{"id":220863,"date":"2026-05-05T17:15:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T17:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/220863\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T17:15:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T17:15:18","slug":"former-new-york-mayors-support-of-michael-bennets-bid-to-become-colorados-next-governor-reaches-2-5m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/220863\/","title":{"rendered":"Former New York mayor\u2019s support of Michael Bennet\u2019s bid to become Colorado\u2019s next governor reaches $2.5M"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg\u2019s support for U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet\u2019s gubernatorial campaign reached $2.5 million last month, which is more than any Republican has raised in the race.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bloomberg gave $1.25 million to Rocky Mountain Way, the state-level super PAC supporting the Democrat, between Jan. 1 and April 29, which was Colorado\u2019s last campaign finance reporting period. That\u2019s in addition to the $1.25 million the billionaire gave to the group last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun reached out to Bloomberg\u2019s philanthropic arm for comment Tuesday but didn\u2019t immediately hear back. State-level super PACs can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money but are prohibited from coordinating with candidates or their campaigns.<\/p>\n

Bloomberg\u2019s $1.25 million donation made up more than half of the $2.5 million Rocky Mountain Way raised during the reporting period. The group spent nearly $1.2 million during the stretch, most of it on ads, and had $4.6 million in the bank at the end of the reporting period.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Democratic candidate for president, unveils his campaign\u2019s gun control platform in Aurora on Dec. 5, 2019. (Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun)<\/p>\n

Other major donors to Rocky Mountain Way during the reporting period included:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brighter Future for Colorado, which gave $500,000. The nonprofit, which doesn\u2019t disclose its donors, has given the PAC just short of $1 million total.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, which gave $75,000<\/p>\n

Uber, which gave $25,000<\/p>\n

Norm Brownstein, who gave $15,000 and is the namesake founder of the powerful Denver-based law and lobbying firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bloomberg has long been involved in Colorado politics, but his support of Rocky Mountain Way marks his biggest cash infusion into a state campaign since the 2022 election cycle, when he gave $3 million to two different state political action committees. In 2024, he gave $750,000 to the committee supporting a ballot measure enshrining abortion access in the state constitution.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bloomberg also spent about $5 million supporting a ballot measure maintaining Denver\u2019s ban on flavored tobacco products in 2025, which set a city record<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rocky Mountain Way is running a TV ad that paints Bennet as a hard-charging opponent of the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need a governor who fights back,\u201d the ad<\/a>\u2019s narrator says, touting Bennet\u2019s battles against GOP bills to sell off public lands, pushback against federal immigration enforcement, and his much publicized confrontation with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a Senate committee hearing. \u201cDoing what needs to be done: Michael Bennet for governor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state-level super PAC supporting Bennet\u2019s Democratic primary opponent, Attorney General Phil Weiser, is raising and spending much less money. It took in $477,000 during the reporting period, spent $43,000 and had about $960,000 in the bank at the end of the stretch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fighting For Colorado\u2019s major donors during the reporting period included investor Jim Kelley, attorney Martha Samuelson and venture capitalist Jason Mendelson.<\/p>\n

\"\"Attorney General Phil Weiser received 90.2 % of the vote at the Colorado Democratic Assembly in Pueblo March 28, 2026, guaranteeing topline on the ballot in the June primary. He\u2019ll face U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, who petitioned to get onto the ballot. (Mike Sweeney, Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/p>\n

Weiser\u2019s campaign, however, is raising and spending much more than Bennet\u2019s campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The attorney general raised $1.35 million during the reporting period, spent $2.1 million \u2014 most of it on ads \u2014 and had $2.7 million in campaign cash at the end of the stretch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Weiser\u2019s first TV ad<\/a> is effectively a reintroduction to Colorado voters. In the 30-second spot, the attorney general touts his legal fights against landlords, Big Tech and President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Bennet\u2019s campaign raised just shy of $1 million during the reporting period, while spending $1.4 million, including about $300,000 on signature gathering to make the ballot. (Weiser made the ballot through the caucus and assembly process instead.) Bennet\u2019s campaign ended the month with $1.16 million in cash on hand.<\/p>\n

In the three-way Republican gubernatorial primary, the candidates are raising and spending a fraction of their Democratic counterparts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the lead is pastor and Marine veteran Victor Marx, who raised $1.66 million during the reporting period, spent about $1.5 million and $531,000 in campaign cash at the end of the stretch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Gubernatorial candidate Victor Marx walks the delegation floor at the Colorado Republican Assembly April 11, 2026 on the campus of CSU, Pueblo.. (Mike Sweeney, Special to The Coorado Sun)<\/p>\n

State Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer of Brighton had $92,000 in the bank at the end of the reporting period after raising $127,000 and spending about $317,000. State Rep. Scott Bottoms of Colorado Springs had $8,100 in campaign cash after raising and spending about $70,000 each during the reporting period.<\/p>\n

The next campaign finance reporting period ends May 13. Campaigns and committees must file their reports by May 18.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The primary will be held June 30, with ballots starting to be mailed out June 8.<\/p>\n

Type of Story: News<\/p>\n

Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg\u2019s support for U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet\u2019s gubernatorial campaign reached $2.5 million last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[19476,87044,45250,87045,12363,9,11,10,87046,87],"class_list":["post-220863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-2026-election","tag-colorado-politics","tag-election-2026","tag-michael-bennet","tag-michael-bloomberg","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-phil-weiser","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}