A series of TV commercials for U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet’s gubernatorial campaign showed disclaimers that indicated his U.S. Senate campaign committee paid for those ads.

That’s potentially a violation of state campaign finance law, one for which the Bennet campaign is already under investigation.

The Bennet campaign maintained that the gubernatorial campaign paid for the ads. Bennet spokesperson Jordan Fuja told Colorado Politics on Tuesday night that the campaign uses “Bennet for Colorado” and “Bennet for Governor” interchangeably.

Shortly after this story ran, the ads were taken down.

“Bennet for Colorado” is a legally registered committee for Bennet’s U.S. Senate campaign. “Bennet for Governor” is the legally registered campaign committee for his gubernatorial run.

Some of the ads being run by the Bennet campaign use the “Bennet for Colorado” disclaimer, instead of the “Bennet for Governor” one.

They include the latest ad, one featuring U.S. Reps. Jason Crow, Joe Neguse and Brittany Pettersen, and another featuring former President Barack Obama.

Colorado campaign finance law, as contained in the Colorado Constitution, states that “no candidate’s candidate committee shall accept contributions from, or make contributions to, another candidate committee, including any candidate committee, or equivalent entity, established under federal law.”

An ad can be considered a contribution from a federal candidate committee.

Two current campaign finance complaints, consolidated into one, are up for a hearing with the Elections Division of the Secretary of State’s office. That hearing is set for July 28, almost a month after the June primary.

The complaints headed to the hearing are about potentially illegal spending by Bennet’s Senate campaign to cover expenses made by his gubernatorial campaign.

The Bennet campaign has already admitted to paying travel expenses for Bennet’s gubernatorial campaign with Senate campaign funds.

An amended complaint filed by the Elections Division noted the senator’s gubernatorial campaign reviewed Bennet’s travel spending for the second and third quarters of 2025 and determined that certain travel expenses related to the campaign were “improperly paid by the Senate Committee.” Those expenses — for $17,386.94 and $7,053.65 — were repaid to the Senate committee in September. 

“Given the extent of their noncompliance and their delay in reporting expenditures, however, the Division determined that Respondents failed to substantially comply with their legal obligations under Colorado campaign finance law,” the May 29 amended complaint noted. 

Fuja had told The Colorado Sun in its newsletter last October that “Bennet planned to wind down his federal campaign activity.”

Fuja said that as Bennet’s gubernatorial campaign ramped up and his Senate campaign became less active, staff worked to scale back — and in some cases stop — spending on Senate-related activities and to shift appropriate work and expenses to the Bennet for governor campaign.

“While it’s unknown exactly what those ‘expenses’ or ‘activities’ may be that were ‘transitioned’ from Bennet’s Senate reelection campaign to his gubernatorial campaign, any such transfer is illegal,” the original Nov. 4 complaint said. 

The complaint argued that the campaign’s statement was meant to reassure the public that one campaign wasn’t improperly subsidizing the other. But, it said, the Bennet campaign’s statement to The Colorado Sun suggested the opposite — that the gubernatorial campaign had taken on expenses from Bennet’s Senate reelection effort. In doing so, the complaint claimed, the Bennet for Governor campaign effectively acknowledged a violation of Colorado law.