Hickenlooper beats left-wing challenger Gonzales 57% to 43% in Colorado primary

Centrist Sen. John Hickenlooper defeated a left-wing primary challenge in Colorado on Tuesday, offering Democrats a template for resisting the progressive wave that swept New York last week.

Sen. John Hickenlooper defeated state Sen. Julie Gonzales 57% to 43% in Colorado's Democratic Senate primary Tuesday, beating back a challenge from the party's left flank after progressive victories in New York last week rattled centrist Democrats.

"Hickenlooper's victory shows that the socialist wave has limits outside deep-blue coastal districts," said Elena Fischer, geopolitical risk analyst at Edgen. "Colorado's Democratic electorate is more moderate than the activist base that drove wins in New York."

Hickenlooper, a former governor and Denver mayor who was elected to the Senate in 2020, raised $7.7 million during the election cycle, compared with Gonzales's $869,000, according to federal filings. Gonzales, a former member of the Democratic Socialists of America, campaigned to the left of the centrist incumbent on a platform of Medicare for All and abolishing ICE.

The race was seen as a bellwether for whether the democratic socialist momentum that unseated two establishment-backed House incumbents in New York last week could translate to a Western swing state. Colorado, once a battleground, has shifted leftward in recent years, but Tuesday's result suggests the party's moderate wing retains strength beyond coastal metropolitan areas.

A test for the left beyond New York

The New York victories by democratic socialists Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez — who defeated the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and another establishment-backed Democrat — had set off alarm bells for centrists nationwide. Colorado's primary served as the first major test of whether those gains could be replicated in a state where unaffiliated voters make up more than 50 percent of the electorate.

Hickenlooper will face Republican state Sen. Mark Baisley, who ran unopposed in the GOP primary, in the November general election. Colorado's Democratic lean makes Hickenlooper the favorite to retain the seat.

Elsewhere in Colorado, Rep. Diana DeGette faced a tougher-than-expected primary challenge from Melat Kiros, a 29-year-old democratic socialist who was born after DeGette first won her seat three decades ago. In the governor's race, Attorney General Phil Weiser and Sen. Michael Bennet competed in a primary that tested whether anti-Washington sentiment could unseat another incumbent. The last time a Democratic incumbent lost a Senate primary in Colorado was never — the state has not ousted a sitting Democratic senator in a primary since it began holding them.

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