A high-profile political rally featuring Democratic congressional candidates and social media influencers from around the country took place at the state Capitol on Sunday after three separate local venues canceled contracts with the organizers. At least two of the three venues that backed out of the event are owned by or otherwise financially entangled with Republican mega-donor Phil Anschutz, Colorado’s wealthiest citizen. Though Anschutz has long been known for his involvement with Republican politics, the rally dust-up is yet another indication of his growing attempts to influence Democratic politics as well.
Sunday’s rally was held in support of Melat Kiros, the Democratic candidate challenging long-time Denver congressional representative Diana DeGette, and included appearances by other progressive Democratic candidates for Congress, including Rep. Justin Pearson of Memphis, TN, and Rep. Donovan McKinney of Detroit, MI. U.S. Senate candidate Julie Gonzales and leftist streamer Hasan Piker were also scheduled to appear at the event, but both pulled out at the last moment due at least in part to safety concerns after so many venue swaps. Piker has long been the focus of significant security threats.
The rally’s featured speakers are united by their identities as young candidates pushing for a more progressive Democratic Party, and have attracted both criticism and support for advocating in favor of a free Palestine and an end to unconditional arms shipments to Israel. Though Kiros has drawn allegations of antisemitism for her critical stance on Israel’s actions, her positions on the issue are shared by a majority of Americans, a supermajority of Democrats, and prominent Jewish organizations like JStreet and Jewish Voice for Peace. JVP Action has endorsed Kiros, and JStreet has endorsed DeGette.
Despite the allegations — which Jewish Kiros supporters tell me they believe were made in bad faith — Kiros has attracted a great deal of support in the lead up to this month’s primary elections, after becoming the first challenger to ever beat incumbent Diana DeGette at Denver’s Democratic caucus. When it came time for progressive figures from around the country to descend on Denver for a rally to boost support for Kiros ahead of the June 30 primary, though, venues started dropping out of their contracts with the campaign.
First, the event was scheduled for ReelWorks/Tracks, the co-owned music venue and queer bar in Denver’s RINO neighborhood. Until last week, that plan looked set to go ahead — then the venue suddenly backed out. After ReelWorks/Tracks backed out, the event was rescheduled for the Ogden Theater on Colfax. Then the Ogden backed out, and the event was moved once again to the Stanley Marketplace. On the day of the event, the Stanley Marketplace also backed out, and the rally was ultimately held on the west steps of the state Capitol.
So what happened? Kiros supporters have suggested that DeGette’s team was behind the cancellations, an allegation which the DeGette campaign denied in conversation with Colorado Newsline. Business records and emails between the Kiros campaign and the venues, though, indicate that another hand was at play – one which, like so many others who have attempted to wield the Israel-Palestine conflict as a cudgel, appears to have much more to do with domestic American politics than with anything happening in the Middle East.
Philip Anschutz is Colorado’s wealthiest man, and the state’s largest funder of right-wing candidates, organizations, and causes. With a net worth estimated at $26.6 billion, Anschutz’s influence has been felt in Colorado for years. Though the cornerstone of Anschutz’s fortune was the oil company his father founded, he has diversified over the years into railroads, news media, and entertainment. His entertainment company, Anschutz Entertainment Group, or AEG, owns stadiums, sports teams, concert venues, and properties like the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival.
The Ogden Theater, which was scheduled to hold the Kiros rally until it canceled its contract with the rally’s organizers on Friday, is owned by AEG. In an email to the Kiros campaign, Jennifer Robinson, AEG’s regional director for special events, said that the company’s leadership was involved in the decision to cancel the rally.
“Due to significant pressure and concern from the local community who have reached out to our leadership, we have made the decision to cancel hosting this event at The Ogden.”
When I reached Robinson by phone, she told me that she was not authorized to speak on the matter and referred me to AEG’s corporate press office at the company’s Los Angeles headquarters. A spokesperson for the company told me that the decision was prompted by safety concerns due to threats made against Piker, a deviation from the previous explanation of “significant pressure” being applied over the booking. AEG did not answer questions about what kind of pressure was applied, what it pertained to, or who applied it.
Though not owned by AEG, ReelWorks/Tracks, the first venue to cancel a contract with Kiros, is financially entangled with Anschutz’s company. Reelworks and AEG are united in what’s called a promoter-venue partnership, meaning that AEG books talent and provides box office services for ReelWorks. The venue, formerly known as EXDO Event Center, rebranded in 2021 with a focus on becoming a music venue, a vision which has been accommodated by the Anschutz Entertainment Group.
While the Ogden was initially open about the fact that AEG canceled the rally contract due to individuals reaching out to company leadership (before telling me a different reason), ReelWorks and Tracks – which are co-owned and co-located and were both scheduled to play a role in the weekend’s rally – took a less direct route, initially blaming their withdrawal from the contract on an HVAC issue.
“I’ve got some bad news, for both of us really,” Stefan Hicks, who works in event productions for ReelWorks/Tracks Denver, wrote in an email to the Kiros campaign last weekend. Hicks said the space had a “HUGE problem” with their air conditioning system and would be conducting repairs from Wednesday June 10 to Wednesday June 17, rendering the venue unable to host the rally on Sunday. “This project is set to start being dealt with on Wednesday and will take at least a week,” Hicks wrote. “With that, I regret to inform you that we can no longer host your event on Sunday.”
Despite the urgent, ongoing HVAC repairs the venue reported to the Kiros campaign, Instagram posts show that ReelWorks and Tracks hosted events this weekend. The campaign reached out to ReelWorks/Tracks to ask about the discrepancy but received no response.
As of the time of publication, Hicks has not responded to my outreach. When I spoke to the AEG representative about ReelWorks/Tracks, they did not feel they had enough information in front of them about the relationship between the companies to answer questions.
The last venue to back out of a contract to host the rally was the Stanley Marketplace, the mixed-use retail and dining space located in the East Colfax neighborhood along the Denver-Aurora border. Unlike the other two venues, the Stanley Marketplace, which is currently in the process of changing hands, did not share the reasons for its cancellation with the campaign in writing. I reached out to the company for clarification and to ask if they were pressured to cancel the contract, but have not received a response.
By the time of the rally on Sunday afternoon, two things were clear. First, that there had been a concerted effort to stop the event from going forward; and, second, that the effort had failed. In intermittent rain and sun, hundreds of people gathered at the west steps of the Colorado state Capitol to cheer for Medicare-for-all, housing-first policies, and universal childcare.
The success of the rally, though, is of secondary interest to the great lengths gone to in an attempt to kill it. That two-thirds of the venues that engaged in that attempt are owned by or otherwise reliant on Phil Anschutz leaves little question as to who was behind it.
“The billionaires don’t just buy politicians,” Kiros told me, “they own the places people gather, where voices are heard. They decide who gets a platform and who doesn’t. Phil Anschutz and the rest of the oligarchy thought their venues canceling at the last minute would stop us,” she said. “We showed up at the Capitol anyway because they don’t own democracy. This fight is not over, and this movement is just getting started.”
Phil Anschutz has a decades-long record of warring against Colorado progressives. There is reason to believe that he waged the latest battle in that long-running war this weekend – and reason to believe that he ultimately lost that battle.
As a challenger facing off against a long-term incumbent, Kiros enters this month’s primary election as the underdog. With such frenzied efforts being employed against her campaign at this late date, though, it’s clear that many are afraid she won’t stay the underdog for long. Like the attempts to block this weekend’s rally, the allegations of antisemitism are part of that effort, one of Kiros’ Jewish supporters told me, saying it’s just politics as usual. But Kiros? He says she’s something different.
“I believe in Melat wholeheartedly. I trust her,” Spencer Hacker told me. Hacker is one of the founders of Jews4Melat, a caucus of Jewish Kiros supporters who organized a “Shabbat with Melat” campaign event last Friday. “Melat’s shabbos made me feel proud to be Jewish again,” he said. “It was a truly incredible event. I told her, ‘You’re making me feel more Jewish than I’ve felt in years.'”
