Evans brought in more than $1.2 million during the first three months of 2026, according to federal campaign finance reports due Wednesday. He ended March with more than $3.4 million in the bank. That’s an eye-watering sum, easily surpassing the roughly $2 million that Evans’ Democratic predecessor, then-U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo, had gathered at the same point in early 2024.

Evans has no primary challenger, meaning he won’t need to start seriously spending his cash until after his Democratic opponent emerges from the June 30 primary.

In other federal races, U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper significantly outraised a state senator challenging him in the Democratic primary, while another incumbent — Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert — was outraised by an even greater factor by her only remaining Democratic challenger in the state’s most conservative-leaning district.

The race for Evans’ 8th Congressional District seat, which sits in a rural-suburban area north of Denver, will be among the most closely watched contests in the country this fall. Two of the Democrats hoping to topple Evans have started marshalling their own financial resources.

State Rep. Manny Rutinel posted a strong quarter, hauling in more than $952,000 to bring his cash-on-hand total to more than $1.76 million. He raised more — and has banked more — than his former state House colleague, Shannon Bird, who joined the race a few months after Rutinel last year.

Bird raised nearly $567,000 in early 2026, and she ended the quarter with just over $1 million to play with as the primary season entered its final three-month stretch.

The third Democrat in the race, Marine veteran Evan Munsing, has outlasted several more established candidates — including Caraveo, who mounted a brief comeback campaign last year. But his fundraising has slipped farther behind Rutinel’s and Bird’s: Munsing raked in $115,000 last quarter, and he spent almost double that.

As a consequence, his cash pile has been halved, from the $213,000 at the end of 2025 to $108,000 at the end of March.

Between the three Democrats and Evans, the CD8 candidates raised more than $2.8 million over the last three months. Between them, the four candidates have nearly $6.4 million on hand.

More than half of that pile lies, waiting, in Evans’ coffers.

“I’m grateful for the outpouring of support from Coloradans who are ready to keep fighting for safer communities, a stronger economy and a more secure future,” Evans said in a statement Wednesday.

Here’s what else was revealed by the latest federal campaign finance reports, which came out just after the major parties’ primary ballots were finalized through assembly votes and petitioning.

Hickenlooper’s haul grows for primary challenge

In his Senate reelection race, Hickenlooper raised nearly $1.4 million last quarter, the first full reporting period since his primary challenger, state Sen. Julie Gonzales, entered the race. That’s more than he raised in the prior quarter.

Though he spent more than $1.2 million in the early part of 2026, the incumbent Democrat will still enter primary season with a hefty $4 million in the bank.

Gonzales, meanwhile, has reported more anemic fundraising. She raised more than $264,000 this past quarter, compared with the nearly $180,000 she posted in her first month in late 2025, showing a slowing pace. Her most recent total in the bank sat at just over $114,000.

In a blog post Wednesday, Gonzales acknowledged that her campaign was “living paycheck to paycheck.” But she appeared undaunted and said she raised $130,000 in the first week of April, after the reporting period’s end.

DeGette’s balance grows as challenger picks up pace

A different primary challenge is brewing in Denver’s 1st Congressional District.

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Democrat who’s been in Congress for nearly 30 years, is facing two Democratic opponents: University of Colorado Regent Wanda James and Melat Kiros, a lawyer and doctoral student who last month beat DeGette in an assembly nominating vote.

Whether that victory translates to an incumbent-toppling result in June remains to be seen. DeGette raised more than $263,000 last quarter, a bit more than she’d raised at the end of 2025. Her cash-on-hand total ticked up, too, and now sits at $636,000.

Kiros also saw a boost, bringing in more than $174,000, double her prior quarter’s total. With $118,000 in the bank, she trailed DeGette’s total entering primary season.

James’ fundraising went the opposite way. The regent raised more than $72,000 last quarter, below her fourth-quarter total last year. Her spending also ticked up, bringing her cash on hand down to just more than $54,000.

Boebert challenger keeps raking in cash. Will it matter?

Among Colorado’s incumbents in Congress, Boebert has long been a fundraising lightning rod. That remains true, even as she settles into the comfortably conservative 4th Congressional District, which covers Colorado’s Eastern Plains as well as Douglas County, after a district switch in the last election.

Eileen Laubacher, a retired rear admiral in the U.S. Navy, raised more than $2 million for the second consecutive quarter. After a big spend of $1.5 million, she still ended the quarter with more than $3 million in her campaign’s pocket. Another Democratic candidate, Trisha Calvarese, also had raised big money in her second run against Boebert before she dropped out two weeks ago.

Boebert, in contrast, raised just under $90,000 in the last three months, and she reported $160,000 on hand in late March.

It’s important to remember that Boebert now represents a district where, in a 2021 analysis, by more than 26 percentage points. In 2024, Boebert’s win wasn’t even half that — and .

Hurd amasses cash to defend Western Slope seat

In Boebert’s old 3rd Congressional District, her erstwhile Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd, is looking to defend a seat that’s reliably, if not comfortably, red. Hurd raised more than $609,000 last quarter, bringing his war chest to just under $2 million.

He also picked up a primary opponent at the Colorado Republican Party assembly last week — former state Rep. Ron Hanks — but his fundraising advantage is hefty.

Two Democrats are jockeying to take on Hurd in November. Alex Kelloff, a Snowmass businessman, has been in the race longer. He raised $192,000 last quarter, adding a bit to his cash-on-hand total of $458,000.

Kelloff’s newcomer primary opponent, fellow businessman Dwayne Romero, raised more than $505,000 in his first month in the race, and, after expenses, had slighty more on hand than Kelloff.

Democrat brings in cash to flip Colorado Springs district

Colorado’s other Jeff among Republican congressmen — Hurd’s fellow freshman, U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank —  raised $345,000 last quarter as he looks to defend the conservative 5th Congressional District. Crank’s war chest now tops $1.1 million.

His likely opponent, Democrat Jessica Killin, brought in nearly $670,000, bringing her on-hand total to more than $1.5 million. Army veteran Joe Reagan, who is challenging Killin for the Democratic nomination, raised $86,000 and ended the first quarter with $33,000 in the bank.

Democrats have been targeting the district, which — after Boebert’s current seat — is the most conservative in the state.

Incumbents’ cash hauls

While DeGette looks to ward off her primary opponents, Colorado’s three other Democratic members of Congress are without well-known Republican challengers. But they’re still slowly building up their campaign bank accounts.

U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, of the Boulder-based 2nd Congressional District, brought his cash on hand to just under $3 million last quarter. U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, of Aurora’s 6th Congressional District, raked in nearly $940,000 to start 2026 (which, his campaign said, was his largest single-quarter haul), and he had more than $2.5 million under his campaign mattress.

U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen, whose 7th Congressional District covers the center of the state up through parts of metro Denver, had more than $915,000 on hand.

Those sums will allow the Democrats to support not only their own campaigns but others’ races and causes, too. Crow’s latest campaign finance report listed a nearly $60,000 contribution to the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, for instance, while Neguse gave $35,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Colorado features one of the closest congressional races in the nation — the 8th Congressional District, which covers a stretch of suburbs and farmland north of Denver. Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper has attracted a few intraparty challengers to his reelection bid, though he handily outraised them in the final quarter of 2025.

In Colorado’s ruby red 4th Congressional District, incumbent Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert trailed badly in the fundraising game in the last quarter of last year, though the Democrats trying to send her packing have a tough road ahead given the district’s political makeup.

Here’s a closer look at where donors are lining up in Colorado’s most competitive congressional contests, along with a glance at the U.S. Senate race. The three districts represented by Democratic incumbent Congress members , and are largely without political intrigue so far in this election cycle.

The latest numbers from the Federal Election Commission cover the period from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 2025.

Evans’ reelection race

The 8th Congressional District is the race the political chattering classes often point to as one that could decide the balance of power in the U.S. House, given its ultra-competitive nature. Cook Political Report , with Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans hoping to retain power for a second term.

He beat former Rep. Yadira Caraveo , a Democrat, in 2024 by fewer than 3,000 votes.

Evans managed to outraise the competition in the fourth quarter of 2025, but not significantly. The former state lawmaker and police officer pulled down nearly $487,000 and now has around $2.55 million of cash on hand. His closest competitor, Democratic state Rep. Manny Rutinel, raised nearly $419,000 and has around $1.2 million in the bank.

Rutinel has actually outraised Evans for the entire election cycle — $2.5 million to $1.85 million, according to FEC data. He also spent the most in the field last quarter — $230,000.

Former Democratic state Rep. Shannon Bird, who resigned from the Colorado General Assembly in December to put full focus on the 8th District race, collected $375,000 from donors in the fourth quarter, adding to the nearly $1 million she had raised before Oct. 1.

Marine combat veteran and finance professional Evan Munsing pulled in $225,000 during the quarter. The Democrat has more than $213,000 in his war chest.

Boebert outraised by Democrats

Republican firebrand Boebert, the incumbent in the sprawling 4th District on the Eastern Plains, had an anemic showing in the most recent filing with the FEC. Collecting less than $150,000 in the final quarter of 2025, she trailed Democratic challenger Eileen Laubacher by a massive margin.

Laubacher, a Navy veteran and rear admiral, had the biggest haul of the quarter of any candidate running for Congress in Colorado. She pulled down just over $2 million, bringing her contribution total in the election cycle to nearly $6.5 million. She sits on a pile of more than $2.5 million in cash compared to Boebert’s $219,000.

Laubacher also spent a hefty $1.5 million on her election effort last quarter.

Trisha Calvarese, the Democratic nominee who lost to Boebert in 2024, had an impressive haul — just over $1 million in the fourth quarter — but was only at about half of what Laubacher took in. Still, Calvarese has more than twice Boebert’s cash on hand, with $518,000 in the bank.

Democratic contenders John Padora, who has run for the 4th District before, and Jenna Preston each collected around $20,000 last quarter. Preston, a clinical psychologist, has nearly $53,000 in cash on hand to Padora’s less than $9,000.

Crank’s strong money challenge

Another firmly Republican district, Colorado’s 5th will give Democrat Jessica Killin a run for her money as she tries to oust Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank. A former U.S. Army captain and chief of staff to former second gentleman Doug Emhoff, Killin jumped into the race last summer.

Her fundraising prowess has been impressive, and she collected around $611,000 in the fourth quarter. That brings her total for the cycle to more than $1.6 million. Crank pulled in just over $280,000 for the quarter. Killin holds a cash-on-hand advantage of $1.1 million to Crank’s more than $968,000.

But Crank won the seat, which encompasses Colorado Springs, by 14 percentage points over his Democratic opponent in 2024.

The race has attracted several other Democratic challengers, including unsuccessful 2024 contender Joseph Reagan, but none have come close to matching Killin’s haul.

Quieter money race in CD3 this time

Gone are the days of eye-popping money in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, when Boebert was being challenged by Democrat Adam Frisch before she switched districts to the 4th in the waning days of 2023.

Frisch, a former Aspen city councilman who raised more than $12 million in the 2024 election cycle, lost to Republican Jeff Hurd in the right-leaning district that primarily covers the western stretch of the state.

Hurd’s Democratic challenger this cycle, San Luis Valley native Alex Kelloff, raised $65,000 in the final quarter of 2025 — compared to Hurd’s $240,000 haul. Kelloff has $434,000 cash on hand while Hurd’s pile has grown to more than $1.57 million.

But Hurd, a Grand Junction attorney who is in his first term in Congress, must first fend off a candidate to his right in the June 30 primary — former Colorado Republican Vice Chairwoman Hope Scheppelman.

However, the difference in fundraising is stark. Scheppelman raised around $43,000 last quarter, according to FEC numbers, and has less than a tenth of Hurd’s war chest.

James, Kiros take on DeGette

Democrat Diana DeGette is Colorado’s longest-serving member of Congress — by a long shot. But she has several candidates in her party to fend off in June before standing for reelection in November in what will be an attempt at her 16th term in office in the 1st Congressional District.

Most notable is Wanda James, a University of Colorado regent and marijuana entrepreneur, who raised more than $78,000 in 2025’s final quarter. That total brings her cash on hand to $93,000. Attorney Melat Kiros, a native of Ethiopia, nearly matched James’ take at $77,500 but has less in the bank — with cash on hand of $64,000.

Meanwhile, DeGette pulled in nearly $249,000 last quarter and sits on a pile of $535,000 in cash on hand.

No Republicans have raised any money in the Denver-centered race so far.

U.S. Senate primary shapes up

In Colorado’s lone Senate race, Hickenlooper was the king of fundraising last quarter. He reported collecting more than $936,000 from donors. The former Denver mayor and Colorado governor, who is in his first term in the Senate, has a war chest of nearly $3.9 million.

He is being challenged on the left by state Sen. Julie Gonzales, who jumped into the race in December. In less than a month, the Democrat managed to pull in nearly $180,000 and has nearly $161,000 cash on hand.

University of Colorado political science professor Karen Breslin is also challenging Hickenlooper in the June primary. The Democrat raised just over $58,000 last quarter and has just $7,000 in the bank.

Several Republicans are also in the race. Janak Joshi, a former state lawmaker who unsuccessfully ran for the 8th Congressional District in 2024, collected the most in the fourth quarter, with just over $60,000, and had nearly $350,000 cash on hand.

George Markert, a U.S. Marine for more than 30 years, took in $55,000 last quarter and sits on nearly $73,000 in cash, according to FEC filings.

State Sen. Mark Baisley of Woodland Park switched in early January — after the end of the reporting period — to the U.S. Senate primary from the crowded GOP primary in the Colorado governor’s race.

The planned cuts were outlined in a filing made public Monday in an ongoing federal court case stemming from a lawsuit by two labor unions seeking to halt the layoffs.

In total, the department plans to eliminate more than 2,000 jobs across the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey and the department’s administrative offices.

In Colorado, the proposed cuts include:

• 87 of the 177 positions (49%) in the Bureau of Land Management’s in Denver
• 33 of the 595 positions (6%) in the
• 40 of the 224  positions (18%) at the National Park Service
• 39 of the 69 positions (57%) at the U.S. Geological Survey’s

The layoffs are blocked by a judge’s order, but the case is scheduled for a hearing in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Oct. 28.

The department’s chief human capital officer, in a court filing, said the layoffs were not connected to the current government shutdown.

The planned layoffs drew criticism from Colorado’s Democratic delegation in Washington as well as conservation groups.

“The Trump administration’s unlawful and politically motivated attacks on workers at our land management agencies — the NPS, BLM, USGS, and elsewhere — will inflict direct harm on both these civil servants and all Coloradans who treasure our lands and water,” Rep. Joe Neguse, a Democrat representing Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District, said in a statement. “It is shameful.”

, who represents Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District on the , was first elected as regent in 2020 and has served as the board’s chair since 2023. Her current term will end in January 2027.

“I am so proud of all that we have accomplished during my tenure on the board,” Rennison said in a statement. “… While I will miss working with the amazing people on our campuses and in the system office, I will leave the board knowing that the university, the system office and our campuses are in capable hands.”

Rennison is a professor emerita and former associate dean of faculty affairs at the University of Colorado Denver School of Public Affairs. She also served as the Director of the Office of Equity and Title IX Coordinator for the CU Denver and Anschutz Medical campuses.

She plans to continue teaching at the School of Public Affairs, as well as her research on crime and violence, according to her statement.

People hoisted signs in support of federal workers and critical of Trump as others led chants calling for the ousting of billionaire Elon Musk, who is leading the newly created Department of Government Efficiency that is behind the layoffs and funding freezes.

A handful of NOAA employees watched the protest from a balcony at the as its namesake spoke to protesters outside.

Skaggs, a , said he started planning the protest Wednesday, one day before hundreds of Department of Commerce employees were fired.

“It defies anything that I have in my political experience to understand how stupid this is,” Skaggs told The Denver Post.

The firing of probationary employees is misleading, Skaggs said, because being probationary says little about an employee’s job experience – many probationary employees have worked in the federal government for years but are new to their current positions.

NOAA officials have repeatedly refused to say how many employees in Colorado were fired last week, describing the moves as internal personnel and management matters. It’s also unclear whether the layoffs will stick after a federal judge last week ordered the Office of Personnel Management to rescind the directives that started the mass layoffs across several agencies, ruling that they are likely illegal.

Former agency officials have estimated around 1,300 people were fired, or 10% of the NOAA workforce, according to the Associated Press.

“It����ap pretty clear that taking 10% or 20% of top notch talent away from this laboratory can’t be good,” Skaggs said.

Denver resident Hazel Shapiro, who works with federal employees like those at NOAA, said she sees the good work they do every day.

“It����ap painful to see their feet cut out from under them,” she said. “It����ap a shame to watch people who don’t believe in the work of the federal government run it into the ground.”

Boulder resident Mary Hay held a sign that said “Stop Cruelty. Stop Trump.” as she sat near the NOAA entrance along Broadway.

Hay said she was outraged by firings at NOAA and the National Weather Service.

“I welcome the opportunity to stand up for this egregious problem we’re having, with unelected people running things, impulsive behavior and lack of sympathy from the executive branch,” she said. “I hope this inspires people not to be discouraged.”

Neguse won the 2nd Congressional District race in 2018 and has held the position since then. He’s risen through the ranks in House Democratic leadership, becoming assistant Democratic leader earlier this year in the minority party caucus.

If reelected in the Nov. 5 election, Neguse, 40, a Lafayette resident, said his top priorities would be enacting policies to grow the middle class, address climate change, protect public lands and reduce gun violence.

Prior to running for Congress, Neguse, an attorney, as the executive director of the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies and served on the University of Colorado Board of Regents.

His Republican challenger, , 58, works as a manager and engineer for and, if elected, pledged to try to limit the federal government’s power.

Dawson ran for the seat in 2022 and lost by more than 146,000 votes to Neguse, who garnered 70% of the vote. Also on the ballot this time are Cynthia Munhos de Aquino Sirianni of the Unity Party, Jan Kok of the Approval Voting Party and Gaylon Kent, a Libertarian.

The spans north-central Colorado and includes Boulder, Fort Collins, Vail, Steamboat Springs, ski-centric Summit County, and ranching communities in Grand, Jackson and Routt counties.

Neguse touted in an interview with The Denver Post and in responses to a questionnaire sent to all House candidates.

He co-founded the and the to address pressing needs on the shrinking and overused river and in forests impacted by climate change, respectively. He helped launch the Climate Corps — a jobs program for young people who want to address effects of climate change — and introduced to restore watersheds after wildfires.

Neguse supports expanding tax credits for the middle class, increasing the federal minimum wage and protecting abortion rights in federal law. If reelected, he would also look to increase investments in renewable energy and prioritize climate change and environmental protection.

Bipartisanship is an important principle of his work in Congress, Neguse said. Since taking office, he has had 18 bipartisan bills signed into law by presidents from both parties.

“Notwithstanding the political divisions in the country, there’s a lot we should and can get done to improve people’s lives,” he said.

Dawson did not respond to an interview request from The Post, nor did he fill out its candidate questionnaire. His campaign website does not list any specific policy proposals.

He attended in Grand Junction that was hosted by Club 20, a , which Neguse did not attend. Many of Dawson’s remarks focused on reducing regulation and federal bureaucracy. In his comments, Dawson said lack of affordable housing was a regulatory problem because it took too long to obtain building permits.

In the Boulder Daily Camera’s , Dawson said talking to voters had reinforced his priorities from the 2022 race.

“Overspending and regulatory costs continue to drive higher costs, making it more difficult to make ends meet,” he wrote. “Our open-border administration continues to allow unchecked national crime and fentanyl availability.”

Asked how he would represent the district’s communities, Dawson wrote: “I hear frequently from Gilpin and Clear Creek voters about how they feel underrepresented, however it����ap even worse on the Western Slope. I plan to maintain an office on the Western Slope. And, having grown up in a small town, I place a lot of value on protecting lifestyles outside of our urbanized areas.”

It was all a prelude to the November general election — though voters also selected likely winners in areas dominated by one party. And in the 4th Congressional District in eastern Colorado, they gave U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert new political life by selecting the formerly Western Slope-based congresswoman as the Republican nominee in an even more GOP-favored district.

Without a U.S. Senate seat up for election this year, turnout was lower in the state’s open primaries, which allow unaffiliated voters to cast a Democratic or Republican ballot. As of late Wednesday morning, the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office reported that 1,001,720 ballots had been returned, amounting to about 22% turnout among registered voters — or nearly 26% of voters whose status is active.

Not all of those ballots had been counted, and those turnout figures may still rise in coming days as processing continues in some counties. But ballot returns have paced behind the state’s primaries in 2022 and 2020.

Here are five takeaways from the results:

Boebert is likely headed back to Congress

Boebert, who now represents the 3rd Congressional District, barely won reelection in 2022 in a district that leans Republican. Now she will be the nominee in the 4th, which favors the GOP by nearly three times as much, according to for Colorado’s redistricting commission a few years ago. (The Democratic nominee will be Trisha Calvarese, who won her primary but lost a special election Tuesday to fill the vacant seat for the rest of this year.)

But not only that: Boebert’s move opened up the 3rd District race. And on Tuesday, Jeff Hurd’s Republican primary victory there showed, he said, that voters who backed the more moderate nominee were “serious about keeping this district Republican” against Democrat Adam Frisch, who nearly defeated Boebert two years ago.

In other contested primaries, Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams lost big to conservative activist Jeff Crank in the Republican primary for a Colorado Springs-based congressional district. And in the 8th Congressional District north of Denver — potentially one of the most competitive in the nation — Republicans picked state Rep. Gabe Evans to challenge U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo, a freshman Democrat who was unopposed in her primary.

Progressive Dem legislators lose seats

It wasn’t a good night for some outspoken progressives in the statehouse. Two of the most visible left-wing Democrats, Denver Reps. Elisabeth Epps and Tim Hernández — both of whom have been vocal in their support of Palestinians and a failed assault weapons ban — lost their primaries.

But dynamics were less clear cut in other Democratic state House and Senate races, including several in safe districts, even if the impact of big outside spending was apparent across many primary contests. In Fort Collins, Yara Zokaie beat more moderate candidate Ethnie Groves Treick for the nomination for a vacant House seat. In Aurora, Rep. Mike Weissman defeated Idris Keith, a more business-friendly lawyer, in the primary for an open Senate seat.

The winners of those primaries likewise overcame mountains of dark money spent against them.

A familiar name is Denver’s likely next DA

One of the fall elections almost certainly determined by the primary outcome is the Denver district attorney’s race, where John Walsh defeated Leora Joseph. No Republican is set to be on the fall ballot, making the November election a formality for Walsh, barring a surprise. Walsh is a lawyer and former prosecutor who served as the U.S. attorney for Colorado for six years under President Barack Obama.

Many Colorado GOP endorsees lose

The Colorado Republican Party broke with its general tradition of neutrality in primaries this year, backing candidates in contested nomination contests up and down the ballot (starting with former President Donald Trump in the March presidential primary). In four contested Republican congressional primaries Tuesday, Boebert won with the party’s endorsement — while the other three party-backed Republicans lost. Those included Williams, the party chair who pushed for the more aggressive tack as he embraced Trump’s political style, sparking divisions within the party.

In 18 contested Republican primaries in which the state party issued endorsements, just four of the endorsed candidates won or were leading.

On Wednesday, a group of party insiders, led by El Paso County Republican Party vice chair Todd Watkins, renewed efforts to oust Williams, requesting a Central Committee special meeting.

State Board of Ed candidate overcomes big money

Nearly $1 million spent by a group supporting charter schools failed to keep a former Boulder school board president from winning her Democratic primary for the Colorado State Board of Education. Kathy Gebhardt, who currently faces no Republican opponent in November, defeated Marisol Lynda Rodriguez, who had backing from the charter schools group as well as Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.

“It shows that money can’t buy an election,” Gebhardt told The Denver Post on Tuesday night. She is running for the board seat representing the 2nd Congressional District.

Staff writers John Aguilar, Shelly Bradbury, Jessica Seaman and Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton contributed to this story.

The preliminary results for the 2nd Congressional District seat on the state education board almost certainly ensure Gebhardt will win the seat in November as there is no Republican candidate in the race. She will replace board member Angelika Schroeder, whose six-year term ends in January.

“It shows that money can’t buy an election,” said Gebhardt, adding that the results so far showed that “people were stepping up for public education.”

As of 10:15 p.m., Gebhardt led with 43,156 votes, or 56% of the total. Rodriguez had 33,911 votes, or 44%.

Rodriguez told The Denver Post that she called Gebhardt to concede shortly before 9 p.m.

“I think I ran a really amazing race,” she said. “I’m really thankful for all of the supporters that I had.”

Gebhardt said Gov. Jared Polis, who had endorsed Rodriguez, called her Tuesday evening to congratulate her on her win. The governor is a charter school founder and previously served on the State Board of Education.

“We put a chip in the armor of ‘money can buy seats,’ ” she said, calling the amount of dark money spent in her race “overwhelming.”

“We’ve shown that people’s voices are stronger than money,” Gebhardt said.

The race drew scrutiny for its potential impact on the future of charter schools in Colorado, but both candidates pushed back on such comments, each saying they support school choice, and therefore, charters, which arey than traditional, district-run schools.

But that didn’t stop a single political action committee called Progressives Supporting Teachers and Students from spending $871,970 on the race, according to campaign finance reports. The group, which has ties to charter schools, supported Rodriguez and opposed Gebhardt.

Rodriguez would have brought a perspective that is “not represented enough” on the board, which is that of a parent with school-aged children, said Kyle DeBeer, who was listed as an agent for the committee and is vice president of civic affairs for the Colorado League of Charter Schools.

“One of the things — regardless — it is heartening to see both candidates in the race, in closing days, express support for high-quality public schools,” he said, noting that both candidates told The Post last week that they support school choice and charter schools.

The committee spent more than 20 times as much as a union-backed group has in the race. The Colorado Labor Action, which is partly funded by the Colorado Education Association, spent more than $42,300 on mailers opposing Rodriguez, according to finance reports.

was viewed as the candidate most likely to back charter schools when they appeal local districts’ decisions to reject their applications. She previously worked for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and the Walton Family Foundation, a backer of charter schools nationwide.

, an attorney, served two terms on the Boulder Valley School Board. She has also served on the Board of Directors for the Colorado Association of School Boards.

The Republican primary for the board seat representing the 4th Congressional District, based in Parker, was the only other contested race for the state Board of Education.

Kristi Burton Brown, the former chairwoman of the Colorado Republican Party, led with 49,456 votes, or 53.02% of the total, as of 9:39 p.m. Saundra Larsen had 43,829 votes, or 46.98%.

But the two candidates vying to represent the 2nd Congressional District dispute that Tuesday’s primary, whatever the result, will alter the fate of charter schools. They each said in interviews that they support school choice, a system in which charters — than traditional, district-run schools — play an integral part.

“I believe this is a false narrative,” said , an education consultant new to politics with a background in charter schools.

“It����ap just simply not true,” added , a former president of the Boulder Valley School District’s Board of Education.

And yet, as of Friday, their race has drawn more than $871,970 in paid advertising from a single political action committee called Progressives Supporting Teachers and Students, which has charter school ties. That money has gone toward supporting Rodriguez and opposing Gebhardt.

The pro-charter committee has spent more than 20 times as much as a union-backed group has put toward its opposition to Rodriguez.

The winner of next week’s primary almost certainly will replace board member Angelika Schroeder, whose six-year term ends in January. No Republican candidate is on the ballot.

Noah Stout, an attorney who previously worked for DSST Public Schools, a charter school network in Denver and Aurora, according to his LinkedIn profile, and Kyle DeBeer, vice president of civic affairs for the Colorado League of Charter Schools, are both listed as agents for the committee.

Neither Stout nor DeBeer could be reached for comment Friday.

The committee is supporting Rodriguez because she can “serve as a really excellent advocate for our kids,” , adding, “I don’t come to this from a charter schools perspective.”

The Colorado Labor Action has spent more than $42,300 on mailers opposing Rodriguez, according to campaign finance reports. The Colorado Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, is a funder of that committee, according to finance records.

The influx of money into the state race comes after more than $2 million was spent in the Denver Public Schools board race last year. That spending came primarily from groups and donors who backed education reform and charter schools, and they outspent the Denver teachers union 5 to 1, according to Chalkbeat Colorado. All three candidates they supported were elected to Denver’s school board.

The vast majority of the money in the 2nd CD race for the state board has gone to support Rodriguez, who is viewed as the candidate most likely to back charter schools when they appeal local districts’ decisions to reject their applications. Gebhardt is seen as someone who would most likely side with school districts in such disputes, said Van Schoales, senior policy director at the Keystone Policy Center.

“This election is interesting because it����ap a primary with Democrats, which in most cases, on most issues, it����ap hard to differentiate between the two of them,” he said.

But, Schoales said, “People who follow this stuff perceive that this race will have a significant impact on what happens on charter appeals.” (Schoales said the Keystone Policy Center doesn’t support candidates in any races, but he is personally backing Rodriguez.)

Rodriguez has also garnered endorsements from Gov. Jared Polis — a charter school founder and supporter who previously served on the State Board of Education — and two current board members, including Schroeder, according to her website.

Gebhardt has received endorsements from four State Board of Education members, including vice-chair Lisa Escárcega, according to her website.

Rodriguez previously worked for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and the Walton Family Foundation, which in 2016 announced it would spend across the U.S.

Rodriguez said that while she has connections to the charter school community, both of her children attend traditional district-run schools in Boulder. She said charter schools also are not the reason she decided to run for the board.

Instead, she said the culture wars that have played out in districts across the U.S. helped spur her bid, especially as a parent of a child who is part of the LGBTQ community and of another child with special needs.

“Colorado is not immune to becoming a Florida,” Rodriguez said, referencing a state that has become as the government has limited what schools can teach about racism and U.S. history as well as on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Among the Colorado State Board of Education’s roles is approving academic standards for districts. Almost two years ago, the board debated the inclusion of references to people of color and the LGBTQ community in revisions to the state’s social studies standards.

“I really don’t understand,” Rodriguez said of the charter school discussion. “It seems like we have very similar takes on charter schools. I really don’t know why there’s much support for me from that community vs. her.”

Gebhardt, an attorney, said her relationship with charter school networks soured during her tenure on the Boulder school board after she denied a charter’s application because the school refused to adopt the district����ap discrimination policies.

“From that point on… I’d just say we parted company on that issue,” said Gebhardt, adding, “I don’t think it����ap hard for anyone to see a connection a least for the dark money side of this.”

Rodriguez said that, if elected, she will decide on a charter school’s appeal by evaluating the school’s financial model, whether it’s meeting state standards, what the school plans to teach and whether it has support from the local community.

“I’m not going to be on the state board approving every charter school that comes there,” Rodriguez said. “It’s just a false narrative around who I am and the work I have spent the last 20 years doing.”

Gebhardt said she approved applications for other charter schools during her two terms on the Boulder Valley School Board, which ended last fall, and noted she also has advocated at the Colorado legislature for more money for charter school facilities. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Colorado Association of School Boards.

“The people who suggest that charter schools are at risk if I’m elected have not pointed to a single fact and have ignored the rest of my record,” she said.

Gebhardt said that, if elected to the board, when it comes to reviewing a charter school’s appeal, she will follow the state board’s procedures. She said she would also want to know what needs in the community a charter school would be filling by opening, as well as its projected enrollment.

“Charters are an important part of (school) choice,” Gebhardt said, adding, “I am a strong proponent of choice.”

Sirota’s amendment to Senate Bill 210, an election reform bill, will ensure the rollout of ranked-choice voting, should it pass by voter initiative, will be implemented thoughtfully. The amendment, which passed unanimously, would require a dozen Colorado municipalities of varying sizes and demographics to conduct ranked-choice voting before it goes statewide.

The phase-in will allow cities to develop best practices before all jurisdictions are required to implement a complicated and wholesale change. Just as mail-in voting was phased in over several years, the Sirota amendment will give clerks time to develop policies, purchase software, train employees, and educate their constituents.

It also gives voters the opportunity to see how ranked choice voting works and gives them a chance to repeal it after the new car smell fades and they see how confusing and unfair it is. This election, Alaska voters are looking to repeal the ranked-choice voting system they approved just four years ago. They would have saved themselves a lot of money and frustration if the system had been implemented in a dozen jurisdictions instead of going all in from the start.

A ranked-choice voting system for Colorado is being sought by the wealthy former CEO of DaVita, a Denver-based kidney dialysis provider, Kent Thiry. His proposal, which has been approved for signature collection,  would impose an open primary and ranked-choice general elections on the state.

Here’s how it would work: Anyone, regardless of party affiliation, could run in the primary with the top four contenders advancing to the general election. In the general, voters would be asked to rank candidates in order of preference.

It����ap a confusing system, so I’ll put names to an example. Let����ap say that out of a gubernatorial primary former Sen. Cory Gardner, current Sen. Michael Bennet, former Rep. Ken Buck, and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston advance to the general.

I vote in the general for Bennet, Johnston, Buck, and Gardner in that order. If nobody gets 50% of the statewide vote, the votes are retallied. Let’s say that in the first tally, Bennet gets the least number of votes and is eliminated. Johnston, my second choice will get my vote. If Johnston is eliminated in round two, Buck will get my vote and either he or Gardner will emerge from the final round.

In some elections, after all the tallying is done the most popular candidate (the one most voters ranked first) will go home empty-handed. In the 2010 Oakland mayoral race, the candidate who received the most votes in round one ultimately lost the election after nine rounds of vote redistribution. How fair is that to candidates or voters?

If you’re confused, imagine how much effort, time, and money the Secretary of State and county clerks will have to expend to educate voters. It is likely the complexity will persuade some voters to chuck their ballot. Then there will be less voter participation.

Being confusing isn’t the only problem with ranked-choice voting. Let����ap say you picked only Johnston and Bennet and neither of them made it to the third round; your ballot will be considered exhausted and tossed out. Only those who voted for Buck and Gardner in whatever order, will be counted in the final tally.

This has happened. In Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, the candidate who got the most votes ultimately lost to the second-place candidate. The Maine Secretary of State threw out more than 14,000 exhausted ballots from people who did not vote for the top two candidates. Sound fair?

Proponents of ranked-choice voting think that such a system will reduce the number of extremist candidates and help voters coalesce around a mainstream candidate. This is a solution looking for a problem that isn’t a problem.

Colorado does not have a problem with extreme candidates or officeholders. I did not vote for either of the state’s U.S. senators, my congressman, my representatives in the Colorado General Assembly, the governor, the attorney general, the secretary of state or the treasurer. While they are wrong on most issues, not one of them is extreme. Not one. Fanatics do come along but the current system is self-correcting.

Extreme Democrats like Reps. Elisabeth Epps and Tim Hernández face formidable primary opponents this year and extreme Republicans like Ron Hanks and Dave Williams are unlikely to win in their primaries. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert had to flee her home district because voters yearned for normalcy and were poised to turn her out in the primary or general.

While we’re popping illusion balloons, the Sirota Amendment was not some sneaky last-minute ploy. County clerks and the Colorado Clerks Association approached Sirota with the concerns they have about implementing the Thiry proposal if it passed and she listened. Matt Crane, executive director clerks association, told me that organization “strongly support[s] the amendment and appreciate[s] Rep. Sirota’s willingness to include it in the bill.”

Sirota explained the reasoning behind the amendment and the language was displayed for all to read. It passed unanimously on voice vote. Every member of the House had the opportunity to read the bill before the final vote which passed easily. Later that day, the Senate voted unanimously to concur with the House amendments. Republican and Democratic leadership all voted for the bill as amended. If any have second thoughts, it����ap on them.

Krista L. Kafer is a weekly Denver Post columnist. Follow her on Twitter: @kristakafer.

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