Update on Nov. 3, 2025: A new story reports on recent donations to the Referendum 310 campaigns, including more money given by Michael Bloomberg.
Update on Oct. 29, 2025: Since this article was published, the campaign supporting Referendum 310 has reported another large donation by Michael Bloomberg. Its Oct. 17 campaign finance report disclosed a $1.15 million donation made by Bloomberg on Oct. 6. The headline on this story has been updated to reflect his total giving. As of the Oct. 17 reports, Denver Kids vs Big Tobacco had raised a total of $3.2 million to nearly $533,000 by Citizen Power!, the anti-retention group trying to repeal the city’s flavored tobacco ban.
Billionaire Michael Bloomberg has donated $1.5 million more to the campaign to retain Denver’s ban on flavored tobacco, helping to give supporters of the ban more than four times the resources of opponents.
In the previous campaign finance reports filed in September, opponents of the ban had far outraised supporters. The recent donation by the businessman and former mayor of New York City, disclosed in a new monthly filing this week, significantly shifts the dynamics of the Nov. 4 election, when a question about whether to retain the new ordinance will appear as Referendum 310 on the ballot.
The supporters’ campaign, “Denver Kids vs Big Tobacco,” has now received about $2 million in direct and in-kind donations through the end of September. The opposition, “Citizen Power!” — which pushed to repeal the ban — has raised nearly $470,000, according to Denver’s .
The opposition campaign called the contribution from Bloomberg a “David vs. Goliath story.”
“While their side spends millions from New York to dictate Denver’s policy, we believe Denver should decide Denver’s future — not an outside billionaire,” said Philip Guerin, with the Rocky Mountain Smoke Free Alliance, a vaping industry trade association, in a statement. He is the owner of Myxed Up Creations on East Colfax Avenue.
In response to a question about the large donation from Bloomberg, a spokesperson for the supporters’ campaign didn’t mention the billionaire and instead pointed to support from other organizations. Bloomberg also had donated $73,500 to the campaign in August.
“Contributions to the Yes on 310 campaign have come from a variety of sources, including individuals, public health advocacy organizations and health providers. Our supporters are committed to protecting the health of Denver kids and stopping big tobacco from hooking them into a lifetime of nicotine addiction,” Illana Poley wrote in an email.
The ballot question has the potential to be one of the most contentious in Denver this year. The Central Committee of the Democratic Party of Denver, after a recent discussion, on the question, despite either supporting or opposing every other local ballot issue.
In late 2024, the Denver City Council near-unanimously approved the ban on sales of most flavored tobacco and nicotine products after public health and children’s advocates argued the products could lure young people into a life of addiction.
Then, in March, “Citizen Power!” submitted 17,000 signatures in hopes of putting a question on the ballot to overturn the ban. The city verified that at least 9,494 of the signatures were valid, passing the threshold for a citizen’s ballot initiative — and qualifying Referendum 310 for the ballot.
“Citizen Power!” has argued that the ban will hurt small businesses in Denver, deprive adults of choices and eliminate millions of dollars in sales tax revenue for the city.
A “yes” vote on the referendum supports retaining the ban, while a “no” vote is in favor of repealing it. Mail ballots will go out to voters starting Friday.
“Citizen Power!” has received donations from tobacco interests and vape store advocates, including $172,700 from the Rocky Mountain Smoke Free Alliance; $75,000 each from the tobacco company Philip Morris International and Altria Client Services, which is part of another tobacco company; and $12,500 from Swisher International.
Besides Bloomberg, other contributors to the “Denver Kids vs. Big Tobacco” campaign include the anti-smoking group Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund, which has donated more than $351,000, and the healthcare company Kaiser Permanente, which has donated $50,000.Bloomberg is a staunch opponent of tobacco and has dedicated $1.6 billion to fighting tobacco use across the world, according to Bloomberg Philanthropies.
