By Faygie Holt, IJN Contributing Writer
Echoing recent Democratic Party primaries nationwide, when Colorado Democrats vote in the June 30 primary they will choose between two incumbents with different positions on Israel: Sen. John Hickenlooper, who has the endorsements of the Jewish Democratic Council of America and J Street; and State Sen. Julie Gonzales, who has said Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza as it fights Hamas.
Both candidates met the threshold needed to be on the Democratic Party ticket, with Gonzales winning the Democratic Assembly vote in March, which indicates a show of support from party insiders, and Hickenlooper earning his slot through petition, earning the signatures of thousands of Democratic voters state-wide.
“Name recognition and fundraising often matter more in the actual June election, especially with less ideological primary voters,” says Kyle Saunders, a professor of political science at Colorado State University.
“Well-resourced and incumbent candidates have repeatedly overcome assembly disadvantages.”
In that arena, Hickenlooper is well ahead of his opponent.
According to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks political funding, as of March 31, the most recent report available, Hickenlooper had raised more than $6.7 million toward the 2026 election cycle and has still has more than $4 million on hand.
Gonzales has raised just under $440,000, with some $115,000 on hand.
“We’ll see how the election turns out,” said one Jewish Democrat, “but primary voters tend to skew toward party faithful, and the party faithful are not with Israel.”
This was stressed earlier this year, when the official 2026 Colorado Democratic party platform adopted in March included criticism of Israel and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, AIPAC.
The platform laid out the party’s opposition to “genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid . . . ,” saying “this includes, but is not limited to, the extremist Israeli government’s genocide in Gaza, as well as genocide in Myanmar, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), China and Ukraine.”
The party platform singled out AIPAC, calling on national lawmakers to “expand and strengthen the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) to ensure consistent enforcement, requiring all organizations, including, but not limited to, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), to register when advocating for foreign government interests.”
These changes reflect the views of new, younger party members, similar to those who helped ensure Gonzales’s win of more than 30% the Democratic Party assembly vote.
Gonzales has garnered the endorsement from groups such as the Colorado AFL-CIO; SEIU (Service Employees International Union) Local 105; Our Revolution, founded by Sen. Bernie Sanders to bring in progressive candidates; and “Track AIPAC/Citizens Against AIPAC Corruption.”
“She’s riding on anti-Israel sentiment,” says a Jewish Democrat, who believes that videos which Gonzales’ has put out, including those accusing Israel of “genocide,” are “stoking hatred of Jews.”
On her campaign webpage, under the banner of “Freedom to Thrive,” which deals with “real decision-making power over your health care, your body, your vote and your future,”
Gonzales pledges to “support the right to self-determination for all people, including in Gaza and across the world.”
When outlining her plans to help with affordability, Gonzales references fighting for Medicaid for all and a need to “supercharge” home building.
Added to that list is the need to “End war profiteering and support arms embargoes for all oppressive regimes, including Israel.”
Last month, the US Senate defeated measures introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) aimed at stopping weapons sales to Israel. In his response to the vote, Sanders noted that “more than 80% of the Democratic caucus stood with the American people and voted to block US military aid to Netanyahu and his horrific, illegal wars.” Among those caucus members was Hickenlooper, who voted in support of the measures.
What is going on in Colorado echoes the fight among Democrats nationwide as a far-left contingent seeks to reimagine the party. In New York, for example, this helped propel Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani to mayor of the city with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel.
Last month in New Jersey, Analilia Meija, a progressive Democrat who, like Gonzales, believes Israel has committed genocide in its fight against Hamas, won a special election to the US Senate, replacing Mikie Sherrill, now the governor of New Jersey.
New York and New Jersey are among a handful of states with closed primaries, meaning only members of a party can vote in the primary. By the time independents can finally opine in the voting booth, the die has already been cast by the party faithful.
This is not the case in Colorado, which has been an open-primary state since 2016 allowing independents, who make up half of the statewide electorate, to vote in either the Democratic or Republican primary.
“If independents vote in Colorado’s Democratic primary, then there’s a chance Hickenlooper wins,” says a local Democrat.
“It will all come down to who is more organized.”
It also depends on who shows up to the voting booth on primary day.
As Prof. Saunders of CSU explains, “Primary turnout still runs low overall, though, typically 20-25% of eligible voters in non-presidential years, versus 60% or more in general elections.
“Unaffiliateds also turn out, [but] at meaningfully lower rates than strong partisans, so their primary influence is real but diluted.”
“Hickenlooper’s advantages are conventional but durable,” said Saunders. “Incumbency gives him statewide name recognition and a fundraising edge that Gonzales hasn’t been able to match. Gonzales, for her part, has consolidated progressive enthusiasm and is performing notably better in informed-ballot polling, where head-to-head numbers improve once respondents hear about her record on affordability and corporate accountability.
“That suggests her ceiling could rise with voter attention, but it is not an easy thing to garner.
“Still, in a low-turnout primary, the structural advantages favor the better-known and better-resourced incumbent,” he continued, adding “I would put Hickenlooper’s odds in the 4:1 (80+%) range at this point.
“For Gonzales to pull off the upset, she’d need exceptional mobilization of younger voters and the progressive base, plus enough earned media to close the recognition gap with the rest of the unaffiliated and rank-and-file Democratic primary electorate.”
Nonetheless, the fact that Gonzales has the support of some Democratic leaders worries Jewish communal advocates with one telling the Intermountain Jewish News, “I would be really shocked if she won, but the fact that she has traction and supporters within the mainstream Democratic Party is concerning.”
