Forgot Your Password?

New to The Nation? Subscribe

Print subscriber? Activate your online access

.nation-small__b{fill:#fff;}

Colorado voters continue the left rebellion in Democratic primaries.

Democratic House candidate Melat Kiros at the Denver victory rally for her upset primary victory

Michael Bennet, who’d been appointed to the US Senate in 2009, then easily won two reelection races as well as a reputation for working across the aisle, had declared early last year that he could do a lot more in Colorado than in Washington, DC, and so entered the Democratic race for governor. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, the former dean of the University of Colorado Law School who was finishing up his second term, had already announced that he was going for the governor’s office occupied by the term-limited Democratic incumbent Jared Polis. But Bennet had the name and the money, and seemed to have the edge.

That was then. Pushing the dozens of lawsuits Weiser had filed since Donald Trump returned to the White House, his campaign began picking up steam early this year, and just kept moving faster. There wasn’t much difference between the platforms of the two candidates—but Bennet was tagged as a member of the establishment, with Weiser the comparative outsider. And when the first election results came into the Bennet campaign party at the resurrected Schoolyard Beer Garden in Denver, it was clear that Colorado’s Democratic establishment was about to get schooled. Within the hour, the race was called for Weiser. Bennet will be going back to the Senate.

After that, the lessons kept coming. Bennet had served as chief of staff for John Hickenlooper when he was mayor of Denver, before the quirky moderate Hickenlooper moved on to the governor’s office and then the US Senate. It looked like Hickenlooper had his second term locked when state Senator Julie Gonzales got in the race last December, positioning herself as a progressive alternative to a politician who’s always considered himself anything but a member of the establishment.

Colorado has long prided itself on being independent, willing to put place over party. Almost 60 years ago, this state was the first to legalize abortion, and Coloradans turned down the Winter Olympics a few years later, citing concerns over what the event would do to the environment—and who would wind up paying the price for hosting the Games. More than half of the state’s voters are unaffiliated, although they’re allowed to vote in the primary (most chose the Democratic ballot this round). Under these conditions, politicians often play well as mavericks. But this year Hickenlooper, like Bennet, found himself pushed into the establishment corner. So during........

© The Nation