Perlmutter challenger Laurel Imer raises $30K in 3rd quarter

Republican congressional candidate Laurel Imer raised nearly $30,000 for the most recent fundraising quarter in her bid to deny Democratic U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter a ninth term, her campaign said Thursday.

Imer, a one-time legislative candidate and ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump, reported her campaign raised $29,452 from 22 individual donors for the quarter ending Sept. 30. She had $8,879 cash on hand at the end of the period.

That brings her total fundraising to just under $36,000 since launching her candidacy in March.

Perlmutter, who was first elected to represent the 7th Congressional District in 2006, had just over $1 million in the bank on June 30 at the end of the second quarter, according to campaign finance filings. At press time, his campaign hadn't filed the third quarter report, which is due to the Federal Election Commission by Friday at midnight.

"Team Imer is very confident in the fundraising totals from the third quarter," Weston Imer, the candidate's 17-year-old son and campaign manager, told Colorado Politics.

"These totals show that the grass roots of Colorado support Laurel and her America First message. We are excited to share our message with the constituents in the new 7th district."

Imer is so far the only Republican running in the 7th CD, which could become more competitive under a proposed map submitted by an independent redistricting commission to the Colorado Supreme Court last week. The high court faces a Nov. 1 deadline to approve a map.

While the current district covers suburbs in northern Jefferson County and western Adams County, the proposed district includes all of Jefferson County and Broomfield, and then stretches through central Colorado to Cañon City, covering Park, Lake, Chaffee, Teller, Fremont and Custer counties.

According to a metric devised by the redistricting commission, under the proposed boundaries the district's voters have swung toward top-ticket Democratic candidates in recent elections by an average 7 percentage points.