DENVER—Republican congressional candidate Joe Coors Jr. has spent more than a half-million dollars of his own money trying to unseat Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter during a campaign in which he has emphasized his business background, not the Coors family fortune.
Fundraising figures released Friday show Coors gave his campaign $350,000 on May 24, the same day he paid that amount to Virginia-based On Message Inc., an advertising firm. Coors, the great-grandson of brewery founder Adolph Coors, has been aggressively hitting the airwaves since announcing his candidacy in late January.
His radio and television ads feature him saying he’s “not a beer” and touting his experience running a manufacturing company.
“This just confirms what we already know. He has tremendous wealth,” said Danielle Radovich Piper, Perlmutter’s chief of staff.
However, she insisted that Perlmutter, who raised $293,159 from individuals and political groups from April 1 to June 6, will have enough financial resources to compete in the 7th Congressional District. The district in the west and north Denver suburbs is considered among the state’s three most competitive because voter registration nearly evenly splits three ways among Democrats, Republicans and independents.
Responding to questions about Coors’ expenditures, spokeswoman Michelle Yi criticized Perlmutter’s support of President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan in 2009 and his health care law.
“It seems that Congressman Perlmutter wants people to be more concerned with what Joe does with his own hard-earned money than what Congressman Perlmutter does with yours,” she said.
Yi said the campaign has spent a lot of money on advertising time because it needs to “introduce Joe to the voters.” Coors has never run for office before.
“We’re on an accelerated timeline. We have five months now to make the case for why Joe should be the next congressman,” she said.
Perlmutter was elected in 2006 and has so far easily fended off Republican challengers.
Coors is the former president and CEO of CoorsTek Inc., a technical ceramics manufacturing company with more than 3,500 employees and plants in more than a dozen countries.
Friday’s fundraising data are the congressional candidates’ releases ahead of the June 26 primary. The reports cover two months, instead of the usual three. From April 1 to June 6, Coors raised $543,443, including his own $350,000. He contributed $218,000 to his campaign earlier this year, which accounted for about half of his fundraising amount the previous quarter.
In the rural 3rd Congressional District, Republican Rep. Scott Tipton raised about $221,800, about $5,000 more than Democratic challenger Sal Pace. Although Tipton’s fundraising numbers have been weak, he still holds a cash-on-hand advantage over Pace. Tipton has $928,215, while Pace has $614,433.
The 3rd district is arguably Colorado’s most competitive and has frequently changed parties over the years.
Last year’s congressional redistricting made Republican Rep. Mike Coffman’s 6th Congressional District more competitive, too. The suburban Denver district has never been held by a Democrat, but party officials feel like they now have a shot.
But Coffman has a big lead in fundraising over state Rep. Joe Miklosi, the Democratic challenger. Coffman has nearly $1.6 million cash on hand and raised $324,968 in the latest report. Miklosi raised about $176,000 and has $394,182 cash available.
In the 4th district, Republican Rep. Cory Gardner raised $120,453, nearly double the amount of Democratic state Sen. Brandon Shaffer, who brought in about $64,800.
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