Colorado gubernatorial candidates and the independent expenditure committees backing them hauled in more than $20 million between them by the end of April, as the primary election approaches, according to campaign finance reports filed this week.

Republican Victor Marx and Democrat Phil Weiser, the state’s term-limited attorney general, each raised over $1 million in the first four months of the year, while Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet fell just shy of a seven-figure total for the period.

The super PAC supporting Bennet, however, left all three of the leading candidates in the dust, posting nearly $2.5 million in receipts. That total included $1.25 million from former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, boosting his contributions to the committee to $2.5 million.

Two other Republicans still in the running for the seat held by term-limited Democratic Gov. Jared Polis trailed, with receipts in the mid- to low-five-figure range. Meanwhile, a former Republican member of Congress who switched to run as an independent barely broke five figures for the quarter.

Weiser and Bennet have been facing off for the Democratic nomination for over a year, while the GOP field narrowed to three last month from more than two dozen declared candidates.

The state has only elected one Republican governor in the past 50 years in Bill Owens, who won the first of his two terms in 1998 and was reelected in 2002. The office is rated as solidly in the Democrats’ corner this year by every national election forecaster.

Primary ballots go out to most state voters starting on June 8 and are due back to county clerks by June 30.

Marx, a Colorado Springs-based missionary leader and first-time candidate, reported $1.66 million in contributions, bringing his total since entering the race last summer to nearly $2.3 million. He spent most of what he raised since January, leaving a little over $530,000 on hand.

Weiser, who set fundraising records last year, raised $1.32 million in this year’s first reporting period, bringing his total to just under $5.9 million. He started the sprint to the primary with almost $2.7 million in the bank.

Bennet raised almost $950,000 over the four-month period, bringing his total to $4.4 million. He finished the quarter with $1.16 million left to spend.

Republican state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer, R-Brighton, reported about $127,000 in contributions for the fundraising period, pushing her total since launching her campaign to just over $500,000. She finished the period with about $93,000 on hand.

State Rep. Scott Bottoms, R-Colorado Springs, who landed top-line on the primary ballot at last month’s state GOP assembly, reported just under $70,000 in contributions, taking him to nearly $180,000 raised in total. He had about $8,000 in the bank at the end of April.

Former U.S. Rep. Greg Lopez, a former Republican who represented the 4th Congressional District for six months in 2024 after winning a special election to fill a vacancy, sought the GOP gubernatorial nomination for most of last year but left the party at the end of the year. Running as an independent, Lopez raised $14,000 in the most recent fundraising period, bringing his total $73,000. He reported a little under $8,000 on hand.

The super PAC supporting Bennet, Rocky Mountain Way, reported over $4.6 million on hand after adding almost $2.5 million to its coffers in the most recent quarter, bringing total raised so far to over $6 million. In addition to Bloomberg’s hefty contributions, notable contributions the committee brought in include $500,000 from Brighter Future for Colorado, a nonprofit that doesn’t disclose its donors, and $75,000 from the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association.

Super PACs can receive unlimited contributions but can’t donate directly to candidates and are forbidden from coordinating spending with the candidates they support.

Weiser has an independent expenditure committee of his own, Fighting for Colorado, but it hasn’t raised nearly as much as Bennet’s. In the most recent period, the super PAC raised about $475,000, bringing its total revenue to just over $1 million. It finished the period with most of that still left to spend, reporting $960,000 on hand.

Marx’s super PAC, dubbed Freedom IEC, raised just $13,500 in the fundraising period, though veteran Republican consultant Sean Tonner reported making a $62,400 in-kind contribution by running the committee and providing research and other political expertise. The committee finished the period with $6,500 on hand.

State-level campaign committees have a different filing calendar than federal candidates face in an election year. While candidates for the U.S. Senate and Congress had to file quarterly reports in mid-April, covering the first three months of the year, candidates for state-level offices had a May 4 deadline for a report covering the first four months of the year. Until shortly before the primary, candidates for state office are required to file every two weeks, with the next filing due on May 18.