Two Democrats are running against each other in Colorado’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate on June 30: incumbent U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooperand state Sen. Julie Gonzales.
Sen. John Hickenlooper, 74, served as Denver’s mayor from 2003 to 2011 and as governor of Colorado from 2011 to 2019. He ran for president in 2020 before switching to the U.S. Senate race, where he unseated Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner. Before entering politics, Hickenlooper was a restaurateur.
State Sen. Julie Gonzales, 43, has served as a state senator since 2019. Before entering politics, Gonzales was a community organizer and worked at an immigration law firm.
The Colorado Sun interviewed the pair to see where they stand on the economy, healthcare, immigration and other top issues.
Here are their answers.
(Note: There is no Republican primary for U.S. Senate this year in Colorado. State Sen. Mark Baisley is the de facto GOP nominee.)
Jump to a topic What changes would you make to the U.S. healthcare system if you could? A public option? Medicare for All? Would you support federal legislation capping drug prices similar to what’s been done in Colorado? Do you support raising the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour? If so, to what? Colorado’s childcare system is in crisis, families of all incomes can’t afford care and are struggling to find care. The state’s only program subsidizing care is leaving 14,000 eligible kids on waiting lists. How would you tackle this problem in Congress? Would you support a national ban on hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking? Would you support a national moratorium on new oil and gas leases on federal land? Colorado is not on track to meet its climate goals, in large part due to slow progress cleaning up emissions from the transportation sector. This is despite a historic increase in the use of electric vehicless. What policies would you pursue to reduce transportation emissions faster? How should the U.S. immigration process be reformed? Should people already living in the U.S. illegally be permitted to stay? Do you support dismantling ICE? If yes, what should replace it? Would you vote to continue the tax cuts passed by Republicans in Congress and Donald Trump when they expire, like the tax break on tips and overtime earnings up to a certain level, which expire in 2028? Do you support banning stock trading for members of Congress? Do you support banning former members of Congress from becoming lobbyists? Do you support continued U.S. military funding for Israel? If so, should there be restrictions or conditions imposed on that funding? Do you think it was a good idea for the U.S. to go to war with Iran? And how would you vote on a War Powers Resolution to end the U.S. bombing of Iran? Do you think Congress should pass a law regulating artificial intelligence, and if yes, what should those regulations be? Should the Senate filibuster be eliminated?HEALTH INSURANCE
What changes would you make to the U.S. healthcare system if you could? A public option? Medicare for All?
John Hickenlooper
Hickenlooper said he would restore healthcare to people who lost it because of changes made by Republicans in Congress and President Donald Trump. “I am in favor of a public option,” he said, adding that he also wants to pass federal legislation requiring hospitals and insurers to disclose pricing before it’s provided.
Julie Gonzales
“Medicare for All, because I believe that we need to extract the profit motive out of healthcare,” Gonzales said, adding that she thinks private health insurance should be abolished in the U.S.
DRUG PRICES
Would you support federal legislation capping drug prices similar to what’s been done in Colorado?
John Hickenlooper
“Yes, absolutely.”
Julie Gonzales
“Yes.” Gonzales was a lead sponsor of the 2021 bill creating Colorado’s prescription drug price review board.
MINIMUM WAGE
Do you support raising the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour? If so, to what?
John Hickenlooper
“I would absolutely support raising the minimum wage,” Hickenlooper said, explaining that he thinks it should be increased in stages, as Colorado has done, starting with a hike to $15 an hour. “We have a cost-of-living emergency.”
Julie Gonzales
“Yes, I believe that it is clear that the minimum wage needs to meet the moment so that American families can actually make ends meet.” As for what the minimum should be, Gonzales didn’t offer a specific number.
CHILDCARE
Colorado’s childcare system is in crisis, families of all incomes can’t afford care and are struggling to find care. The state’s only program subsidizing care is leaving 14,000 eligible kids on waiting lists. How would you tackle this problem in Congress?
John Hickenlooper
Hickenlooper said the federal government has to be a partner in expanding childcare access in Colorado. “One of the challenges we have right now is the federal government is basically trying to destroy pretty much all the institutions of government. So our first step is to make sure that we’re winning the elections and stopping the House and Senate from supporting this reckless president. … Local communities are going to want to have a lot of voice in what that childcare looks like, and they don’t want a bunch of excess regulations coming from Washington. It’s got to be a partnership.”
Julie Gonzales
Gonzales said childcare, as well as eldercare, should be universal in the U.S. and that Congress must play a role in making that happen. “My sense is that we know the models that work, we just need the leadership in the U.S. Senate who is willing to fight against the corporate lobby,” she said.
FRACKING
Would you support a national ban on hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking?
John Hickenlooper
“I don’t think it’s the solution. I think the solution we need is more wind and solar.”
Julie Gonzales
Yes.
OIL & GAS LEASES
Would you support a national moratorium on new oil and gas leases on federal land?
John Hickenlooper
“I’m not sure that’s the issue, although there are so many leases out there right now that’s something I’d be happy to entertain just because they’re not drilling all that stuff that they have.”
Julie Gonzales
Yes.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Colorado is not on track to meet its climate goals, in large part due to slow progress cleaning up emissions from the transportation sector. This is despite a historic increase in the use of electric vehicless. What policies would you pursue to reduce transportation emissions faster?
John Hickenlooper
Hickenlooper said the first step is restoring the federal electric vehicle incentives cut by Republicans in Washington and then working to improve mass transit across the country. “I think people in Colorado would jump at the chance to be able to say that they are not part of climate change,” he said.
Julie Gonzales
Gonzales said she would reinstate the federal incentives for electric vehicles that have been cut by Republicans in Congress and President Donald Trump. The next step is “working with vehicle manufacturers to ensure that we’re doing more to transition away from fossil fuels and making electric vehicles accessible and affordable for everyday Coloradans.”
IMMIGRATION PROCESS
How should the U.S. immigration process be reformed?
John Hickenlooper
“The first thing I would do is put ICE out of the picture,” Hickenlooper said. After that, he would prioritize giving permanent protections for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, recipients and give them a path to citizenship. After that, Hickenlooper said he would overhaul the guest worker system to make sure it respects the American worker but also ensures employers can get the labor they need.
Julie Gonzales
“I believe that we should abolish ICE and replace it with a system that actually works, that treats people with dignity and respect at every step of the immigration process,” she said. “Right now, there are corporations profiting at every step of the deportation process. (We should) strike out that profit motive hat rewards corporations handsomely and instead ensure that there are enough immigration judges and officials to adjudicate cases so that people aren’t waiting years, if not decades, for their cases to be reviewed.” Gonzales also said there should be a clear path to citizenship for people wanting to live in the U.S. and due process in the immigration system, including access to legal counsel for people going through the system.
IMMIGRANTS IN THE U.S.
Should people already living in the U.S. illegally be permitted to stay?
John Hickenlooper
“I think you deal with each person who’s here with respect and dignity and make sure that there’s a hearing there where they can make their case,” he said. “If people have been here for a long time and they’ve got families — I mean, there’s got to be a value system.”
Julie Gonzales
“Right now, too many families are being denied,” she said. “People have been waiting for decades for there to be a line to get into. Give them that opportunity in order to demonstrate their connection, rootedness to the United States and to their local communities in order to earn that path to citizenship.”
ICE
Do you support dismantling ICE? If yes, what should replace it?
John Hickenlooper
Yes. “ICE has become an aberration of what anybody could have ever imagined,” he said. Hickenlooper said it should probably be replaced with “an organization that makes sure we have peace and justice when we’re dealing with our borders, but it shouldn’t have anything to do with ICE.”
Julie Gonzales
Yes. “My sense is that we need a 21st century immigration system — one that is able to balance national security and public safety with also the needs of families to stay together and also the economic needs of so many industries here in Colorado.”
TAX CUTS
Would you vote to continue the tax cuts passed by Republicans in Congress and Donald Trump when they expire, like the tax break on tips and overtime earnings up to a certain level, which expire in 2028?
John Hickenlooper
Hickenlooper said he would vote to indefinitely continue the tax breaks on tips and overtime. As for the rest of the tax cuts set to expire? “My focus would be trying to make sure that we have a tax system that is more fair,” he said. “I think there’s a screaming demand to make sure we have some restoration of balance to the to our tax system.”
Julie Gonzales
“The One Big Beautiful Bill Act stripped our social safety net in order to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. Instead we need to start from start from scratch and build a tax policy that works for the majority of Americans and the majority of small businesses. There is deep need for reform to ensure that the billionaires and the corporations that they control are actually paying their fair share.”
STOCK TRADING RULES
Do you support banning stock trading for members of Congress?
John Hickenlooper
Yes. Hickenlooper is a sponsor of a bill that would do just that. He added that he and his wife are working to place their investments in a qualified blind trust from a trust. “From time to time, that trust buys or sells things without ever talking to me, and sometimes that is embarrassing,” he said.
Julie Gonzales
Yes.
LOBBYING
Do you support banning former members of Congress from becoming lobbyists?
John Hickenlooper
Yes.
Julie Gonzales
“Absolutely. I’ve been lobbied at the state Capitol by a former member of Congress. It is jarring, to say the least.”
ISRAEL FUNDING
Do you support continued U.S. military funding for Israel? If so, should there be restrictions or conditions imposed on that funding?
John Hickenlooper
Hickenlooper supported a resolution in April blocking the sale of bulldozers and unguided bombs to Israel in protest of the country’s actions in Gaza and Lebanon. “I think we’ve got to move back towards a two-state solution,” he said of Israel and Palestine. “I want to make sure that Israel can defend itself. But I’m not going to greenlight any arms shipments that escalate this unwanted war (in Iran), ultimately deepening the instability in the region.”
Julie Gonzales
“I believe that because Israel is engaged in war crimes — and I believe genocide — I would no longer support continuing to provide aid,” she said. “I would condition support to any other nation contingent on ensuring that they are respecting and abiding by human rights.”
IRAN WAR
Do you think it was a good idea for the U.S. to go to war with Iran? And how would you vote on a War Powers Resolution to end the U.S. bombing of Iran?
John Hickenlooper
“It’s the most reckless adventurism that that I could ever imagine. It’s putting our soldiers at risk. It’s creating a global unrest. It’s quite possibly going to create a significant — a giant — global recession.”
Julie Gonzales
“I think that it was a disastrous idea to begin this war that there was no justification for and clearly no plan to get out of.”
REGULATING A.I.
Do you think Congress should pass a law regulating artificial intelligence, and if yes, what should those regulations be?
John Hickenlooper
“Yes, absolutely. The risk to children is unfathomable.” Hickenlooper said the regulations should focus on protecting kids, including to make tech companies liable if their AI products harm children.
Julie Gonzales
“I’m proud that Colorado took action because Congress failed to act. We need congressional action in order to avoid a patchwork of states crafting their own policies and regulations.” Her priorities for AI regulation are preventing discrimination by the technology and making sure there is a plan for how to help workers who lose their jobs because of AI.
SENATE FILIBUSTER
Should the Senate filibuster be eliminated?
John Hickenlooper
Hickenlooper has called for changes to the filibuster rule, but hasn’t said what those changes should be.
Julie Gonzales
“I support ending the filibuster.”
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