Before last year’s midterms fully recede in the rearview mirror and next year’s presidential election cycle begins to come into focus, there’s one last set of numbers to pick over.

Colorado’s candidates for federal office – a U.S. Senate seat and eight U.S. House seats, including one in the new district the state gained due to population growth – finished filing their end-of-year campaign finance reports this week, with totals covering last year’s final 33 days due on Jan. 31.

Following the pre- and post-election reports that bracketed the vote, the most recent crop of Federal Election Commission reports didn’t add much to anyone’s totals – December is traditionally among the slowest fundraising months, particularly on the heels of an election – but provide a chance to draw a line under the cycle. 

As they did at the ballot box last year in Colorado, Democrats out-performed their Republican opponents in fundraising nearly across the board in competitive federal races, with the Republican nominee reporting higher totals in just one.

In every other competitive contest for a term in Washington, D.C., the Democrats running in Colorado trounced their GOP opponents, often by jaw-dropping margins.

As almost always happens, in the noncompetitive races for safe seats, the incumbents left their challengers in the dust.

The state’s most prominent Republican, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, broke from the GOP’s otherwise lagging pack last cycle – and set an eye-popping fundraising record in the process of winning a second term representing the 3rd Congressional District.

The smack-talking, pistol-packing firebrand from the Western Slope raised and spent just over $1 million more than her Democratic challenger, business owner and former Aspen City Councilman Adam Frisch, in what turned out to be by far the closest high-profile race in the state.

Mirroring the race’s results – Boebert won by a nose – Frisch was not only the losing congressional candidate whose fundraising finished closest to the winner’s total, but he came close to setting a record for raising more money than any other U.S. House candidate from Colorado.

A new record in that category was set last year, of course, by Boebert, who hauled in $7.8 million, compared to the $6.7 million raised by Frisch, which included $2.2 million he loaned to his campaign.

Previously, the high mark for fundraising in a Colorado congressional race was set by Democrat Jason Crow in the 2018 cycle, when he raised $5.7 million on his way to unseating five-term Republican Mike Coffman in the Aurora-based 6th Congressional District. That same cycle, Coffman raised $3.8 million.

Together, Boebert and Frisch not only outspent the candidate pairs in every other U.S. House race in the state, they set a new record for spending in a Colorado congressional race – plunking down $13.8 million between the two of them, besting the previous record set by Crow and Coffman in 2018 of $9.5 million.

Boebert reported about $770,000 on hand on Dec. 31, while Frisch – who has filed to run again in the district but says he’s merely keeping his options open – had about $365,000 in the bank as the new year dawned.

Last year’s was the first general election in Colorado since 2016 when not a single statewide or congressional incumbent lost a bid for reelection, though Boebert eked out a win with a razor-thin 546-vote lead over Frisch, close enough to prompt an automatic recount and the narrowest margin in a state congressional contest in 20 years.

Three Colorado Democrats won both the fundraising race and competitive congressional contests last year: U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, who won election to a third full term in a race that drew national attention, and U.S. Reps. Brittany Pettersen and Yadira Caraveo, who both won open seats that had been pegged by both parties as up-for-grabs.

Three Democrats and two Republicans easily won reelection in House districts that tilt strongly toward the incumbents’ parties: Democrats Diana DeGette, Joe Neguse and Crow, and Republicans Ken Buck and Doug Lamborn. All five of them turned in fundraising totals that dwarfed their opponents’, as incumbents in safe seats tend to do.

Unsurprisingly, running statewide, Bennet raised and spent more than any other federal candidate in Colorado last cycle, pulling in just over $22 million – a little over twice the receipts posted by his challenger, Republican construction company owner Joe O’Dea.

O’Dea, who had to get through a tougher-than-anticipated primary to win the GOP nomination, reported bringing in about $10.2 million, including about $4.7 million in contributions and loans to his own campaign.

Bennet, who isn’t up for reelection until 2026, finished the year with about $750,000 in the bank, and O’Dea had about $100,000 left over.

Bennet’s fundraising total is the third-highest ever reported by a Colorado U.S. Senate candidate, amounting to just half the $44 million raised in the 2020 cycle by the state’s junior senator, Democrat John Hickenlooper. Republican Cory Gardner, who was denied a bid for a second term by Hickenlooper, raked in $28.8 million that cycle.

The state’s next-closest House race was in the new 8th Congressional District, which covers parts of Adams and Weld counties north of the Denver metro area and was judged among the most competitive seats in the country by election odds-makers. Thornton Democrat Yadira Caraveo won both the right to represent the district and the money race, with $3.5 million in receipts, more than double the $1.6 million reported by Republican nominee Barb Kirkmeyer, a state senator from Brighton.

Caraveo ended the last reporting period with $17,000 on hand, and Kirkmeyer had about $32,000.

In the other congressional district that drew national attention, Lakewood Democrat Brittany Pettersen, a former state senator, had the distinction of coming close to doubling the funds raised by two Republican opponents in the Jefferson County-based 7th Congressional District. Pettersen raised $2.8 million, compared to the $1.5 million raised by Republican nominee Erik Aadland, who chipped in about $150,000 to his run.

Wealthy economist Tim Reichert, who lost the primary to Aadland, reported receipts totaling nearly $1.6 million, including $1 million he loaned to his own campaign.

Pettersen had just $8,000 in the bank at the end of the year, while Aadland had about $21,000.

In the heavily Democratic, Denver-based 1st Congressional District, DeGette brought in $1.1 million and spent nearly as much on the way to a 14th term, finishing the year with $350,000 on hand. Her Republican challenger, Jennifer Qualteri, didn’t report raising or spending a dime.

Neguse, who represents the Democratic-friendly Boulder and Larimer county-based 2nd Congressional District, raised nearly $2.4 million and finished with $1.8 in the bank after easily winning a third term. The district’s GOP nominee, Marshall Dawson, raised under $50,000 and had about $10,000 left over.

Running for a fifth term in the Republican-leaning 4th Congressional District, which covers parts of Weld and Douglas counties and the Eastern Plains, Buck raised $1.6 million and spent nearly $1.4 million. He had about $540,000 on hand at the end of the year. Democrat Isaac McCorkle, making his second run for the seat, raised about $300,000 and had $176,000 left unspent.

Lamborn won a ninth term in the traditionally Republican, El Paso County-based 5th Congressional District, raising just $500,000 and winding up with about $200,000. Democrat David Torres, who has filed to run for the seat this cycle, raised $25,000 and spent all but $2,500 of it.

Crow turned in the top fundraising performance by a Colorado candidate in a non-competitive seat, posting $2.7 million in receipts and finishing the period with about $1.6 million on hand as he easily won a third term in the Democratic-leaning Aurora-based 6th Congressional District. Republican challenger Steve Monahan raised a hefty $250,000 and spent everything he brought in, zeroing out his account by the end of the year.