Declaring that Colorado “needs a fighter, not a bystander,” state Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Denver Democrat, on Monday launched her long-anticipated primary challenge to U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper. Pitching her campaign as a departure from “old-playbook politics,” Gonzales said she’s appe aling to voters who are “sick and tired of Democrats trying to manage primaries from the top down instead of trusting voters.” Gonzales, who is serving her second term representing North Denver’s Senate District 34, said in a release that she’s been the architect of some of the state’s most significant recent statutes, including measures to protect abortion rights, voting rights, renters and consumers, and she wants to take the same spirit to the nation’s capital. “Families in Denver, Pueblo, Greeley, and Grand Junction are working harder than ever to make ends meet and still coming up short while Washington turns the federal government into a corrupt piggy bank for billionaires and political insiders,” Gonzales said. “This race is about who controls our lives — insurance executives, ICE agents, and oligarchs, or the working people who actually make Colorado run.” Hickenlooper, a former two-term governor and two-term Denver mayor, is seeking reelection to a second term in a state ranked by nonpartisan election analysts as safely in the Democrats’ corner. Republicans haven’t won a statewide race in Colorado in nearly a decade. Republicans in the running include former state Rep. Janak Joshi, of Colorado Springs, and retired Marine Col. George Markert, a first-time candidate. Four other Democrats have also filed to run for the office. Hickenlooper holds a wide fundraising advantage over all challengers, with a reported $3.6 million in the bank at the end of the last quarter after raising nearly $6.5 million since he unseated Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner in 2020. Among previously declared candidates, only Joshi and Markert have cracked six figures in contributions. Gonzales, who has teased her candidacy for months as a bid for generational change in fiery speeches at party events, described her challenge as a chance to replace a complacent politician with a more energetic and confrontational alternative. “Sen. Hickenlooper is a nice man, but his ‘go-along-to-get-along’ politics haven’t delivered affordability, accountability, or protection for Coloradans who are threatened by the Trump nominees that he voted to confirm,” Gonzales said. “Colorado doesn’t need another club member,” she added. “We need a Senadora who will stand up to Trump, to corporate lobbyists, and yes, even to our own party when they’re wrong. Coloradans should control our own futures — not politicians who are too comfortable with the way things are.” Gonzales said her campaign will focus on affordability — including universal health care, more available housing and higher wages in the state — and an economy that works “for people, not corporations.” She said she also plans to campaign on protecting individual freedom “over your body, your vote, your future.” Gonzales is the latest in a series of younger Democrats challenging long-serving party officials this year, as the party grapples with how to respond to President Donald Trump’s second administration. In deep blue Massachusetts, for instance, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton is running in a primary against U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, who was first elected to Congress in 1976 and won his Senate seat in a 2013 special election. The 73-year-old Hickenlooper entered politics late in life after working as a geologist and founding a brewpub in Denver’s Lower Downtown, spawning an industry that has become part of the state’s cultural fabric. He was elected mayor of Denver in 2003 in a come-from-behind upset and has won every race he’s entered since, except for a brief run for president ahead of the 2020 election. A spokesman for Hickenlooper told Colorado Politics that Gonzales’ complaints are off base. “Sen. Hickenlooper is focused on delivering for Colorado. He helped defeat the Trump and MAGA plan to auction off our public lands and is relentlessly fighting to lower costs for working families,” said Hickenlooper campaign spokesman Jess Cohen in a text message. “John Hickenlooper has spent his time as mayor, as governor and as U.S. senator uniting us, and now fighting against the illegal chaos and outright corruption that has come to define MAGA and our president,” Cohen added. Gonzales said in her announcement that she intends to offer voters “a choice between another six years of poll-tested politics and concessions to the Trump administration and a next-generation leader who will take on corporate power and defend Coloradans’ freedom to control the most important decisions they make in their lives.” “I’m not asking Washington insiders for permission: I’m asking Coloradans to decide for themselves who they want fighting for them in the Senate,” she added. Colorado’s primary is June 30. Candidates can qualify for the ballot at party assemblies next spring or by circulating petitions beginning in January. ...read more read less