DENVER -- The political firm that obtained private data on millions of Facebook users worked in Colorado to help Republicans win a crucial majority in the state Senate, spending $444,000 over two years to target voters in battleground districts.
Cambridge Analytica used personal data from the social media site and voter records to create “psychographic” profiles that allowed Republican operatives to target specific voters based on personality and issues — a first run before deploying the technology to help President Donald Trump’s campaign in 2016.
The company — now under investigation in two countries — touted their work with the Senate Majority Fund in 2014 as a key component to Republicans winning a one-vote majority in the state chamber for the first time in a decade. “These victories ultimately gave the GOP control over the Colorado state Senate,” the Cambridge Analytica website once touted.
The top strategist for the Senate Majority Fund confirmed it hired Cambridge Analytica, operating as a company named SCL, but downplayed the importance of its involvement.
Image: An image from Cambridge Analytica’s website in 2015 that touts the company’s work in Colorado to help Republicans win the state Senate majority. (Screenshot by The Denver Post)
“Their pitch was better than their performance,” said Andy George, a Republican consultant who coordinated with the London-based company, who called the website language “an exaggeration.”
