New fundraising numbers for the Denver mayoral race show the biggest contributors are taxpayers, thanks to the new public campaign finance system that’s making it rain on candidate accounts across the board.
That’s according to Axios Denver and Denverite, each of which constructed nifty graphics.
Denverite had the simplest to comprehend.
The great thing about public financing is that it equalizes the playing field and allows any person to run for office.
Whether they have an important message to share, believe they are qualified, wants to give back to the community, power hungry, needs a job, wants to feel important, or has nothing better to do, anyone can run for mayor regardless of their ability to attract supporters who are confident enough in their candidacy to donate five bucks.
Ain’t it great?
Denver’s taxpayers are now the top donor in the mayoral race, a new @Axios Denver analysis finds https://t.co/ipBs5jr69A #AxiosDenver #copolitics #denpolitics #coleg #Denver
— John Frank (@ByJohnFrank) February 3, 2023
There are 17 candidates in the mayoral race, nine of whom have collected money from the so-called Fair Elections Fund.
Denverite reports:
This is the first election with public funding for campaigns, after voters approved a set of reforms in 2018, including matching dollars for qualifying contributions. There is intense competition for a $8 million taxpayer dollars set aside for this election, money that will also go out to qualifying contributions for city council, clerk and auditor races.
And yet we maintain that taxpayer-funded campaign commercials are the devil’s tools. Just wait until the Denver media is swimming in ads, you’ll see.
Meanwhile, former city council staffer Lisa Calderón collected the largest percentage of taxpayer campaign funds totaling nearly $89,000, and declared Denver’s elections have finally been democratized because she has the money to run.