Colorado’s primaries present the next test for the Democratic establishment

Tuesday’s primaries in Colorado mark the next front in the establishment-versus-insurgent battle playing out within the Democratic Party, one week after major victories for candidates in New York City backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Limited time: Save 25% on NBC News subscription

Get exclusive reporting, live Q&As and ad-free reading.

Colorado’s Democratic primaries have flown more under the radar, but they feature three major contests where veteran Democrats are facing challengers who are aiming to capitalize on the party’s growing anti-Washington sentiment.

Here’s what to watch for Tuesday night as the votes come in. Polls close at 9 p.m. ET.

Entrenched Colorado Democrats face primary hurdles

The Democratic primary in Colorado’s 1st District represents the next best chance for the progressive wing of the party to pick up another win over an entrenched incumbent.

Rep. Diana DeGette, who has served in Congress for almost 30 years, is now fighting for political survival. She has sought to burnish her progressive credentials, with one recent ad touting her role as an impeachment manager during President Donald Trump’s Senate trial after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, while also emphasizing her support for “Medicare for All” and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Melot Kiros, a 29-year-old doctoral student and former lawyer who immigrated from Ethiopia as a child, has argued that the 68-year-old incumbent isn’t adequately fighting for the district. She is backed by key politicians and groups on the left, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Justice Democrats, the Democratic Socialists of America and a handful of Democratic candidates who were successful in their insurgent bids.

Israel policy has loomed large in the race. Kiros has said she was fired from her job after publishing a letter critical of how law firms were addressing protests against Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip following the 2023 Hamas attack.

Kiros was recently pressed by NBC affiliate KUSA of Denver about her comments that Hamas’ attack on Israel was “the inevitable consequence of apartheid.” She also declined to say whether a firebombing attack on demonstrators who gathered in Boulder, Colorado, to support Israeli hostages was antisemitic.

There has been a flurry of last-minute spending: Justice Democrats has spent more than $500,000 to boost Kiros, while various super PACs have spent more than $2 million to bolster DeGette, 68. It’s all a sign of how seriously both sides are taking the challenge after last week’s elections in New York.

Similar dynamics are playing out in two statewide races with longtime Colorado Democratic politicians on the ballot.

Sen. Michael Bennet has been the front-runner in the race to succeed term-limited Gov. Jared Polis, but is facing a significant challenge from Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.

The contest has grown increasingly negative, with both candidates and their allied outside groups launching attacks over who has taken a tougher approach to Trump . Whoever wins will be the heavy favorite in the blue-trending state. If Bennet wins, he will be able to appoint his own replacement to the Senate to serve out the remainder of his term.

In the Republican primary, Victor Marx, a former Marine and a ministry leader, is going up against a pair of state lawmakers: state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer and state Rep. Scott Bottoms.

Marx recently told KUSA that his abusive stepfather forced him to kill a man when he was 7 years old and that “I’ve been in other situations where, possibly, people or persons died as a result of me defending myself in other countries.” (It’s unclear whether he was referring to military service.)

Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper is running for a second, and likely final , term after flipping the Colorado seat in 2020. Hickenlooper is facing a younger, more progressive primary challenger in state Sen. Julie Gonzales. The 43-year-old is a f ormer member of the Democratic Socialists of America who has painted Hickenlooper, 74, as a product of “go-along-to-get-along politics,” and criticized him for voting for 10 of Trump’s Cabinet nominees.

Hickenlooper has vastly outraised and outspent Gonzales in the race, hitting the airwaves with ads that highlight his work in the Senate and his opposition to Trump. The senator is also no stranger to primaries from the left, having easily fended off a more liberal opponent in 2020.

State Sen. Mark Baisley, who had been running for governor, is the only Senate contender on the Republican Senate primary ballot.

Battleground showdowns

Colorado’s 8th District is the most competitive seat in Colorado this year: In 2024, Trump carried it by less than 2 points and freshman GOP Rep. Gabe Evans won it by less than 1 point.

The two major Democratic candidates are former state Rep. Shannon Bird and state Rep. Manny Rutinel. Rutinel, the top fundraiser, has leaned heavily on his family’s immigrant story in a district with a high share of Latino voters.

Rutinel is also backed by powerful labor unions and former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, a well-respected Democrat from the state.

Bird is framing herself as more of the classic moderate who can appeal to swing voters. She is endorsed by EMILY’s List and centrist Democratic groups such as New Dems, Blue Dog PAC and The Bench.

The winner of the Democratic primary will move on to what’s expected to be one of the most tightly contested House races in the country this fall. So far, only nine House races have drawn more fall ad bookings, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.

There’s not much of a primary in the Colorado Springs-area 5th District, where Republican Rep. Jeff Crank is running for a second term in a district Trump won by 9 points in 2024. Crank also has the president’s endorsement.

Democrat Jessica Killin, a veteran and former chief of staff to former Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, is looking to leverage demographic changes in the Colorado Springs population to pull off a win on red-leaning terrain in November.

Trump’s off-again, on-again endorsement

The saga around Trump’s endorsement of GOP Rep. Jeff Hurd makes the primary in Colorado’s 3rd District one to watch.

Earlier this year, Trump rescinded his endorsement when Hurd backed a resolution blocking the president’s tariffs on Canada and backed one of his opponents, Hope Scheppelman. But one month later, Trump reversed course again and re-endorsed Hurd. Scheppelman then dropped out of the race at Trump’s request and is now working at the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

Still, Hurd faces a primary challenge from former state Rep. Ron Hanks, a retired Air Force intelligence officer who has been a vocal proponent of false claims about the 2020 election and marched with Trump supporters to the Capitol building ahead of the Jan. 6 riot.

Hurd has raised more than $3 million for his re-election, dramatically more than the $42,000 Hanks has brought in. And Hurd defeated Hanks by 14 points in the 2024 primary.

The Democratic candidates in the race are Dwayne Romero, president of a construction management company, and Alex Kelloff, a businessman whose family owns a grocery store. But whoever wins will be fighting an uphill battle in a Republican-leaning district.