Colorado's Prop. 127 goes national with big money donors
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A Colorado ballot measure to ban hunting mountain lions and bobcats is emerging as a national referendum on big game hunting.
Why it matters: What started as a volunteer-driven effort to put Proposition 127 on the Colorado ballot has become a $7 million fight and one of the most costly ballot measures in 2024.
State of play: The animal welfare and wildlife advocates supporting the measure are squaring off against prominent hunting groups and conservative organizations, including some with ties to the National Rifle Association and the campaign to defeat Vice President Kamala Harris.
By the numbers: Large-dollar donations — largely from interest groups that don't disclose their donors — are pouring into the campaign at the 11th hour, an Axios Denver analysis finds.
The largest donor to the Cats Aren't Trophies committee supporting the measure is the Wild Animal Sanctuary in eastern Colorado, which contributed over $1 million.
- Animal Wellness Action, a Washington, D.C.-based organization, is the group's second-largest donor at more than $881,000.
- More than $150,000 in donations came from AWA in the last week, campaign finance reports show.
What they're saying: "This is the first of the interior West states to consider this policy," so it's drawing plenty of interest, said AWA president Wayne Pacelle, who is campaigning for the measure in Colorado this week.
Between the lines: In advertising and mailers, the battle is veering far from the scientific debate and into misinformation and fear-mongering about predators and limits on shooting.
- Opponents contend the state's wildlife management practices, which allow unlimited trapping of bobcats and hunting up to 600 mountain lions a year, are good for the tourism economy and nature.
- Supporters argue the opposite.
The other side: The political committees fighting the measure are drawing similar support from outside Colorado.
- Coloradans For Responsible Wildlife Management received a $190,000 donation Oct. 23 from the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation in D.C., a hunting rights organization that counts the NRA and gunmakers as partners.
- The Western Heritage Conservation Alliance landed a $420,000 donation from D.C.-based conservative nonprofit Building America's Future. The group has now donated nearly $900,000 to oppose the measure.
- Another $75,000 came from Safari Club International, a pro-hunting group.
The bottom line: Much like the 2020 ballot measure to reintroduce gray wolves into Colorado, the state is again the epicenter of the "ballot box biology" movement.