A $150,000 check from former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other high-dollar donations have buttressed the campaign for the proposed Denver college-affordability sales tax.

Just days before Tuesday’s election, the campaign is debuting its first TV ad, starring Mayor Michael Hancock and Gov. John Hickenlooper. In the low-budget 30-second spot, the pair take jump shots on a basketball court while stressing the importance of ensuring city students aren’t kept out of college by fast-increasing costs.

Measure 2A has faced more public pushback than this year’s other Denver ballot measures over questions about city priorities.

It would add 8 cents per $100 purchase to the city sales tax. Eligible students could receive up to $4,000 a year, via either existing scholarship programs or grants for loan repayment.

A consultant to the campaign had said low fundraising probably would keep it from running TV ads.

But then came big checks from Bloomberg and others, helping the campaign raise $461,355 from Oct. 1 through Wednesday, a new finance report shows. Before October, Measure 2A had raised just $180,790.

Other sizable donations include $100,000 each from the Denver Scholarship Foundation, which could participate in the new program, and Stacy Schusterman, a philanthropist from Tulsa, Okla.

Campaign spokeswoman Kaitlyn Randol says the TV ad, which will air on major network affiliates and some Comcast stations, is aimed at spurring as many voters as possible to return their mail ballots. Low election turnout is expected.

New filings show that the Measure 1A campaign for the Denver-Adams County airport development deal raised $129,450 this month, bringing its total to $284,500.

And the Measure 2C campaign, in support of extending lodging and car-rental taxes for the National Western Center project and a convention center expansion, raised $379,450 in October, for a total of nearly $1.6 million.

Jon Murray: 303-954-1405 or jmurray@denverpost.com