Moderate Dem could be vulnerable to a strong primary challenge in 2026 – thanks to Trump

Last week, as the U.S. Senate voted to approve President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Food and Drug Administration, Colorado’s junior senator “agonized” over what to do, he told a reporter. He voted “no,” but during a committee hearing he had previously voted in favor of nominee Martin Makary, and he “could have easily gone back and voted yes” during the floor vote, he said.

This episode helps illustrate why Hickenlooper, who is up for reelection next year, is supremely vulnerable to a primary challenge, despite the Democrat’s long record of success in Colorado politics. In the Trump era, when many left-leaning voters in blue states like Colorado are terrified of the federal government and furious about America’s transition to authoritarianism, Hickenlooper has failed to adopt the resistance spirit that the state’s left-leaning residents increasingly demand of officeholders and candidates.

In fact, he has supported Trump’s agenda more than any other Democratic senator in Washington as measured against home-state presidential vote share.

Primary candidates in the U.S. Senate race in Colorado, no matter their other qualifications, will start their campaigns with a powerful political argument against the incumbent. And that’s just one reason we should expect Hickenlooper to face a robust contest for his seat in 2026.

By the time Makary’s Senate vote arrived, it was clear that the Trump administration was embarked on an aggressive campaign to reshape the federal government as an anti-democratic, anti-constitutional operation that would strip Americans of the services and support they had come to rely on and serve only Trump’s friends and loyal oligarchs.

Many of their Colorado constituents were looking to Hickenlooper and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet to “obstruct everything,” since they viewed the entirety of the Trump agenda as so fundamentally destructive.

Within a week, Makary proved the wisdom of the obstruct-everything posture. His very first major act as Trump’s FDA commissioner was to approve the firing of the agency’s respected longtime top vaccine official, fueling fears that Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Health and Human Services Department is basing national policy on vaccine conspiracy theories.

And on Tuesday, the department began firing thousands of workers, including 2,500 under Makary’s leadership, which critics say will hurt the well-being of Americans.

But Hickenlooper had been voting to confirm odious Trump nominees since the beginning of the administration. They include Secretary of State Marco Rubio (champion of free speech-suppressing arrests of students and politically-based deportation of activists), Energy Secretary Chris Wright (a climate arsonist), and CIA director John Ratcliffe (participant in the infamous national security breach on a Signal chat who then lied to Congress about the contents of the chat).

Hickenlooper’s votes in the Senate on lower-level appointees, procedural motions and legislation have also contributed to the charge that he is failing to meet the moment.

Even when he’s back home in Colorado talking to constituents, Hickenlooper can appear oblivious to the threats that face the country. During a meeting in Aurora last month with veterans, who complained to Hickenlooper that Trump administration funding cuts and layoffs have adversely affected their health care access, the Democrat talked about his good relationship with Republican senators and suggested that as soon as they heard the vets’ stories they’d be unhappy — as if the adverse effects would be news to them despite widespread coverage of the consequences of such cuts. As if congressional Republicans in the majority had not all but ceded their power to the executive branch under Trump. As if there was any appetite among left-leaning Colorado for Hickenlooper’s collegiality with members of a party that’s effectively a personality cult.

Hickenlooper so far will face two Democratic candidates in 2026, according to Federal Election Commission records. They are Boulder university student Nichole Miner and attorney and professor Karen Breslin, who also challenged Bennet in 2022. There is still time for other Democrats to join the race and establish strong campaigns.

Hickenlooper’s misalignment with the electorate is hardly the only reason for someone to mount a primary challenge. He will be 74 years old by the time of next year’s election, and another six-year term will see him reach 80. President Joe Biden, whose apparent age-related decline forced him out of the presidential race last year only months before the election, undercut his successor’s chance to mount a convincing challenge to Trump and demonstrated in catastrophic fashion the hazards of politicians overextending their service. Many Coloradans would be grateful to Hickenlooper if he simply retired.

There’s also a basic democratic value to consider. No elected official in America — notwithstanding recent MAGA rhetoric, such as about a third term for Trump — is entitled to their office. Every elected official should be challenged at every opportunity, especially at election time, to justify their status as wielders of public power.

Politicians work for the people, and they are obliged on a routine basis to make an honest case to the people for their fitness as representatives in government.

A primary contest is the best way to get Hickenlooper to answer for his performance.

Colorado Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: info@coloradonewsline.com.