Following her Tuesday night defeat in the state House District 43 primary election, Douglas County Commissioner Lora Thomas insisted a political committee spent $180,000 in attack ads against her.

Thomas lost by 824 votes to first-time candidate Matt Burcham, out of 12,064 votes counted, according to Douglas County’s unofficial tally from Tuesday night.

When asked where the campaign fell short, Thomas alluded to a “dark money” attack from Keep Colorado Counties Safe, a political committee organization that “spent $180,000 against me,” Thomas said, citing Tracer as a source.

“I don’t know how you counter that with the $32,000 I raised,” she said. “My phone has been filled with communication from supporters all day long who are shocked.”

Since Thomas entered the HD43 race in November, Keep Colorado Counties Safe received $300,000 over six donations signed under the same name, according to Tracer data.

Tracer documents show all of those donations came from the Douglas County Future Fund under the name Sean Tonner, an experienced political campaign manager, according to Tonner’s website.

In addition to Tonner, Thomas claimed former Colorado Gov. Bill Owens contributed to those donations.

“They were running non stop horrible calls ads about me,” she said. 

The Keep Colorado Counties Safe website says it consists of “Coloradans who care deeply about the safety and security of our communities. We want to see vibrant and well managed communities.”

The political committees website shows it endorsed three different candidates, including Burcham, but painted Thomas as a immigrant sanctuary city “flip-flopper” and the “first Douglas County Commissioner to be censured.”

“I was recruited to run for this seat,” Thomas said. “I’m not blaming anybody, I’m just saying the fact is those ads ran, and the fact is that the leadership in the Colorado house told me in November that that people had pledged to spend whatever money was necessary to crush me.”

It is unclear how much Keep Colorado Counties Safe spent for or against certain candidates. Stated within the signed contract, any donations are “not made in cooperation, consultation, or concert with or at the request or suggestion of a candidate.”

During his campaign, Burcham said: “we need a fresh conservative voice representing Highlands Ranch at the Capitol. The status quo of career politicians controlled by special interest groups has led to inflation, open borders, rising crime, higher taxes and political gridlock.”

As a message to her voters, Thomas said: “I have been grateful for their support since they first elected me in 2010 and I remain grateful for them.”

She said Wednesday it’s too early to decide next steps.

“What I have learned as a county commissioner would have made me a very strong legislator,” she said. “I have left so many impacts already for Douglas County, and we’ll figure out where we go next.”