{"id":2211,"date":"2026-07-02T04:06:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T04:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=2211"},"modified":"2026-07-02T04:06:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T04:06:21","slug":"despite-hefty-dark-money-spending-colorado-progressives-notch-big-victories-in-statehouse-primaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=2211","title":{"rendered":"Despite hefty dark-money spending, Colorado progressives notch big victories in statehouse primaries"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Progressive statehouse candidates raced to victory in several Democratic primary contests in metro Denver, unseating two sitting lawmakers and overcoming millions of dollars in opposition spending amid a marquee night for more liberal candidates across the Front Range.<\/p>\n

Read more Who is Melat Kiros? What to know about the 29-year-old democratic socialist who ousted U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette.<\/a><\/p>\n

The wins in Tuesday\u2019s primary amounted to a clean sweep for the outside spending group funded by the state\u2019s largest labor unions, with progressives toppling four candidates backed by a network of largely opaque PACs that spent well over $2 million on the races this year.<\/p>\n

The liberal primary victories in races for safe seats reverse, in part, gains made by the centrist organization One Main Street two years ago. That\u2019s when the dark-money group, which doesn\u2019t disclose all of its donors, won nearly every race in which it engaged to support \u201cpragmatic\u201d Democrats.<\/p>\n

The latest results came amid an ongoing power struggle within the state legislature\u2019s dominant Democratic Party, which has played out in primary campaigns for several years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is 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,\u201d Dennis Dougherty, the executive director of the Colorado AFL-CIO, which funded the labor PAC, said in a statement Wednesday.<\/p>\n

One of the candidates who won two years ago, Rep. Sean Camacho in Denver\u2019s House District 6, fell to progressive challenger Iris Halpern on Tuesday night. Camacho had unseated one of the Capitol\u2019s most left-wing \u2014 and controversial \u2014 lawmakers in 2024, former Rep. Elisabeth Epps, only to fall himself in another deep-pocketed primary.<\/p>\n

Camacho was behind by roughly 1,300 votes as of Wednesday morning, when he conceded. District 6 roughly follows the East Colfax Ave. corridor from the state Capitol to the Aurora border.<\/p>\n

His loss will be a blow to moderate Democrats in the legislature, where Camacho was the co-chair of the One Main Street-linked Opportunity Caucus. That group is composed of more business-friendly lawmakers. The caucus has been heavily criticized by more liberal legislators and groups, and Camacho\u2019s loss gave a win to the labor groups, which wanted to knock the caucus back on its heels.<\/p>\n

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More than $1 million in outside spending poured into the race.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in Denver, Chela Garcia Irlando crushed Andr\u00e9s Carrera for the soon-to-be-vacant Senate District 34 seat. More than $1.5 million was spent on that race. Most of that came from the unions-versus-One Main Street conflict, though Conservation Colorado also backed Irlando while an outside group funded by sports betting companies came in for Carrera. The seat covers part of downtown and west and northwest Denver, and it attracted national attention, with Irlando endorsed by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and labor icon Dolores Huerta.<\/p>\n

Despite the deep spending, Irlando more than doubled Carrera\u2019s vote total as of Wednesday, beating him by nearly 10,000 votes.<\/p>\n

Read more 1 killed, 2 injured in overnight Denver shootings, police say<\/a><\/p>\n

In Broomfield, Rep. Kenny Nguyen held off One Main Street-backed challenger Heidi Henkel, who serves on the city\u2019s council. Nguyen narrowly beat Henkel earlier this year for a vacancy appointment to the legislature, and he drew One Main Street\u2019s ire after criticizing the group on Facebook.<\/p>\n

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In Aurora, Rep. Jamie Jackson \u2014 also a vacancy appointee \u2014 overcame Anne Keke, who sits on the local school board, despite similar outside spending.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most surprising win of the night came from Gabriel Cervantes in Thornton. He beat Democratic Rep. Jacque Phillips, another Opportunity Caucus member, by nearly 600 votes, despite little outside support and negative attacks about past social media comments.<\/p>\n

Like Camacho, Phillips had unseated a sitting lawmaker two years ago with the backing of One Main Street-aligned groups.<\/p>\n

In one of One Main Street\u2019s two wins Tuesday, Sarah Woodson cruised to victory in the primary over Rep. Mandy Lindsay. Lindsay, who represents Aurora, received no outside support and fell to Woodson by a roughly 2-to-1 vote margin.<\/p>\n

In House District 19, which stretches southeast from Longmont, Jillaire McMillan beat two Democratic opponents for the chance to take on Republican Rep. Dan Woog in November. McMillan received outside support from a group funded by One Main Street.<\/p>\n

Outside of metro Denver, another contested Democratic primary to represent Summit County in the House was close and had offered a glimmer of hope for One Main Street. But on Wednesday, Chris Floyd, who is also backed by the group, lost to Consuelo Redhorse. The AP called the race in Redhorse\u2019s favor, with a leading margin of 164 votes as of 4:27 p.m.<\/p>\n

Another sitting lawmaker lost on Tuesday. Sen. Lynda Zamora Wilson, who entered the legislature on a vacancy appointment last year, lost to Terri Carver in the Republican primary for a Senate seat in El Paso County. Carver comfortably toppled Zamora Wilson, earning nearly 15,500 votes to double the incumbent\u2019s haul.<\/p>\n

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Read more 73-year-old hiker seriously injured after a man attacked, robbed him in Boulder Canyon<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Progressive statehouse candidates won in several Denver metro Democratic primary races Tuesday night, unseating two sitting lawmakers and overcoming millions in opposition spending.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-election","category-news","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nDespite hefty dark-money spending, Colorado progressives notch big victories in statehouse primaries - Colorado Springs Moverss<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=2211\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Despite hefty dark-money spending, Colorado progressives notch big victories in statehouse primaries - 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