Messenger: Colorado Republican Committee

Candidate: John Hickenlooper

Contest: U.S. Senate

Affiliation: D

Date delivered: Sept. 16, 2020

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Message type: mailer

Message tone: negative

About the message:

This mailer from the Colorado Republican Party portrays former Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper as "protecting criminals not crime victims." It superimposes Hickenlooper's head on a stock image of a man holding handcuffs. At least three of the five people portrayed on the mailer are people of color, including a Cuban immigrant.

Of those pictured, only Promise Lee was pardoned by Hickenlooper for his role in a 1070s slaying when he was 15. Nathan Ybanez and Terrance Wilder also were teenagers when they committee. They and George Sherman are all still in prison because Hickenlooper reduced their sentences but didn't pardon them. Rene Lima Marin was accidentaly released eight years into a 98-year sentence for a video store robbery and was free for six years before being returned to prison. A judge then ordered that he be released, but immigration authorities detained him, resulting in Hickenlooper's pardon.

About the messenger:

The Colorado Republican Committee is the federal fundraising arm of the Colorado GOP.

The messenger's money:

This federal political party committee may take up to $10,000 per year from individual donors. Most of the party's money in 2024 came from $20,000 to $40,000 fees charged to presidential candidates to get on the ballot and a joint fundraiser with other national Republican committees.