Colorado state Sen. Julie Gonzales in launching a primary challenge to incumbent Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper, the first major progressive challenge to an incumbent senator this election cycle.
Gonzales, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America who represents Denver in the legislature, will have an uphill battle to oust Hickenlooper, a 73-year-old former governor who is running for a second term in the Senate that he says will be his last.
While progressive candidates have launched a host of challenges to incumbent Democrats in the House, Gonzales’ campaign represents the first major progressive challenge this cycle to an incumbent senator ― a much more expensive and challenging proposition than doing battle in deep-blue House districts.
In an interview, Gonzales attacked what she called Hickenlooper’s “go-along to get-along, poll-tested incrementalism.” She criticized him for backing 10 of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees, and argued his business-friendly stances were exacerbating the cost-of-living crisis.
“Working people built Colorado, and we deserve a government that works for us,” Gonzales said. “Rejecting MAGA extremism is just the baseline. We need to take on the establishment and the corporations.”
She said the incumbent’s brand of centrist Democratic politics was out of step with the state’s electorate, which has reliably voted for Democrats during the Trump era.
“Colorado is no longer a purple state,” Gonzales said. “We have the electorate of Illinois, but leadership that acts like we’re Arizona.”
In a video announcing her campaign, Gonzales recounted her life story. She’s the daughter of a high school dropout who became a public school teacher. Gonzales graduated from Yale and then worked as a community organizer in Denver. She also highlighted her work boosting affordable housing and codifying abortion rights into law.
I’m running for U.S. Senate so the people who built Colorado can take back control of our healthcare, our homes, and our futures.
Working people built Colorado, we deserve a government that finally works for us.
Join our campaign: https://t.co/T4pJDRWUYq pic.twitter.com/baAeRtGxDW
— Senadora Julie (@SenadoraJulie) December 8, 2025
“We can have nice things if we had a senator willing to fight,” Gonzales told HuffPost, noting ICE agents are eligible for $50,000 enlistment bonuses while no such enticements are offered for teachers, nurses or firefighters.
Gonzales also said she thought Democrats should move on from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, noting he did little to stop moderate Democratic senators from folding to end the government shutdown earlier this year. (Hickenlooper said he was considering voting to end the shutdown, but ultimately voted against the resolution to reopen the government.)
Hickenlooper has defended his votes for Trump nominees, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, as necessary to minimize the damage done to Colorado.
“My hope and my gut is that we will definitely get benefits from it. And whatever bad things happen to us, without those relationships, I think the bad things would have been, will turn out to have been much worse,” he told a local television station in April.
According to Federal Election Commission records, Hickenlooper has about $3.6 million in his campaign account. He has also rolled out the backing of some liberal groups, including the campaign finance reform group End Citizens United and the gun reform group Giffords.
No major Republican candidate has emerged in the race. Former Vice President Kamala Harris won the state by 11 percentage points in 2024.
