U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet’s gubernatorial campaign has agreed to pay a $7,433 fine for using his Senate campaign account to pay for gubernatorial campaign travel expenses.

The July 31 settlement includes an admission by Bennet and his campaign that they violated state campaign finance laws.

The settlement is tied to multiple complaints filed last year.

The complaints said Bennet traveled for his gubernatorial campaign in 2025, paying for it with funds from his U.S. Senate campaign account.

There were 39 travel-related expenses tied to the complaints, totaling $24,440.59 in payments. The Elections Division, part of the Secretary of State’s office, in its analysis of the complaints, said those payments represented prohibited contributions from the senate committee. 

The analysis also said the Bennet campaign did not timely report 27 travel-related expenses made in the second and third quarters of 2025.

The campaign “cured” the violations, the analysis said. 

While the campaign reimbursed the Senate committee for those payments, the elections division determined the campaign “failed to achieve substantial compliance with their legal obligations due to the extent of the violation and because the purpose of the provisions of campaign finance law that were violated were not substantially achieved.”

The settlement set a penalty of $7,433.83 that must be paid within 14 days of the date that the Elections Division sends the invoice.

“Respondents admit that the facts as described in the Recitals D and E to this Agreement constitute violations of Colorado campaign finance law,” the settlement added.

The campaign also agreed to waive appeal rights.

The settlement was signed by Bennet, his registered agent and Timothy Gebhardt, the state’s campaign finance enforcement manager, on July 21.

The penalty is set forth as follows:

For the 39 prohibited contributions (the travel paid for by the Senate committee), there is a penalty of 10% of the prohibited activity or $2,444.06 and $100 for each of the 39 violations or $3,900.

In addition, failure to timely report expenditures earned a penalty of $1,089.77, with $200 for the failure to report and 5% of the travel activity not timely reported or $889.77.

The settlement must still be approved by the deputy secretary of state.

Once that’s done, the administrative proceedings will be dismissed.

The Bennet campaign has not responded to a request for comment.