Do Colorado campaign donations fund Colorado federal awards?

No. $68.5 million is FEC candidate receipts from 950 committees. $262,830,761,057 is USAspending obligations from 240,277 awards. A shared CO code is not a payment trail from donors to vendors. Original filings remain on FEC.gov and USAspending.gov.

How much federal money is obligated in Colorado?

USAspending.gov records $262,830,761,057 in obligations across 240,277 awards coded to Colorado. That is an agency-award extract, not FEC operating expenditure, and not a restatement of candidate receipts. Open Colorado federal spending for agency and recipient rows.

How Democratic is Colorado’s federal candidate fundraising?

Democratic committees reported $42.9 million, or 62.6% of $68.5 million. Republican committees reported $25.2 million (36.8%). Other filers reported $442,719. Those shares describe 950 candidate committees, not award recipients on USAspending.gov. Party labels travel with the candidate file only.

Where are Colorado’s spending and FEC hubs?

Colorado federal spending on SpendingVault holds USAspending obligations. Colorado FEC totals on LobbyVault holds candidate receipts. All spending ties lists other state joins. If a later bulk file disagrees with this snapshot, the later extract controls. Original filings remain on the source sites.

← All data ties

Colorado federal obligations next to campaign finance

Federal agencies obligated $262,830,761,057 to Colorado-coded recipients across 240,277 awards on USAspending.gov. On a separate ledger, Colorado federal candidate committees disclosed $68.5 million on FEC.gov. This tie page places those series next to each other because they share the CO abbreviation. It does not argue that Colorado donors financed Colorado contracts.

Key figures

Colorado USAspending obligations: $262,830,761,057 across 240,277 awards.
Colorado FEC receipts: $68.5 million from 950 committees.
Democratic committees reported 62.6% of receipts — not of awards.
CO geography joins the files. Donations do not fund awards on this page.

A postal-code join, not a wildfire-to-PAC story

SpendingVault’s Colorado federal spending table holds $262,830,761,057 in obligations from 240,277 awards. LobbyVault’s Colorado FEC totals table holds $68.5 million in candidate receipts from 950 committees. CO is the entire relationship. No form maps a Front Range contribution to an award ID. Interior-agency and disaster folklore may explain why someone opens both hubs; those stories are not packet fields.

Readers notice that $68.5 million is a large campaign book while $262,830,761,057 is still a different order of magnitude. That observation is about two independent reporting systems. It is not a ratio of ‘political money’ to ‘government money,’ because the numerators are not the same kind of dollar. Dividing $262,830,761,057 by 240,277 yields about $1,093,866 per award on average — another unlike unit, not a typical grant.

Use Colorado federal spending for agencies and recipients. Use Colorado FEC totals for candidate receipts. All spending ties collects the same join for other states so the method stays comparable. Wildfire and interior-agency headlines still belong on the award hub; they do not inherit a receipt share from the candidate file.

Colorado obligations without an FEC overlay

$262,830,761,057 covers contracts, grants, loans, and other award types USAspending.gov attributes to Colorado. 240,277 is the count of those award actions, not unique vendors. Defense, health, interior, and research programs can all appear in that count without appearing on a campaign report. Repeat awards add rows. Do not treat the row count as a census of Colorado contractors.

Place of performance tagged to Colorado is not a claim that every dollar stayed inside the state after obligation. Subcontracts, later modifications, and outlays can move. This packet publishes obligations, not outlays. The Colorado federal spending hub is the live award extract behind $262,830,761,057. Plains-versus-mountains folklore is not a substitute for that table.

Democratic-majority receipts on 950 committees

Democratic committees reported $42.9 million (62.6% of $68.5 million). Republican committees reported $25.2 million (36.8%). Other filers reported $442,719 (0.6%). The 950 committees behind those lines include House, Senate, and other federal filers tagged to Colorado, including residual committees. A 62.6% receipt share is not a share of 240,277 awards.

Party labels travel with the candidate committee on the FEC file. USAspending award rows in this packet have no party code. Printing a Democratic share of Colorado obligations would require a field that is not here. State-office campaigns file under Colorado law and sit outside the FEC total.

Front Range versus Western Slope is not in the file

This packet does not split $68.5 million or $262,830,761,057 between Denver metro and mountain counties. 950 committees and 240,277 awards are statewide. A metro cut would be a different extract. Ski-country folklore is not a substitute NAICS table. Independent expenditures about Colorado candidates can be paid from elsewhere and sit outside both totals.

Do not add $68.5 million to $262,830,761,057. Do not divide awards by committees and call the result awards per campaign. Candidate committees are not award recipients in this join. Correlation across states — large places often show large receipts and large obligations — is not evidence that donors funded awards.

Colorado citation block

USAspending.gov: $262,830,761,057; 240,277 awards. FEC.gov: $68.5 million; 950 committees; Democratic $42.9 million; Republican $25.2 million; other $442,719. Two sentences. No plus sign. Keep party shares on the receipt sentence only. 950 is a filing count, not a November ballot census. 240,277 is an action count, not unique vendors. Keep those nouns attached to the integers when citing Colorado. State-office campaigns in Colorado file under state law and sit outside the FEC total. Local procurement paid without a federal award sits outside the obligation extract. Amended candidate reports move the receipt total; award restatements move the obligation total.

Questions

Do Colorado campaign donations fund Colorado federal awards?: No. $68.5 million is FEC candidate receipts from 950 committees. $262,830,761,057 is USAspending obligations from 240,277 awards. A shared CO code is not a payment trail from donors to vendors. Original filings remain on FEC.gov and USAspending.gov.
How much federal money is obligated in Colorado?: USAspending.gov records $262,830,761,057 in obligations across 240,277 awards coded to Colorado. That is an agency-award extract, not FEC operating expenditure, and not a restatement of candidate receipts. Open Colorado federal spending for agency and recipient rows.
How Democratic is Colorado’s federal candidate fundraising?: Democratic committees reported $42.9 million, or 62.6% of $68.5 million. Republican committees reported $25.2 million (36.8%). Other filers reported $442,719. Those shares describe 950 candidate committees, not award recipients on USAspending.gov. Party labels travel with the candidate file only.
Where are Colorado’s spending and FEC hubs?: Colorado federal spending on SpendingVault holds USAspending obligations. Colorado FEC totals on LobbyVault holds candidate receipts. All spending ties lists other state joins. If a later bulk file disagrees with this snapshot, the later extract controls. Original filings remain on the source sites.

Join of USAspending.gov state obligations with FEC.gov candidate receipts for the same state. These are different datasets — donations do not fund the obligations on this page.