Congress and Campaign Contributions

A competitive Colorado congressional race in 2010 spent between $3 and $5 million.  But money wasn’t a critical factor.  In the Republican sweep, Scott Tipton beat incumbent Democrat John Salazar in the 3^rd CD, but was outspent by $860,000.  Cory Gardner, who won by a huge majority in the 4^th CD, had $1.2 million less than incumbent Democrat Betsy Markey.  However, Democratic incumbent Congressman Ed Perlmutter won handily and outspent Ryan Frazier by about $700,000.

This year, the big spending races are likely to be the 3^rd CD for a second time and the newly redesigned 6^th CD, which hasn’t seen a serious two-party race since it was created in 1991.  Incumbent Mike Coffman has already banked a million dollars.