Over the past decade, George Soros Colorado political spending has flowed through three main channels: independent expenditure committees backing district attorney candidates, outside groups supporting Democrat Jared Polis in the 2018 governor’s race, and direct contributions to the state Democratic Party. The DA spending has drawn the sharpest attention, and a 2024 race in Arapahoe County has put it back in the news.
District Attorney Races
Soros’s clearest local intervention came in the 2016 race for district attorney in Colorado’s 1st Judicial District. He contributed $1.1 million to Colorado Safety & Justice, an independent expenditure committee supporting Democrat Jake Lilly and opposing incumbent Republican DA Pete Weir.1Denver Post. Misleading Attacks by George Soros in Colorado DA Race OpenSecrets records confirm a $100,000 contribution from Soros to the committee on September 30, 2016.2OpenSecrets. Donor Lookup Results for George Soros The committee spent at least $682,112 on the race, including mailers accusing Weir of letting “sex offenders off easy.”
The Denver Post editorial board called the committee’s messaging “subterfuge” and the advertisements “unfair” and “misleading,” while noting Soros had every right to spend on the race and praising the transparency of the funding source. Whitney Tymas, who managed the committee, said the spending was intended to promote criminal justice reform and argued Weir defended a status quo of high incarceration. Former Democratic Governor Bill Ritter was among the bipartisan figures who defended Weir’s record.1Denver Post. Misleading Attacks by George Soros in Colorado DA Race Weir won reelection with 53.5% of the vote to Lilly’s 46.5%.3New York Times. Colorado District Attorney District 1 Results
A 2022 report by the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund identified Denver District Attorney Beth McCann as a prosecutor who received support through Soros-affiliated groups or participated in Soros-sponsored programming.4Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund. Justice for Sale A 2024 congressional document submitted to the House Judiciary Committee, authored by former Pennsylvania District Attorney Thomas Hogan and originally published by the Manhattan Institute, listed Denver among the cities where Soros-backed candidates had won DA elections.5U.S. House of Representatives. House Judiciary Committee Hearing Document
The Amy Padden Race and Its Aftermath
The most recent controversy centers on Amy Padden, elected District Attorney for Arapahoe County (the 18th Judicial District) in November 2024. Padden, a Democrat, defeated Republican Carol Chambers with 57.7% of the vote.6Colorado Secretary of State. District Attorney District 18 Election Results Campaign finance records cited by the Washington Times show Padden received approximately $40,000 in funding linked to Soros, channeled through the Colorado Working Families Party. Sean Kennedy of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund described the state party as an offshoot of the National Working Families Party and called it a “pass-through” for liberal causes, arguing that Soros-affiliated networks increasingly use localized PACs to obscure funding sources.7Washington Times. Soros-Backed Prosecutor Release Colorado Sex Offender Deemed Unfit
Two cases from Padden’s first months in office drew national attention. The first involved Solomon Galligan, a 34-year-old registered sex offender arrested in April 2024 for allegedly attempting to kidnap an 11-year-old at Black Forest Hills Elementary School in the Cherry Creek School District.8CBS News Colorado. Case Dropped for Man in Alleged Colorado School Kidnapping Attempt After a doctor found Galligan mentally incompetent to stand trial in June 2025, the charges were dismissed under Colorado law, which requires dismissal when a defendant is found incompetent. Padden’s office said prosecutors were legally obligated to dismiss and that Galligan would be civilly committed rather than released.9Denver7. Man Accused of Trying to Kidnap Aurora Elementary Student Will Have All Charges Dropped
The second case involved a 15-year-old unlicensed and undocumented driver who crashed a Jeep into a car driven by 24-year-old Kaitlyn Weaver in Aurora in July 2024. Investigators determined the teen was driving over 90 miles per hour in a 45-mph zone, and Weaver was removed from life support two days later. The DA’s office had initially said it would seek the maximum sentence of two years in youth corrections. Under Padden’s administration, the office instead offered two years of probation, 100 hours of community service, a school-attendance requirement, and a mandate to not break further laws in exchange for a guilty plea, with probation not automatically revoked if terms were violated. A judge upheld the deal. An assistant DA told reporters that an experienced prosecutor handled the plea without direct involvement from Padden’s new administration.10CBS News Colorado. Colorado Prosecutor Offers Unlicensed Undocumented Teen Probation in Deadly Crash
Kennedy argued both cases fit a pattern of leniency among Soros-backed DAs and said Soros had become a “bogeyman” of criminal justice controversies, leaving some candidates “wary about being seen as one of his acolytes” even while accepting his financial support.7Washington Times. Soros-Backed Prosecutor Release Colorado Sex Offender Deemed Unfit
The 2018 Governor’s Race
In the 2018 gubernatorial contest, Soros and fellow billionaire Tom Steyer backed Democrat Jared Polis through outside spending. State Victory Action, a North Carolina-based nonprofit funded by Soros and Steyer’s NextGen Climate Action, donated $500,000 to Good Jobs Colorado, a super PAC supporting Polis and opposing Republican Walker Stapleton.11Colorado Sun. George Soros, Tom Steyer in Governor’s Race12Denver Post. Money Race for Colorado Governor
Good Jobs Colorado was the only super PAC running television ads attacking Stapleton and supporting Polis, and reported $2.3 million in ad spending to the Colorado Secretary of State’s office.13Colorado Sun. 6th Congressional District Colorado Spending One spot claimed Stapleton bore responsibility for a funding crisis at the Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association because of his absences from board meetings during his eight years as state treasurer. The Denver Post editorial board called that attack “intellectually dishonest.”14Denver Post. Ads Targeting Stapleton, Crow Are Intellectually Dishonest By late September 2018, Good Jobs Colorado had received $2.8 million in contributions, making it the biggest outside contributor to Polis’s cause.12Denver Post. Money Race for Colorado Governor Polis won the race.
Soros as a Rhetorical Target
Soros also functions as a name invoked by Colorado officials on the other side of the political line. When Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters was indicted in 2022 on charges of election tampering and misconduct, she alleged that Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold had “ties to George Soros funding” and framed the charges as politically motivated.15WFAE. Colorado Clerk Is Indicted for Election Tampering and Misconduct Critics have argued that such rhetoric, particularly when paired with terms like “globalist,” carries antisemitic undertones, given that Soros is Jewish and a Holocaust survivor.
The Broader Numbers
Soros’s Colorado spending is a small share of a much larger national footprint. In the 2024 federal cycle, individuals associated with Soros Fund Management contributed $4.47 million to political causes, and the Democratic Party of Colorado received a $20,000 contribution from Soros Fund Management during that cycle.16OpenSecrets. Soros Fund Management Recipients FEC records show a separate $10,000 personal contribution from Soros to the Democratic Party of Colorado in September 2024.17OpenSecrets. Donor Lookup Results for George Soros
As of mid-2026, a Washington Post analysis of FEC data found that Soros, through his companies Geosor and the Fund for Policy Reform, contributed $102 million during the first six months of the 2026 election cycle.18Spokesman-Review. Meet the Megadonors Pouring More Than $1.3 Billion Into Politics How much of that will reach Colorado is unclear, but the state’s contested DA races have made it a recurring target for Soros-funded efforts.