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A centrist Colorado megadonor, a billionaire hedge fund manager and a national dark-money group were among those who funded two mystery super PACs that came to incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper’s aid late in last month’s primary election.
The two PACs, Common Sense Action Fund and Our Future Colorado, spent just under $500,000 to support Hickenlooper’s reelection campaign as he faced a primary challenge from progressive state Sen. Julie Gonzales. Because of the timing of Federal Election Commission reporting deadlines, the source of the two groups’ funding wasn’t publicly disclosed until after Hickenlooper’s unexpectedly narrow victory over Gonzales in the June 30 election.
Kent Thiry, the former CEO of Denver-based DaVita and a longtime backer of centrist causes and candidates in Colorado, was the largest donor to Common Sense Action Fund, an FEC disclosure filed Wednesday showed. Thirty contributed a total of $250,000 to the PAC in two separate donations in May and June.
Other individual donors to Common Sense Action Fund included Florida-based hedge fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones, who contributed $50,000, and Denver private equity investor Jim Kelley, who gave $25,000.
One day after Thiry’s second contribution on June 17, Common Sense Action Fund launched a $300,000 digital advertising campaign highlighting Hickenlooper’s efforts to “fight back” against President Donald Trump and his mass-deportation agenda.
The messaging closely mirrored language published in an update days earlier to Hickenlooper’s campaign website — in a “redbox” used by campaigns to signal to super PACs supporting the candidate.
Amid a wave of down-ballot wins by Colorado progressives, including newcomer Melat Kiros’ unseating of longtime Rep. Diana DeGette in Denver’s 1st Congressional District, Hickenlooper prevailed over Gonzales by just 5.6 percentage points in the Senate primary — a much narrower margin than many observers expected, given his decades of experience and his campaign’s massive financial advantage.
ModSquad Action, a 501(c)(4) “dark money” nonprofit that does not disclose its donors, contributed $100,000 to Common Sense Action Fund. It was also the sole source of funding for Our Future Colorado, a brand-new group created just weeks ahead of the Senate primary to boost Hickenlooper’s candidacy.
Our Future Colorado filed a statement of organization with the FEC on June 1, and received a single $200,000 contribution from ModSquad Action two weeks later, according to a newly filed disclosure. The PAC spent nearly all of that money on digital and text advertising in support of Hickenlooper in the final days of the race, then filed a termination report with the FEC on July 6, ending the group’s 36-day existence.
ModSquad Action is affiliated with ModSquad PAC, a group that says it “supports moderate Democratic Senators who work across the aisle to develop common sense solutions to everyday problems.” Hickenlooper is among the 11 Senate Democrats identified as members of the group, which is chaired by Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto.
Hickenlooper faces state Sen. Mark Baisley of Douglas County in the November general election.
This story originally appeared in Colorado Newsline, part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.