Tomorrow’s primary will, in this county, largely decide who governs its growth. With the last campaign-finance reports now filed, here is where each candidate’s money comes from — and how to cast a ballot that still counts.
The final campaign-finance reports are in. All seven county-commissioner candidates filed their last accounts by the June 26 deadline — the closing look at the money before voters decide on Tuesday. The pattern that has defined this race held to the end: the developer, real-estate and mortgage money is concentrated in two developer-friendly Republicans, while their rivals are funded mostly by individual donors giving their own money.
District 5: the incumbent’s war chest
Lauren Nelson, appointed to the District 5 seat in 2025, has raised about $75,200 — the most of any candidate — and roughly 88% of it comes from development and special interests: the Colorado Springs Housing & Building Association’s political committee, the Realtors’ candidate PAC, and a roster of real-estate professionals and executives. Her Republican opponent, Vickie Tonkins, has raised about $20,000, roughly four-fifths of it from individuals.
District 1: two-thirds from the industry, plus a $25,000 loan
Ryan Graham has raised about $57,200, about two-thirds of it from the same world of homebuilder and Realtor PACs and real-estate figures — and, separately, he has lent his own campaign $25,000. His Republican opponent, Lindsay Moore, has raised about $14,000, of which 97% came from individuals.
The Democrats: a small-donor race
In the District 5 Democratic primary, Yolanda Avila (about $54,600) and Christian Seale (about $23,900) are both funded overwhelmingly by individuals — 92% and 81% respectively — with almost no developer money. In District 1, Democrat Gavin Rainey is unopposed in his primary; an unaffiliated candidate, Raul Acosta, will appear only on the November ballot.
The closing days changed almost nothing
The final reports added little. Across all seven campaigns, only $500 of new development money arrived in the closing stretch — a single real-estate professional’s gift to Mr Graham. The rest of the late money was small individual donations, which nudged every candidate’s special-interest share slightly down, not up. The big PAC checks that appear on this week’s reports — the homebuilders’ and Realtors’ committees giving $2,850 apiece to both Mr Graham and Ms Nelson — were disclosed earlier, in 48-hour filings, and are already counted above. For the fuller map of who is behind the money — the Buc-ee’s, developer and Ford Amphitheater networks — see our earlier investigation.
Why it matters
El Paso County is one of Colorado’s most reliably Republican; in District 5 the Republican primary is very likely the contest that settles the seat, and in District 1 it is the pivotal one. The commissioners chosen tomorrow will rule on the developments now in the county’s pipeline — among them the proposed Buc-ee’s travel plaza near Palmer Lake and the subdivisions filling in the I-25 corridor — on a board that has approved all but two of 357 land-use cases since 2021. A contribution is not a vote, and candidates who accept industry money say it does not bind them. Voters can weigh the pattern for themselves — and, tomorrow, act on it.
How to vote — what’s still available
Election Day is Tuesday, June 30. Your ballot must be RECEIVED by 7 p.m. A postmark does not count — so it is now too late to mail it. Return it in person.
Drop it in a 24/7 box (Tri-Lakes & north county)
- Monument Park-n-Ride — 1890 Woodmoor Dr., Monument
- Santa Fe Trailhead (Baptist Rd.) — 1916 W. Baptist Rd., Monument
- Black Forest Fire & Rescue — 11445 Teachout Rd.
- Black Forest Park-n-Ride — 7503 Black Forest Rd.
Boxes are open around the clock and lock at 7 p.m. on Election Day. See the full county list of drop boxes and polling centers.
Vote, register, or get a replacement ballot in person
At a Voter Service & Polling Center (VSPC). The nearest is the Town of Monument Public Works Building, 259 Beacon Lite Rd. — open Monday, June 29, 8 a.m.–5 p.m., and Election Day 7 a.m.–7 p.m. County centers including the Citizens Service Center (1675 W. Garden of the Gods Rd.) and North Branch (8830 N. Union Blvd.) are open 7 a.m.–7 p.m. on Election Day.
Unaffiliated voters: your packet contained both a Republican and a Democratic ballot. Vote and return only one. If you send back both, neither will count.
Need to register or fix your registration? You can do it — and get a ballot — at any VSPC through Election Day; bring an ID. Check your ballot status or find every location at GoVoteColorado.gov or EPCVotes.com, or call the county Elections Department at 719-575-VOTE (8683).
Related coverage from The Monument Independent
- Choose wisely: El Paso County commissioners, the money & the June 30 vote — our full investigation of the board’s approval record, the developer money behind it, and the Buc-ee’s back door.
- Follow the money: Buc-ee’s, the Ford Amphitheater network and the 2026 commissioner races — the full investigation behind these numbers.
- Permission granted: a county board that has never said no — the board’s land-use record and the donors behind it.
- Buc-ee’s tries the back door — how the travel-plaza plan is moving through the county.
- Our land-use vote tracker and vote predictor — every commissioner decision since 2021, and how each member is likely to vote.
- Make a plan to vote — our 2026 elections hub.
Sources & method. Campaign figures from Colorado TRACER campaign-finance filings (all itemized contributions, reconciled to each committee’s official report totals), current through the June 26 reports (period ending June 21, 2026), including 48-hour major-contributor reports. “Developer / real estate / mortgage” combines developers, real-estate firms and professionals, construction and land-use interests, mortgage, lending and title money, and the homebuilders’ (CSHBA) and Realtor PACs; it adopts the donors flagged by Integrity Matters plus loan- and mortgage-industry contributions. Candidate self-loans are reported separately and are not included in the totals shown. Voting information from the El Paso County Clerk & Recorder. Analysis and classification by Michael Christensen.
If you have any decency at all, publish a breakdown of specific donor categories. For instance one of the candidates is a successful residential realtor and some of his donors are also residential realtors…you know colleagues that recognize success, integrity, honesty. Just curious, why do you only post a category of special interest, but fail to mention it’s actually law enforcement support organizations? Why are you anti-law enforcement? Sounds a lot like aprogressive libersl trying to defund police.
Why haven’t you posted the photos of the candidate posing with bucee the beaver, but feigning to be against them?
Thanks for reading, and for the direct questions — I’ll take them in turn.
On the categories: the breakdown is already there, and we’re happy to go further. The graphic’s legend defines each bucket, and “other special interest” is spelled out as police committees, party committees, lobbyists and other PACs. Our companion investigation, “Choose wisely,” goes a step further and names the specific committee — Blue Line Advocates, a law-enforcement-aligned committee — as the single largest donor to both Mr Graham and Ms Nelson. Far from hiding it, we named it. And every figure traces to public TRACER filings; if it’s useful, we’re glad to publish the line-by-line donor list so readers can see each name themselves.
On the framing: the line we draw is between organized committee/PAC money and money from individual people — not between “good” and “bad” causes. A developer PAC, a Realtor PAC, a party committee and a law-enforcement committee all fall in the same structural category for the same reason: they’re organized political money rather than an individual writing a personal check. That’s a neutral distinction about how money is raised, not a position on policing. The Monument Independent takes no side on police funding, and nothing in the piece does either.
On the realtor donations: you’re right that colleagues backing a successful colleague isn’t, by itself, improper — and we said so. The article states plainly that “a contribution is not a vote,” and that candidates who accept industry money say it doesn’t bind them. Our job is to disclose the pattern accurately and let readers judge it, not to assign motive.
On the photo: we publish what we can verify and source. If you’ll send the image and where it came from — our contact/news-tips page is the best route — we’ll look into it, report it if it checks out and is relevant, and correct anything we’ve gotten wrong, per our corrections policy. That offer is sincere.