As multiple candidates across Colorado have demonstrated in recent years, challenging US Rep. Lauren Boebert could be the most lucrative campaign fundraising pitch yet discovered in the state.

For the umpteenth time, Democrats hoping to unseat the Republican congresswoman have buried the state’s other U.S. House candidates’ fundraising totals for the most recent quarter — and finished with many times as much money in the bank as Boebert, who is seeking a fourth term this year.

The latest installment in the familiar tale comes with a couple of wrinkles, however. This time, two Democrats vying to run against Boebert powered to the front of the state’s congressional fundraising pack, and both reported unusually heavy spending to get there.

Boebert, the senior Republican member of the state’s congressional delegation — and unquestionably the biggest national celebrity among Colorado’s current crop of politicians — moved from the Western Slope to the Eastern Plains two years ago, from the seat she nearly lost in 2022 into the deep red 4th Congressional District, which she won by almost a dozen points in 2024.

Adam Frisch, the Democrat who came within 546 votes of unseating her four years ago, rewrote the state’s campaign fundraising records ahead of Boebert’s district switch. During 2023, after declaring he wanted a rematch with Boebert, Frisch hauled in $11.6 million and finished the year before the election with $5.1 million cash on hand — enough to help prompt Boebert to seek redder pastures in the district represented by Republican Ken Buck, who announced near the end of the year that he wasn’t seeking reelection.

Boasting that he’d chased Boebert out of the district after her move, Frisch continued his formidable fundraising, eventually bringing in more than $17 million for the cycle — the fourth-highest total raised by any House candidate nationwide — but lost in November to Republican Jeff Hurd, who had been challenging Boebert in the GOP primary before she departed the district.

Boebert’s new district is the only one in the state rated as a safe Republican seat — Donald Trump carried the district by 18 points in 2024 while losing Colorado by 11 points — but that hasn’t stopped donors around the country from pouring small-dollar donations into her leading challengers’ campaign coffers this cycle.

Even as her potential challengers have raked in the dough hand over fist, Boebert fundraised last year like a candidate who isn’t worried about cruising to a fourth term in Congress. In the year’s final quarter, Boebert brought in just under $175,000, spent almost $140,000 and finished with about $220,000 in the bank. Since winning her most recent term, Boebert has raised just shy of $725,000.

Across the aisle, the top two Democrats running to face Boebert in November swamped the Republicans’ totals and, in the process, posted the largest fundraising hauls among all the candidates in Colorado’s eight House districts.

Staking out the pole position for the third quarter running last year was first-time candidate Eileen Laubacher, a retired rear admiral and former National Security Council staffer, who raised just over $2 million in the three-month period that ended on Dec. 31, more than 10 times the amount raised by the incumbent.

That brings Laubacher’s cumulative fundraising for 2025 to nearly $6.5 million, enough to rank ninth-best among every House candidate in the country at this point in the cycle. More than $5 million of Laubacher’s total — over 75% of the dollars raised — came from small-dollar contributions, pointing to the potency of teeing up a race to unseat Boebert as a fundraising motivator.

Reaching all those donors costs a lot. Laubacher spent almost $1.5 million for the quarter and finished with a little over $2.5 million on hand, like her fundraising total, more than 10 times as much as Boebert banked at the end of the year.

With receipts for the quarter topping $1 million, Trisha Calvarese, the Democrat who ran against Boebert in 2024, raised enough to come in second among the state’s congressional candidates for the period, though she raised only half as much as her chief primary rival.

Calvarese reported raising an even greater share of her quarterly total from small-dollar donors than Laubacher, at close to 80%, and also spent a greater portion of the money she raised to bring it in. After spending $860,000 for the quarter, Calvarese finished with just over $500,000 left to spend.

Since launching her bid for a rematch with Boebert, Calvarese has raised almost $1.7 million — more than twice as much as Boebert but less than one-third as much as Laubacher.

Two other Democrats are also running in the district, though their fundraising hasn’t come close to the totals reported by Laubacher and Calvarese. Making his second run for the seat, John Padora raised almost $20,000 in the most recent quarter, bringing his total this cycle to $80,000. He finished the quarter with just shy of $9,000 on hand. First-time candidate Jenna Preston matched Padora with just under $20,000 in receipts and finished the period with almost $40,000.

Laubacher and Calvarese both raised more and spent more than any of Colorado’s other House candidates in the fourth quarter, including the leading contenders in the state’s most competitive seat.

In the 8th Congressional District, Colorado’s lone toss-up seat, first-term Republican Gabe Evans, defending against a trio of Democrats, raised $790,000, spent almost $160,000, and finished the year with $2.5 million on hand.

As he did all last year, state Rep. Manny Rutinel, D-Commerce City, led the Democratic primary field with about $425,000 in contributions and $1.2 million on hand after spending about $230,000 for the quarter. Former state Rep. Shannon Bird, D-Westminster, wasn’t too far behind, raising about $375,000, spending about $170,000 and finishing the period with about $760,000. Also in the running was political novice Evan Munsing, who raised $2250,000, spent about $185,000 and reported $213,000 in the bank.