Democrat Griswold nips “confident” incumbent Williams in fundraising

Democrat Jena Griswold has edged incumbent Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams in fundraising, just three months after joining the 2018 race.

Griswold’s third-quarter campaign finance report, filed earlier this week, said she raised $86,304. That’s more than the $79,606.53 Williams has raised so far this election cycle. The Republican raised $24,000 between July 1 and Sept. 30, the period covered by most recent reports.

But Williams said he wasn’t daunted by the Democrat’s quick fundraising.

“I’m confident in my fundraising and that almost all of it has come from Colorado,” Williams said.

That points to one distinction — the source of their contributions. While one of Williams’ 50 largest contributions during the third quarter came from Colorado donors, 23 of Griswold’s 50 largest donations came from out-ofstate.

But Griswold’s campaign said her average contribution was much smaller and that she received money from a wider base of donors.

“I am grateful for the support we have received from voters throughout Colorado,” Griswold said in a news release. “I am running for secretary of state to increase campaign finance transparency, secure our elections and protect voting rights. We need a secretary of state who will stand up to Donald Trump and stand up for Colorado.”

But as Griswold seeks an office that Democrats haven’t won in nearly six decades, Williams noted that he was outspent by his 2014 Democratic opponent, Joe Neguse, by roughly 2-to-1 in the former El Paso County clerk’s first statewide win.

Griswold is a former voting rights attorney for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and was a member of Gov. John Hickenlooper’s administration. She works as outside counsel to a company — which she declined to name in July, when she joined the race — and works on public policy issues as part of her firm, Griswold Strategies.