Julie Gonzales Wants to Be Colorado’s First U.S. Senadora — and She’s Not Asking for Party Permission

Julie Gonzales isn’t one to shy away from a challenge.

When the progressive state senator first weighed running for the United States Senate, she says fellow Democrats discouraged her. Gonzales planned to challenge incumbent U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper — a Democratic fixture who previously served as the governor of Colorado, the mayor of Denver and, briefly, a 2020 presidential candidate.

Aim lower, young lady, she recalls the gist of their advice. Set your sights elsewhere. She didn’t listen.

“I didn’t ask for permission to run for the U.S. Senate,” Gonzales says. “There is a real frustration in our party against the Democrats seeking to manage primaries from the top instead of trusting our voters. It’s time that Coloradans have a clear choice.”

Gonzales launched her 2026 primary campaign against Hickenlooper today, December 8. She is the most prominent challenger in the race so far, joining Democrats Karen Breslin (a University of Colorado political science professor), Brashad Hasley (a Navy veteran and software engineer) and A.J. Zimpfer (an accountant from Lakewood).

If elected, Gonzales would be the first woman to ever represent Colorado in the U.S. Senate and just the second Latina nationwide to ever serve in the chamber.

“This political moment asks the question: What type of leader do we want to send to Washington, D.C.?” Gonzales ponders. “Colorado has the opportunity to lead the way for the country by electing a proven and battle-tested champion for the folks who often are either tokenized or completely forgotten: working people, immigrants, young people and women.”

But she’s not just in it to make history. Gonzales says she’s seeking the Senate seat because she wants Hickenlooper out of it.

Gonzales calls her opponent’s support of the nominees “fundamentally disqualifying.”

“Senator Hickenlooper voted for the [agriculture] secretary who’s now playing games with SNAP benefits for Coloradans and for Americans across the country. That, to me, is unconscionable,” Gonzales says. “Trump is turning the federal government into a corruption-laden piggy bank for billionaires and political insiders. And too many Democrats concede and vote for those very nominees, who then sell out the American people.”

“This is really a question about approach,” Gonzales says. “The choice is clear here: You either get six more years of poll-tested, go-along-to-get-along politics and concessions to Trump, or you get a senadora who’s going to fight for working families, immigrants, union members, farmers and ranchers, and the next generations.”

Gonzales says she first considered running for the U.S. Senate after the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July. The controversial GOP bill provides trillions of dollars in tax cuts that disproportionately benefit wealthy households, while it scales back safety net programs for low-income individuals, like Medicaid and SNAP. It was opposed by all Democrats in Congress, including Hickenlooper.

But Gonzales says the November election was the true tipping point, convincing her to throw her hat into the race. Local elections saw progressives take control of the previously conservative Aurora City Council and union-backed candidates sweep school board races throughout the state. On a national stage, Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani beat out former New York governor Andrew Cuomo for mayor of New York City.

“Coloradans and Democrats across the board are sick and tired of these merry-go-round politics,” Gonzales says.

However, being a self-proclaimed “extreme moderate” has worked for Hickenlooper thus far.

Hickenlooper served eight years each as mayor of Denver and governor of Colorado. During his 2020 U.S. Senate run, he won the Democratic primary with 59 percent of the votes. Hickenlooper then went on to defeat Republican incumbent Cory Gardner in the general election with 53.5 percent of the votes, flipping the Senate seat for Democrats.

In addition to his incumbency advantage and name recognition, Hickenlooper has over $3.6 million cash on hand for his re-election campaign, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

Gonzales is undeterred.

“I’ll outwork him, day in and day out,” she says. “I look forward to winning the battle ahead.”

She spent the following twelve years working as a community organizer for the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, Reform Immigration for America, Padres y Jóvenes Unidos and the Front Range Economic Strategy Center, among other groups.

When Trump won the 2016 presidential election, Gonzales was serving as the policy director of the Meyer Law Office. She quickly became a leading local voice in the national debate over immigration enforcement. Though she hadn’t planned to enter electoral politics, Gonzales “realized that you need people inside the halls of power to run the policies that the community is calling for,” she told Westword in 2021.

“I’m sick and tired of being told, ‘Wait your turn, things will be better soon, you just have to wait until the next election,'” Gonzales says. “And if I’m sick and tired of that, I’m sure that Coloradans across the state are, too. I don’t care whether you have an R, a U or a D behind your name. Coloradans are hungry and eager for a candidate who reflects their values and reflects their lived experience.”

Gonzales dominated the three-way Democratic primary for Denver’s Senate District 34 in 2018, winning with nearly 15,000 votes while her opponents got around 4,000 each. She won the general election over her Republican opponent, 54,000 votes to 11,000. In 2022, she was unopposed in the primary and the general election.

Gonzales has since solidified her role as a progressive lawmaker in the Colorado Capitol.

She successfully led state legislation to repeal the death penalty, codify the right to abortion, establish statewide air toxin monitoring and standards, and restrict local government and law enforcement cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She currently serves as chair of the Judiciary Committee, vice chair of the Local Government & Housing Committee, and co-chair of the Colorado Democratic Latino Caucus.

“Policy is my love language,” Gonzales says. “I have a long track record of championing issues and ensuring that Colorado is a leader on reproductive freedom, on immigrant rights, on building worker power. Those are the policies that I would seek to champion in Washington, D.C.”

If elected to the U.S. Senate, Gonzales says her top priorities would include pushing for economic and tax reforms that benefit the working class.

“Colorado was built by working people, and we deserve a government that finally works for us and lets us control our own lives,” Gonzales says. “Coloradans shouldn’t have to settle for crumbs. …We can actually have an economic system that works for everyday people if we fight for those policies. If we can fund ICE and defense contractors, we, too, can fund housing and health care.”

Gonzales is term-limited in the Colorado Senate, with her current term ending at the end of 2026.

The Democratic Party’s primary election will be held on June 30, 2026. The winner will go on to the general election on November 3, 2026.

There are currently two Republican candidates fighting to face the Democratic nominee: former State Representative Janak Joshi and Marine Corps veteran George Markert. One independent candidate, bus driver Matthew Wood, also filed to run for the seat.