Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) defeated a progressive challenger in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for Senate in Colorado, easing his path to a second term.
Hickenlooper, a former governor and Denver mayor, continued an unbroken winning streak in Colorado politics, receiving 57.3% of the vote when the Associated Press called the race shortly after 9:36 p.m. His competitor, state Sen. Julie Gonzales, received 42.7%.
Polling ahead of the primary showed Hickenlooper with a narrower-than-expected lead, but he was still regarded as the heavy favorite heading into Tuesday, and his campaign strategy reflected that front-runner status. Hickenlooper declined to debate Gonzales and generally focused on his own record in TV advertising.
Gonzales, an immigration activist and former member of the Democratic Socialists of America, attempted to make the race a referendum on Hickenlooper’s willingness to cross the aisle, including in the Trump era, but she was limited by relatively meager fundraising and Hickenlooper’s high name ID in the state.
Their race took place alongside a more competitive primary for governor featuring Colorado’s other senator, Michael Bennet (D-CO), and state Attorney General Phil Weiser.
Hickenlooper must still face GOP state Sen. Mark Baisley in the general election this fall. Colorado has not elected a Republican to statewide office in a decade, and the nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the Senate seat as “solidly Democratic.”
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Should he win in November, the 74-year-old Hickenlooper has promised he will retire at the end of his second term in the Senate.
His first Senate primary, in 2020, also featured a progressive challenger, former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff. Hickenlooper won the nomination and ultimately defeated Sen. Cory Gardner, the last Republican to hold one of Colorado’s Senate seats.