How this works
What's covered
Personal Financial Disclosures filed with the Colorado Secretary of State for 2024, 2025 and 2026 by the Governor and the other statewide officers, the members of the General Assembly, justices and judges, district attorneys, CU Regents, the State Board of Education and the Public Utilities Commission, and by 2026 candidates for those offices; the Secretary of State's official candidate lists for the June 30 primary and the November 3 general; the campaign money behind each race; the commissions' evaluations of the judges standing for retention; professional lobbyists' reports of their clients' positions on bills; and the General Assembly's bills and votes for the 2025 and 2026 sessions; officials' reports of gifts, honoraria and other benefits; and the 48-hour notices of outside spending. Members of other state boards and commissions, and county and city officials (who don't file with the state), come later.
Where it comes from
- TRACER, the Secretary of State's campaign finance site (tracer.sos.colorado.gov): the financial disclosures as filed (Document Search, one PDF each, which we link to rather than copy: their first page carries the filer's home address and phone); the yearly bulk files of contributions, expenditures and loans (rebuilt daily; a correction adds a reversing line and a replacement, so totals are right as they stand); and each candidate's page (their committee, the cycle's totals and any penalties, which we check our totals against). Our totals count the contributions dated within the election cycle; they match TRACER's page for more than nine in ten committees. Where they differ, TRACER's page usually counts a balance carried over from an earlier cycle, or a contribution dated before the cycle that was reported in it.
- The Office of Judicial Performance Evaluation (judicialperformance.colorado.gov): for each judge standing for retention, the commission's recommendation, its vote and its narrative, with links to the survey reports. Where the State Commission issued its own recommendation over a district commission's, we say so.
- The Secretary of State's lobbying data on the Colorado Information Marketplace (data.colorado.gov): professional lobbyists' monthly reports of each client's position on each bill (supporting, opposing, amending, monitoring) and what each client paid them.
- The Secretary of State's candidate lists for the 2026 primary and general, including the judges standing for retention.
- The General Assembly (leg.colorado.gov): bills, sponsors, floor votes and committee votes, member by member; each roll call is checked against the counts on its page.
- District maps for “Find your races”: the Census Bureau's 2025 boundary files for the State House, the Senate, Congress and the counties, and the state's judicial districts. Your location is matched to them in your browser and never sent anywhere.
How a disclosure is read
Most disclosures are the Secretary of State's fillable form, saved as a PDF; some are the form retyped, and some are scans or attached tax returns. We line each page's words up against the blank form: what matches is the form's own printing, and what's left is what the filer typed, placed in the section and column it sits in (income, sources of compensation, compensated lobbying, assets, Colorado property, offices, state-regulated businesses, debts), and the boxes ticked for why they file (annual, candidate, appointed). About a third are scans, read by OCR and marked so: check the original before relying on a detail. The filer's address and phone on the first page aren't read; emails, phone numbers and street addresses are removed from attached pages and free text; and family members appear as “spouse”, “minor child” or “family member”, not by name. A business or trust that owns something is named.
Colorado's form gives income and debts as ranges ($10,000 to $24,999 …), and names assets and property without values. There is no net worth on the form, and we don't estimate one. Where we total income or debts, we add up the top of each range the filer selected (“up to”), and a range with no top counts at its figure; a disclosure with a range we couldn't read gets no total. We read typos the way they were meant (“$190,00” is $190,000, “$127-130,000” is $127,000 to $130,000), and a monthly figure as twelve months. Legal descriptions of property locate it exactly, so we don't show them; the Secretary of State redacts some on the published copy.
Some typed forms are saved with the answers turned into drawn outlines: on the page, but not in its text. When a typed form reads as empty everywhere, we read it again by OCR. A box counts as ticked only when it's inked on the page (a flattened form can keep an unticked box's mark in its text, unseen). The 11/2023 form doesn't ask why it's filed; the 06/2023, 05/2025 and 06/2026 forms do.
Errors in the record
Where a record has an error we can see, we read it as meant and say so under Findings, “Errors in the record”: an amount with a typo (“$190,00” for $190,000), TRACER's listing naming a filer differently from the form they signed, the same gift on two reports or dated after its report's period, and a typed form that doesn't say why it was filed. These are context, not a judgment about the filer, and they don't change what we show.
In their own words
The disclosure ends with a box for anything the filer wants to add. In their own words quotes what they wrote, as filed (addresses and phone numbers removed), sorted by what it's about: disputes and grievances, being unsure how to fill in the form, what they chose not to disclose, corrections, and everything else. Lists that only continue a table (credit cards, holdings) and text read from scans are left out; a note filed again with small changes appears once.
Homes and land
The disclosure names Colorado property without values. For the people whose disclosures list property, we look up parcels by owner name in the state's parcel records (the Governor's Office of Information Technology's statewide composite, which has owners and values for 29 counties, including the Denver metro area) and the El Paso and Larimer assessors' own files. A parcel counts as theirs when its legal description or street address is the one on their disclosure, or when they own it by name in the counties their office or race covers and no one else of that name does. Others are checked against what the disclosure says: the co-owner it names on the parcel, or the city or ZIP code it gives; those decisions are recorded with the reason. A parcel owned by a company or trust they have an interest in isn't counted (their share isn't given), and someone whose disclosure lists no property gets none. We show the assessor's actual value, the kind of property and the county, and the total; never an address, parcel number, legal description or co-owner. For judges and district attorneys we leave out the county too: Colorado law protects where they live.
Matching people
The people are the 2026 candidates on the Secretary of State's lists, the members of the General Assembly, and the state officials whose own disclosures say they hold an office (the Governor, judges not on this year's ballot, district attorneys, the PUC). Someone who filed only while seeking an office isn't counted as holding it. Statements, candidates and campaign committees are matched by name and office, including the legal name on their TRACER candidate record (“Chad” Clifford files as Charles). A name that fits more than one person is left unmatched rather than guessed, and the decisions we've made by hand are recorded with the reason.
Donors
A donor is a contributor as the candidates' committees report them: a person by name and ZIP code, anyone else by name, cleaned of spelling differences (“CO” and “Colorado”, “Assn.” and “Association”) and merged where we've checked that two spellings are the same donor. A company and its PAC are separate donors, as they are in law. Only donors who gave to two or more of the 2026 state candidates are listed; pages for individual people aren't offered to search engines. Lobbyists' clients are those on a professional lobbyist's report to the Secretary of State since July 2023, matched by name.
“Where the money comes from” sorts every contribution by kind of donor, read from the name and type the committee reported: tribal governments (the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes, and others), labor unions, businesses, trade, professional and issue groups (associations, chambers, PACs), political parties, other candidates' committees, and individuals. A candidate's own money is what they gave in their own name and what their earlier campaigns' committees moved over. Names can mislead, so each kind is approximate.
The rules
A penalty for a late financial disclosure Worth a look
TRACER records the Secretary of State's penalties; a “Late PFD” penalty is the office's own finding that a disclosure came in after its deadline.
Limits: Shows penalties dated 2024 on. A waived penalty is shown as context.
“A $50 per day late filing penalty that will accrue until the statement is filed”Form CPF-13 (Rev. 06/2026), instructions: Candidate Filing Penalties ✓ quoted from the saved copy
Penalties for late campaign finance reports Worth a look
TRACER records the Secretary of State's penalties for campaign finance reports filed after their due date.
Limits: This cycle's penalties only; when all are paid or waived it is shown as context.
“The Secretary of State imposes penalties of $50 per day for late filings, including weekends and holidays.”Colorado Campaign and Political Finance Manual (Secretary of State) ✓ quoted from the saved copy
A candidate with no financial disclosure found Worth a look
Candidates for statewide office, the Legislature, district attorney, CU Regent and the State Board of Education file a disclosure within ten days of their candidate affidavit.
Limits: We match TRACER's disclosure filers to candidates by name, so a disclosure under a different name could be missed; Congress, RTD and judges aren't candidates who file under this rule.
“Candidates for the following offices must file a PFD within ten (10) days of filing a Candidate Affidavit”Form CPF-13 (Rev. 06/2026), instructions: Candidate Filing Requirements ✓ quoted from the saved copy
An annual disclosure after January 10, or none found Worth a look
Members of the General Assembly, statewide officers, judges and district attorneys file by January 10 each year.
Limits: Covers sitting legislators and judges, for the years we have (2025–2026). Someone who took office later in a year isn't late; the checks say so.
“The following state officials must file a PFD by January 10th each year 24-6-202(1), C.R.S.”Form CPF-13 (Rev. 06/2026), instructions: Annual Filing Requirements ✓ quoted from the saved copy
Income from a lobbyist's client Context
Legislators and statewide officers vote on, or sign, the bills lobbyists work on; the disclosure asks for the sources of compensation that pay lobbyists for that reason.
Limits: Names matched as written (with Inc., LLC and the like set aside); public employers aren't counted. For legislators, statewide officers and candidates for those offices; worth a look when it's their own income and they're a sitting member.
“The source is regulated by the state or pays for a lobbyist to lobby at the General Assembly or at a state regulatory body”Form CPF-13 (Rev. 06/2026), instructions: Sources of Compensation ✓ quoted from the saved copy
Bills their donors lobbied on Context
Professional lobbyists report each client's position on each bill, and the client's contributions are in TRACER. When a client that funds a member's campaign took a position on a bill the member voted on, the two public records are worth reading together.
Limits: Clients and donors are matched by name as written (a company and its PAC are different names); party committees are left out; the member's latest floor vote on each bill. Context, not wrongdoing.
No income listed from the office they hold Worth a look
Legislators, judges, district attorneys, statewide officers and public utilities commissioners are paid for their office; the disclosure asks for every source of income, so their own salary belongs on it.
Limits: Their latest disclosure with entries, when it lists income; we look for the employer by name (the State, the General Assembly, the Judicial Branch or a court, the City and County of Denver …), so a salary written another way could be missed. Senior judges are left out (paid through PERA's program). A disclosure read from a scan is context.
“List the names of any sources of income, including capital gains (whether or not taxable) for yourself, your spouse, and minor children residing with you.”Form CPF-13 (Rev. 06/2026), instructions: Income ✓ quoted from the saved copy
Errors in the record Context
Public records have errors: a typo in an amount, a filer's name misspelled on TRACER's listing, a gift reported twice. We read each as it was meant and say so here, so the reading can be checked.
Limits: Found where our reader corrects a typo, where the listing's name differs from the one signed on a form with a text layer (not scans), in gift reports, and typed forms with no reason for filing ticked; never a judgment about the filer.
Income listed under $40,000 a year Worth a look
The disclosure asks for every source of income for the filer, a spouse and minor children. When the ranges they selected add up to under $40,000 even at their top (less than a legislator's salary), it's worth asking what's missing.
Limits: Totals use the top of each range on their latest disclosure with entries; a disclosure with a range we couldn't read gets none. Retirement income alone over $10,000 is context.
“List the names of any sources of income, including capital gains (whether or not taxable) for yourself, your spouse, and minor children residing with you.”Form CPF-13 (Rev. 06/2026), instructions: Income ✓ quoted from the saved copy
Gifts over the gift ban's limit Worth a look
The constitution limits what a state or local official may accept from one person in a calendar year ($75 since 2023); officials report gifts each quarter, so their own reports show what came from whom.
Limits: Items on the official's gift reports, summed per giver (names as written) and calendar year, 2023–2026. Many reported gifts fall under an exception the report doesn't name; where the description suggests one, or the giver is a public body, it's shown as context. Judges aren't covered (the article's officials don't include the judiciary); their gifts are on their pages without a finding.
“shall solicit, accept or receive any gift or other thing of value having either a fair market value or aggregate actual cost greater than fifty dollars ($50) in any calendar year”Colorado Constitution, art. XXIX, sec. 3(2) (the Independent Ethics Commission's copy); the limit is $75 from 2023 (IEC Position Statement 23-01) ✓ quoted from the saved copy
A gift from a professional lobbyist Worth a look
Professional lobbyists may not give officials gifts or meals of any value; an official's report of one from a registered lobbyist is worth a look.
Limits: Givers matched to the Secretary of State's lobbyist directory by full name only, so a different person with the same name would match.
“no professional lobbyist, personally or on behalf of any other person or entity, shall knowingly offer, give, or arrange to give”Colorado Constitution, art. XXIX, sec. 3(4) (the Independent Ethics Commission's copy) ✓ quoted from the saved copy
Snapshot built 2026-10-25T01:39:42+00:00; disclosure reader co-pfd-16; campaign data loaded 2026-10-24T23:46:09+00:00.