Messenger: Unclear

Candidate: multiple

Contest: U.S. Senate

Affiliation: R

Date delivered: June 7, 2022

Click here for message

Message type: mailer

Message tone: contrast

About the message:

This mailer from an unknown source contrasts Republican U.S. Senate candidates Joe O'Dea, a construction company owner, and state Rep. Ron Hanks, without suggesting voting for one or the other. But it says that O'Dea has contributed to Democrats in the past, which is true, and said that by winning the April GOP assembly that Hanks has the party endorsement, which is not true. Voters will choose between the two in the June 28 primary contest, with the winner facing incumbent Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet in November.

It's likely this mailer comes from Democratic interests trying to sway voters toward Hanks, an election denier. That's because of the union insignia on the mailer.

About the messenger: If there's no indication of who delivered the message, well, it's unclear. This means there's no revelation on a robocall or "paid for by" on a mailer or door literature.

And, in fact, there's a loophole in Colorado law that doesn't require disclosure if a message doesn't explicitly say "vote for" or "vote against." And even candidates don't have to say if they delivered a message, according to the Secretary of State.

According to the Campaign Finance Institute, Colorado was one of only 10 states with such a loophole in 2016.

The messenger's money: This is the definition of "dark money." There's no way to know who paid.