Sitting with newly minted U.S. Senate candidate Julie Gonzales, you notice only a millisecond pause between her last word and, by now, the predictable sound of her quick, left-hand finger snap. The declarative ‘pop’ is her way of punctuating a thought. 

The forty-something two-term Colorado state senator has tossed her hat into the ring against a name perhaps as well known in Colorado as any politician in the state. But Gonzales thinks John Hickenlooper is beatable and is using his recent voting record as a cudgel against him.

“In 2025, John Hickenlooper voted for ten (Trump) cabinet secretaries,” she said. *According to CBS News, Hickenlooper did vote to confirm ten Trump cabinet nominees, but also voted to deny confirmation to twelve others, including controversial Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The Colorado Senator has regularly spoken out about ICE’s often brutish and violent treatment of immigrants, suspected immigrants and even American citizens under Noem’s leadership.

Gonzales, whose family has deep roots in southern Colorado—her family has ranched in Gardner in Huerfano County for decades— was educated in both Colorado and Texas. She earned her undergraduate degree at Yale. But she says the lessons that guide her morally and politically came from family. 

In a recent sit-down interview at a north Denver coffee shop, Gonzales discussed her early life and family roots. But just as she began, a constituent approached with a ‘seasons greetings’ hug and the latest ‘chisme,’ community goings-on. When she realized Gonzales was being interviewed, there was another hug, un besito, a ‘call me’ goodbye and a promise to subscribe to the new candidate’s newsletter. Gonzales continued. 

“As a girl, I was taught ‘work hard, nothing’s going to be given to you.’” Her parents, she said, “taught me to take nothing for granted.” The lessons, she said, she applies to both her work in the legislature and to her life as a community organizer. 

Gonzales identifies as a progressive and Democratic Socialist, the same affiliation as New York’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. The pair also share a number of similar positions.

Gonzales and Mamdani agree on wanting to “fix our tax code, to ensure that the billionaires and corporations are paying their fair share so we can pay for universal health care, universal childcare and elder care.”

Immigration reform is also high on her ‘to do’ list. It is often out of control, she said. “When we see rogue ICE agents out there making all these arbitrary decisions on who gets to stay and who gets disappeared based on language or the color of our skin, that is unconstitutional and un-American,” Gonzales says, again punctuating with her signature finger snap. ICE, she says, “needs to be held to account.” 

Gonzales knows her quest can arguably be characterized as quixotic. She knows the political clock runs fast and that the primary is just six months away. Raising money on such a quick turnaround will be tough, perhaps even more daunting than running against what she calls the “incumbent protection program sponsored by the establishment.” 

“That’s fine,” she said between sips of water. “I’m going to work like hell to keep up with him. I may not outraise him, but I’ll sure as hell outwork him.” She’s already scheduled introductory visits to a number of counties where, she said, she’ll “talk directly with people and not to the corporate lobby.”

In a late summer story in the Colorado Springs Gazette, it was reported that Hickenlooper raised more than $1.5 million in the second quarter of 2025. The figure pushed his total fundraising war chest to just north of $4.7 million. 

And while cash is king in politics, there is something else at play and it buoys Gonzales’ hopes as she begins an admittedly uphill climb. 

In 2018, an unknown 28-year-old Bronx bartender shocked the political establishment by upsetting a well-financed Democrat. At the time, Joe Crowley was the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House and had been mentioned as a potential successor to Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Today Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is one of the most recognizable faces in not just the Democratic Party but in American politics. Like Gonzales, AOC, as she is known, also represents the progressive arm of the party.

Progressive politics can sometimes sound an alarm, but Gonzales says they shouldn’t. Small towns, in fact, all towns today face the same challenges as population centers. 

The veteran state politician says there are common themes uniting all Coloradans. “I’ve organized across the state on immigration rights, affordable housing and workers’ rights long before I became an elected official. I’m looking forward to reconnecting with old friends and making new ones, too.” 

Gonzales also acknowledges a theme AOC has periodically spoken about. That is the gerontocracy of Congress or ‘old White guys’ refusing to get out of the way. A PBS report on Congressional demographics showed that 20 percent of House and Senate members are 70 or older with only 6 percent under age 40. Hickenlooper is 73 and, should he win reelection, would be 80 when his six-year term is up. 

And while there is a three-decade age difference between the two candidates, Gonzales says her campaign is issue and not age oriented. “My critique of Senator Hickenlooper is not based on his age,” she said. “It’s based on his ‘go along to get along’ politics.”

In the legislature, Gonzales earned a reputation as pragmatic but not immovable. “She was reasonable and always willing to listen and even compromise,” said one former state legislator. Every year she served, Gonzales sat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, including serving as its Chair. Other committee assignments include Local Government & Housing and Appropriations. She also co-chaired the Colorado Democratic Latino Caucus. Gonzales says the job of U.S. Senator is not one for the timid, the faint of heart or for the prestige. It is to go to work every day and do whatever you can to make the lives of Coloradans better.

*This is a corrected version of this story.