More than $3 million in dark money — much of it traceable to Chevron and Occidental Petroleum — is flooding Colorado's Democratic legislative primaries, and the party that spent a decade howling about Citizens United hasn't said a word.
When anonymous corporate cash backs Republicans, it's a threat to democracy. When the same money props up moderate Democrats who protect the establishment, it's just how the game works. Voters in these districts aren't choosing their representatives — they're ratifying choices already made by oil executives.
The numbers are staggering. In Denver's House District 6, the race between Rep. Sean Camacho and challenger Iris Halpern has surpassed $1.2 million in total spending, making it the most expensive House primary in Colorado history, according to the Denver Post. Across seven Democratic legislative primaries, groups affiliated with One Main Street — described by the Post as "a centrist dark-money organization that doesn't disclose all its donors" — have spent roughly $3 million. In House District 33, at least $400,000 in independent expenditure cash has poured in, with over $150,000 going through a group called Promoting Progressive Women to support Heidi Henkel over appointed incumbent Kenny Van Nguyen, per the Boulder Daily Camera.
Follow the money and the trail is damning. Promoting Progressive Women, registered May 15, received $185,000 from One Main Street Colorado. One Main Street's nonprofit arm doesn't fully disclose its donors — but corporate records show Occidental Petroleum donated $75,000 to it in 2023. That same nonprofit received $1 million from Coloradans for Progress in 2024, which in turn took over $2 million from Chevron and more than $1 million from the pro-oil and gas group Coloradans for Responsible Energy Development, per tax documents reviewed by the Daily Camera. One Main Street didn't respond to requests for comment.
Nguyen called out the shell game plainly: "Credible organizations that do independent expenditures clearly identify themselves, so people can evaluate the organization... what we're seeing this year from the other side is very different." Sandra Anderson, a Broomfield Democrat, was blunter: One Main Street is "a huge political arm of dark money" that has donated to Promoting Progressive Women, a group with no website.
Not that the progressive wing is spotless — Colorado Labor Action, funded by the state's major unions, has dropped more than $900,000 against One Main Street's favored candidates. But union funding flows through disclosure-required channels. The oil money hides behind two layers of nonprofits.
The Denver Post framed this as Democrats having "more ideological diversity" under one-party rule. Another way to describe it: corporate interests that used to buy Republican votes in swing districts now buy Democratic votes in safe ones, because that's where the power sits. District 6 resident and former state official Alec Garnett acknowledged "a fundamental shift (away) from spending money in the general elections between Democrats and Republicans."
One party runs Colorado. Corporate donors figured out they only need to buy one side. And the party that swore dark money would destroy democracy is too busy spending it to complain.
