Republicans for major political office in Colorado traditionally raise more money than Democrats, in large part because traditional Republican supporters tend to be wealthier individuals (after all, you don’t often see Democrats clamoring to lower taxes for the richest Americans). This fundraising disparity had been in effect since the beginning of the current Colorado gubernatorial race, with both Bob Beauprez and former candidate Marc Holtzman outraising Democrat Bill Ritter in total.
But Ritter has been catching up in the past six months, and he now stands almost even in total fundraising with Beauprez. According to The Denver Post:
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez raised $68,365 during the two weeks ending July 26, according to numbers released by his campaign Tuesday.
The contribution brings Beauprez’s total to just under $2.2 million, with $850,844.39 on hand, campaign manager John Marshall said in an e-mail.
Earlier this week, Democratic nominee Bill Ritter announced that he raised $106,021.69 in the same two-week period, bringing his total to $2.1 million. He reported he has $65,000 on hand.
Ritter has already spent $850,000 on television ad time for the fall, which is why he has such a low amount of cash on hand, so in most respects he is virtually even with Beauprez in the money department.
