Races for La Plata County commissioner and seats representing Southwest Colorado in the state Legislature are heating up as candidates scurry to secure donations.
The latest round of filing with the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office does not send a clear signal as to how any one political party will fair in the November election.
In the race for the Colorado House District 59 seat, Durango School District 9-R Board of Education member Katie Stewart, a Democrat, has more than double the cash held by her opponent, Ignacio Mayor Clark Craig, a Republican. Stewart ended July with nearly $10,000 in donations and $36,600 in the bank, while Craig brought in $5,700 and ended the month with $14,800 on hand.
Stewart said she has “had a lot of grassroots support” and felt her messaging was “on point with what folks in rural Colorado are wanting from their next elected representative.”
Of the $10,000 she raised in July, nearly $6,000 came from donors who do not live in District 59. Craig had just one donation of $450 from outside the district.
“I can tell you that a lot of politics happens in and around the capital,” she said. “Stakeholders aren’t just in rural Colorado. They’re also on the Front Range, in Denver. So having conversations with folks that have interests throughout Colorado is also what I’m doing.”
Republican Sen. Cleave Simpson, who is running for reelection in Senate District 6, raised $9,800 in July and ended the month with $30,600 on hand. That’s three times the amount his opponent, Durango Democrat Vivian Smotherman, has in the bank. She raised $5,500 last month.
That could change, however. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee announced July 24 that the contest was the national organization’s Colorado spotlight race to watch. Smotherman will receive strategic and some fundraising support from the party.
Simpson sounded dispassionate about the intervention when he said he was “indifferent” to the news.
“There are always influences in these campaigns either locally or from a state (level) or even nationally,” he said. “… I just stay focused on what I’m trying to accomplish and getting my message out.”
In the contest for the District 3 seat on the La Plata County Board of County Commissioners, Democratic incumbent Matt Salka was able to level out the financial contest with his opponent, Bayfield rancher Paul Black.
Salka was out-fundraised early in the campaign to the tune of $11,000. But he pulled in $5,800 in July – about $600 more than Black ($1,000 of the $5,200 Black raised came from his wife).
Black spent $15,500 last month, ending the period with just under $3,000, while Salka spent just $176 and ended the month with $13,000 in the bank.
The next report of contributions and expenditures for Salka and Black is due Oct. 15; the next set of reports from candidates running for the General Assembly are due Sept. 3.
rschafir@durangoherald.com
