sixteen Thirty Fund put in $1.25 million; Centennial State Prosperity, a nonprofit that does not disclose its donors, kicked in $500,000, and the committee reported a $250,000 check on Sept. 18 with no identifying information for the donor.

Leading Colorado Forward has also gotten another 15 six-figure contributions, including from the National Education Association, the Colorado Education Association’s small donor committee and $200,000 from State Victory Action of North Carolina. The Washington Free Beacon reported in 2018 the committee is funded by Democratic mega-donors Tom Steyer, George Soros and Donald Sussman.

The same donors show up on the contribution list for the Better Colorado Alliance, which backs Democrats running for the House and has raised $3.4 million in the 2020 election cycle. Sixteen Thirty put in $400,000; the CEA’s small donor committee gave $200,000; Education Reform Now, the fundraising arm of the New York hedge fund-led group Democrats for Education Reform gave $400,000; and State Victory Action contributed $200,000.

The committee spending the most in favor of Republicans is entirely dark-money funded: Unite For Colorado Action, which backs Republican candidates for the state Senate, has taken in $1.5 million but lists itself as its only donor. The Senate Majority Fund has also started spending to protect two incumbent Republicans, Sens. Kevin Priola of Henderson and Bob Rankin of Carbondale. Its only donor is its 527 committee, which put in $543,000 in contributions. The 527 has raised just over $1 million, with donations from the GoPac Election Fund of Virginia ($57,000), which gets its money from Altria, Reynolds American, Koch Industries, PhRMA and Walmart. Other donors to the 527 include Exxon, DaVita and United Healthcare.

Candidates are continuing to rake in donations with the election less than two weeks away. Topping the statehouse candidates: Democratic Sen. Rachel Zenzinger of HD19 in Arvada has outraised the other 191 people running for the General Assembly with more than $340,000 in her campaign coffers.