By Nolan D. McCaskill
WASHINGTON, June 30 (Reuters) – After big upsets in Democratic primaries this year in Maine and New York, incumbent Democrats in Colorado are feeling the heat.
Two Colorado incumbents are facing the same kind of progressive, anti-establishment sentiment that swept out two of their colleagues in New York, and prompted Maine’s popular governor Janet Mills to exit that state’s Senate primary after she lagged her progressive rival in fundraising.
Representative Diana DeGette, 68, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who was first elected in her Denver-based House district in 1996, faces a challenge from her left by Melat Kiros, an Ethiopia-born former New York attorney and outspoken critic of Israel.
Senator John Hickenlooper, 74, a former Colorado governor and Denver mayor, is facing an unexpectedly robust challenge from state Senator Julie Gonzales, a labor organizer whose platform includes an arms embargo on Israel and reining in Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Should either incumbent be defeated on Tuesday, it would amplify the message that the Democratic Party may be shifting to the left.
The results in New York and Maine, and the competitive races in Colorado, suggest that Democratic voters are seeking to disrupt the status quo with a new generation of candidates who reject corporate PAC money, stake out a tougher position on Israel, and present themselves as fighters for the working class.
“The energy in our party is with bold progressives willing to stand up against foreign wars, ICE and the billionaire class,” said U.S. Representative Ro Khanna, a progressive California Democrat and potential 2028 presidential candidate. “The insurgent candidates are tapping into this sentiment, and win or lose, they are pointing the direction for our party.”
New York is solidly Democratic, while Maine and Colorado have tended to favor Democrats in recent years in statewide and national elections. Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris won Colorado by 11 percentage points in 2024.
But the progressive challengers have given Republicans what they think will be more vulnerable targets in the general election. After three candidates associated with the Democratic Socialists of America and backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani won their primaries, Republicans have called them radical while President Trump said they were communists.
The strength of progressive challengers will also face a test in Colorado’s eighth congressional district, one of the swing districts that could help determine control of Congress, where a progressive and a more moderate candidate are vying to take on the Republican incumbent.
HICKENLOOPER, DEGETTE FACE CHALLENGES FROM LEFT
The opponents of DeGette and Hickenlooper are facing longer odds than their peers who prevailed in New York and Maine. Hickenlooper has raised nearly $10 million for his race compared with Gonzales’ $870,000, although she has received endorsements from labor unions and progressive organizations.
A poll released this month by Colorado Community Research found Hickenlooper leading by 7 percentage points with a quarter of voters undecided. That is a significantly smaller margin than in a February survey sponsored by the Working Families Party PAC that showed Hickenlooper with a 32-point lead.
DeGette has raised $1.4 million, compared with $660,000 for Kiros, a 29-year-old doctoral student at the University of Denver who was endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders.
Both DeGette and Kiros support the Medicare for All public health proposal and abolishing ICE, although they have different views on Israel. Kiros has called for ending wars, including by stopping military aid to Israel, while DeGette has said she supports sending only defensive weapons to Israel.
A poll sponsored by a pair of Democratic super PACs has Kiros leading DeGette by 5 percentage points, with 18% undecided.
The Denver-area congressional district is a safely Democratic seat.
BIG MONEY BATTLE TO REPLACE POLIS
In Colorado’s Democratic primary for governor, U.S. Senator Michael Bennet is running against state Attorney General Phil Weiser to succeed term-limited Governor Jared Polis.
Weiser has outraised Bennet by nearly $2 million and outspent him by $1 million. Both are positioning themselves as the best candidate to defend Colorado from President Donald Trump.
In the Senate, Bennet has opposed the president’s tariffs and federal efforts to sell the state’s public lands, while defending vaccine access. Weiser has fought the Trump administration in court over issues such as the freezing of federal funds and an attempt to end birthright citizenship.
In four polls released this month, Bennet and Weiser each led in two, by 6 to 9 percentage points.
BATTLEGROUND IN LATINO DISTRICT
Another Colorado race garnering attention in Tuesday’s primary is in the battleground eighth congressional district, which includes Denver suburbs and rural areas to the north.
Progressive state Representative Manny Rutinel and moderate former state Representative Shannon Bird are competing for the chance to take on well-funded Republican Representative Gabe Evans, who ousted Democrat Yadira Caraveo by less than 1 percentage point in 2024. Trump won the district by less than 2 percentage points in 2024 and Evans will enter the general election phase of the campaign with $3.4 million on hand.
Rutinel has nearly doubled Bird’s fundraising, bringing in $4.1 million. He reported $910,000 in the bank as of June 10, significantly behind Evans but well ahead of Bird’s $291,000. Immigration has been a key campaign issue in the heavily Latino district.
A poll sponsored by Latino Victory Fund has Rutinel up 13 points over Bird. A Rutinel victory would reignite questions within the Democratic Party about whether progressive candidates can win in competitive districts. Democrats need to net three seats to win control of the House in November’s midterm elections.
The district was rated a toss-up heading into Tuesday’s primary.
(Reporting by Nolan D. McCaskill; Editing by Michael Learmonth and Edmund Klamann)
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