Meet the billionaires and wealthy donors dominating Colorado's 2024 election

Billionaires and wealthy individuals — most from outside Colorado — are donating huge sums to persuade voters to approve two 2024 ballot measures, an exclusive Axios Denver analysis finds.

Why it matters: The big-dollar influence raises questions about the outsized role of wealthy donors pushing their agendas on Colorado voters.

State of play: Of the roughly $70 million injected into state-level races this year, 10% came from 10 donors, an analysis of the latest campaign finance reports shows.

• The bulk — about $5.9 million — is aimed at overhauling Colorado's election system to ban party primaries and put in place ranked-choice voting.
• The remainder — about $1.45 million — went toward supporting a constitutional amendment to protect abortion access .

The intrigue: The No. 1 individual donor is former DaVita CEO Kent Thiry , who spent $2.8 million through Sept. 25 supporting Colorado candidates and ballot measures. Almost all of it went toward Proposition 131 , the election overhaul measure.

• Yes, but: His influence is actually much larger. The overall top donor this election, at $4.4 million, is Unite America, an election reform advocacy organization where Thiry is co-chair.

Zoom in: The next-largest donors are Ben Walton , grandson of the Walmart founder, and Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix. Each gave $1 million to Prop. 131.

The rest of the top 10:

• Michael Bloomberg, former New York mayor: $750,000 to support Amendment 79 protecting abortion
• Kathryn Murdoch of New York: $500,000 to back Prop. 131
• Lynn Schusterman of Oklahoma: $500,000 to support Amendment 79
• Robert Small of Boston: $200,000 for Prop. 131
• Merle Chambers of Denver: $200,000 for Amendment 79
• John Carroll of Massachusetts: $160,000 for Prop. 131