Colorado Democrats are casting ballots Tuesday in a series of primary elections that could reveal whether the party’s voters are ready to embrace a new, more progressive generation of leaders — or whether they prefer to stick with experienced incumbents who’ve held power for years.
Nowhere is that tension more visible than in the race for Colorado’s 1st Congressional District, where incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette — who has held her seat for nearly three decades — is facing a challenge from 29-year-old democratic socialist Melat Kiros, a first-time candidate who has been alive for exactly as long as DeGette has served in Congress. A similar generational gap defines the U.S. Senate contest, where Sen. John Hickenlooper, a former governor and more centrist Democrat, is being challenged by state Sen. Julie Gonzales, who describes herself as an “insurgent progressive” and has spent roughly a third as many years in public office as Hickenlooper.
A comparable, though somewhat less dramatic, divide is playing out in Colorado’s lone competitive congressional district — a seat considered critical to determining which party controls the House during the final two years of President Donald Trump’s time in office.
The Democratic primary for governor is a different story. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet have found it difficult to draw meaningful policy distinctions between themselves. Instead, the two have traded accusations over who has been tougher in standing up to Trump.
DeGette had comfortably held her Denver-based House seat for close to 30 years — until Kiros came along. At a Democratic assembly in March, a process used to determine which candidates qualify for the primary ballot, DeGette barely made the cut while Kiros, running for office for the first time, received more than double her vote total.
Though the assembly outcome doesn’t necessarily predict who wins Tuesday, it sent a shockwave through the Democratic establishment and rattled DeGette, who has long considered herself a progressive voice in Congress.
The momentum behind insurgent candidates got another boost last week in New York, where two democratic socialists and a progressive defeated establishment-backed candidates — including two incumbents — in Democratic House primaries, energizing a movement that is beginning to gain real political traction.
Much like those New York races, Kiros has the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders, while DeGette has the support of Colorado’s established Democratic House delegation.
A Kiros win, while not certain, would add momentum to the growing wave of democratic socialist candidates — a trend that has left some Democratic leaders uneasy. DeGette has argued that congressional experience is essential right now to push back against Trump, while Kiros, a former attorney, has accused DeGette of being ineffective. A third candidate, University of Colorado Regent Wanda James, is also in the race and could draw votes away from DeGette’s critics.
Gonzales is making similar arguments in the Senate race, labeling Hickenlooper an “incrementalist” and pushing for a more aggressive approach. She has acknowledged previously joining the Democratic Socialists of America in 2018, though she says her membership has since lapsed. Hickenlooper is considered the frontrunner in that statewide contest.
Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, created in 2021, runs from the northern suburbs of Denver through agricultural areas of the state. The district has already flipped from Democratic to Republican control and is currently held by Republican Rep. Gabe Evans. With Democrats eager to reclaim the House majority and slow Trump’s legislative agenda, the race is drawing significant attention.
Party leaders had largely backed state Rep. Shannon Bird as the moderate best suited to challenge Evans. But state Rep. Manny Rutinel, who is Latino, has made a case that his personal background and more assertive economic platform will resonate more strongly in a district that is heavily Hispanic and less affluent than much of the rest of Colorado.
In the governor’s race, Weiser and Bennet have been trading sharp criticisms after failing to carve out distinct policy differences. Weiser has hit Bennet for voting to confirm Trump nominees, while Bennet has criticized Weiser for not joining state lawsuits against the first Trump administration.
“The attorney general says he’s really tough but was completely missing in action in Donald Trump’s first term,” Bennet said during a recent debate.
Weiser fired back, questioning Bennet’s record of challenging the president — while also suggesting Bennet should stay in the Senate rather than run for governor. “You’ve made some mistakes; you didn’t stand up the way you should. I know you can shape up, use your seniority,” Weiser told Bennet at a debate. “With all that experience, to throw it away, would be such a waste for Colorado.”
Because Colorado leans Democratic, the winner of Tuesday’s Democratic gubernatorial primary will be considered the favorite in the general election to succeed term-limited Gov. Jared Polis.
On the Republican side, three main candidates are competing for the gubernatorial nomination: state Rep. Scott Bottoms, described as a further-right lawmaker; state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, seen as the more traditional Republican choice; and Victor Marx, considered a wild card with an unconventional background.
In another race drawing attention, a candidate named Abby Silzell is challenging incumbent Bobbie Gross for a county clerk position previously held by a clerk who was convicted in a scheme to copy the county’s election computer system — a plan rooted in debunked claims of mass fraud in the 2020 election. Both Silzell and Gross are Republicans. Silzell told CPR News that she views the former clerk’s conviction as a “miscarriage of justice” and believes there was enough fraud in the 2020 election to “affect the outcome.”
