Dark money groups that spent $2.5M backing more moderate Democrats in statehouse primaries won in just 2 of 8 races

The biggest loss happened in House District 6 in Denver, where state Rep. Sean Camacho lost to civil rights attorney Iris Halpern.

Six of the eight Democratic statehouse candidates who were backed by $2.5 million spent by dark money groups this year lost their primaries Tuesday night against their more liberal opponents.

The defeats will shift the balance of power to the left at the Colorado Capitol next year and mark a stinging rebuke of a yearslong — and until now often successful — effort to push back on liberal influence in the legislature.

The money was spent by three nonprofits that don’t disclose their donors: One Main Street Colorado ($1.4 million), Fair Economy for Coloradans ($1.05 million) and the Colorado Affordability Project ($85,000). It was routed to a list of state super PACs into Democratic legislative primaries across the state, but mostly in the Denver area, that supported more moderate Democrats in their primaries against more liberal opponents.

Andrew Short, who leads One Main Street Colorado, didn’t respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

In a written statement, Dennis Dougherty, who leads the Colorado AFL-CIO, said the results were “a warning sign to any politician who thinks their political future lies in corporate money rather than the interests of working people across the state.” Labor unions were the biggest spenders working opposite of One Main Street Colorado, Fair Economy for Coloradans and the Colorado Affordability Project.

The biggest loss for the dark money trio happened in House District 6 in Denver, where state Rep. Sean Camacho lost to civil rights attorney Iris Halpern.

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