July 7, 2026: Colorado Black Arts Festival marks 40 years of community; Assessing the primary

From CPR News, this is Colorado Matters. An institution on the Colorado arts scene is celebrating a major milestone. We're the Colorado celebration of African American arts and culture. What the Colorado Black Arts Festival means to the community, an artist too, as it marks its 40th anniversary. To me, it's like I carry that torch, and I need to carry that for past, present, and the future artists. Then the votes not finalized quite yet, but progressive sailed through the primary election in Colorado. We'll take stock of what it says about the state of politics here, and what's next with purplish.

Colorado definitely seemed to get swept up in this anti-incumbent, anti-Washington wave. A few exceptions, but the voter anger was pretty palpable. This is Colorado Matters on CPR News and KRCC. I'm Shandra Thomas Whitfield.

Ah, one of my favorite sounds of summer. The music stages at the Colorado Black Arts Festival in Denver. This is three-time Emmy-nominated music

This is three-time Emmy-nominated musician, producer and actor Kofi B, who's headlining on the Kuomba stage this year. This summer, the festival marks a major milestone as one of Colorado's most enduring cultural institutions, celebrating 40 years of showcasing black art, music, food, and community. As the festival returns to Denver City Park, July 10th through 12th, with the theme, Through Our Eyes, a reflection on past, present, and future. We're joined now by its executive director, Jalisa McIntosh. Thank you for being here.

Thank you for having me. From where you sit, what does this anniversary represent for the festival and for the community? That's a great question. For the festival in the community, it represents legacy. It represents preserving history. And it represents just a moment to reflect with one another, come together, celebrate in all things of our stories and experience here in Colorado and beyond. When you say our, what are you referring to? I am referring to the Black experience.

I'm referring to our community, our stories. I'm referring to our resilience, and especially what's going on right now. I'm referring to our fight. In the best way to put it in how we influence, I'm referring to just our overall vision. of how the existence in Black America and those of the African diaspora exist. How would you say the festival has evolved over these four decades? The festival has evolved over these four decades in some of the most beautiful ways, in some of the most challenging ways, all in which that have come together to really bring

what our story is today 40 years later. I think with every organization, you see a moment of growth. You see a moment of, I wouldn't necessarily say downfall, but you would see stagnant. And with that piece, what you typically then in its involvement is just the story of triumph in pulling everyone together. And this year feels even more special. Because of all of those changes, we have definitely shown what I said earlier in that resilience. You know, no matter what's going on externally and community politically, the festival has always figured out a way to still exist for the people we serve, for our artists, for our community, for our families.

And that's a beautiful thing 40 years out now. Well, give me some examples. The history from what I have learned through just the storytelling, It started off as a very small idea with a small group of artists that really felt like their stories, their artistic work was not being fairly showcased in the city of Denver at the time. It was really hard for black artists to showcase their work. And so the festival wanted to create this space for us to be authentically ourselves, present our work and share in art and music. And so in 86, that was the first year of the festival. It was started off as a beautiful year, but then I was told there was monsoon weather, and so it didn't quite go as planned.

But living to Colorado weather. But talking through that resiliency, certainly they were like, we're going to do this again, and we're going to make it even better. And then fast forward into the 90s, it was one of the largest black celebrations in the nation. You had people from all over coming in to celebrate communities between the Montbello, Park Hill, five points, all came together to celebrate and it was a big a big event I myself and my cousins were going to this festival in the 90s so talk about a full circle journey for myself and being in the role I'm in now we all went we experienced the festival it was something that you just did not want to miss it was like your family reunion I just remember every few steps you saw someone you saw someone my mom be stopping

talking to everybody and I'm just sitting there as a kid like Lord come on my daughter's getting that So, yeah, I've become that person, but I used to tag along with people, friends of mine. I'm like, oh, my gosh, are we ever going to get to their food? And it was packed. So, yes, that feeling of like, I'm walking through these crowds of just beautiful people that a lot of people don't even think Colorado has this black community here. And we do. And in that moment, it felt surreal as a kid and seeing all that beauty and all the dancing,

bringing us back to some, like our. cultural roots with the African drumming. And so I think now, and part of this theme, is really bringing that back to the forefront. As we progress and grow into the future for hopefully another 40 years, we get back to that level of community and connecting to our roots and really showcasing and highlighting the reason why we started, which was for our visual artists. Of course, none of us were at the festival. We were infants 40 years ago, right?

Yes. Well, what have been your favorite highlights? Is there like certain memories, like you remember like a musical moment or spontaneous dancing? I don't know. What's some of your favorite highlights? Well, growing up, I really enjoyed the African drumming and the African dance. I never really was exposed to that outside of television, right? And so to see it in person.

Live and Living Color, right? Yes, live in color. It was just, it was amazing. So I really love that piece. And today now, in my role as executive director, honestly, I can say when those Bill Gates open and the people start walking in, that is my favorite part of the festival. It is everyone coming in in good spirits, wanting to have a good time, celebrate, and just for a moment be wrapped in, you know, this surreal feeling of community and not really paying attention to the real world in the moment. That's my favorite part. You keep going back to this theme of community.

What role do you see this festival playing in the cultural preservation and community connection here in Colorado? I think it's an anchor. There's very few organizations that are focused on the Black experience, the African diaspora, and it's easy for it to be erased. And I think when you look at cultural organizations, the Colorado Black, Black, Arts Festival. You see Juneteenth, American West, the styles museum. We all work together to create that anchor to be able to tell our stories and hold our history here in Colorado, especially with the environment changing so quickly for us. Well, as I alluded, I have gone to the festival many

years, and I must say the music is one of my favorite parts. Who can we expect on the music stages this year? Oh, wow. We have, well, we have three stages. And so we have Coffeybee, obviously, on that Saturday, but when we're looking at locally, we have maestro. She is a local musician that plays the saxophone. She'll be on Brother Jeff's stage on Saturday.

I always look forward to the Joda Village stage where we have Samba, Colorado, performing, which will be amazing that they do. And then we'll also have not necessarily on the stage, but the Boolulu Celebration Parade is coming back to celebrate this 40th milestone. It was Perry Ayer's favorite part of the festival parade piece and bringing everyone together. So we'll have that as well this year. Jalisa McIntosh is the executive director of the Colorado Black Arts Festival, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this weekend in Denver City Park.

After the break, this year's featured artist, Keisha McAnessa, joins us to share her deeply personal journey as an artist, and she reflects on what it was like selling her first piece of art at the festival decades ago. I'm Shandra Thomas Whitfield. This is Colorado Matters from CPR News and KRCC.

This is Colorado Matters on Cipurra. PR News and KRCC. I'm Shandra Thomas Whitfield. Of course, at the center of an arts festival is the art and the artist, which in the context of the Colorado Black Arts Festival is a mix of dance, live music, spoken word, and of course, visual arts. And who better to speak on that than an artist who's experienced that impact? Featured artist Keisha Makanesa, a Denver-based mixed media artist with deep ties to the festival's longstanding impact,

is here with us today. Kisha, welcome. Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm super excited to be here today and being a part of the Colorado Black Arts Festival for many years. You look like, and you're smiling. You're so excited. Now, you've had a relationship with this festival for more than 30 years, going back to when you were a young artist. Yes, and I just remember I was young, new artists, fresh out of high school, still trying to find my voice. you know, in my artwork.

And then I was at the festival. And this time it was actually at East for some reason. We were at East. And I had a booth. I was super excited about it. I wrote sold on everything because it's kind of hard as an artist to give up your artwork because you get so attached. I sold my first piece there.

And then, you know, took a hiatus, raising my kids and family. And then I got back into my artwork. So that's kind of like my legacy of, me being a creative. My great grandmother was an artist back in 1939. And so she passed away in 72. I was born in 71. And so I'm doing it for her in the legacy. She was actually a featured artist at Museum of Modern Art back then. And so to me it's like I carry that torch and I need to carry that for past, present, and the future artists of black. artist in America. So that is, it's a heavyweight, but I'm here to do it. And, you know,

and I'm super excited to be a featured artist this year. I have three pieces that I follow through my eyes. And I just, I'm excited to, you know, I can even talk about those works. But every day, I create art. Well, Keisha, you're too good because you actually answered three of my questions before I even asked them. But that's good. That's good. You're thorough. So your work incorporates materials like fabric. wire and found objects. Yes. Help us understand your artistic process

and what you're trying to express through those layers. Yeah, like I definitely have a piece. I have a series and it's called my blackout series. And so my blackout series, I do use those materials that you mentioned, but the pieces are completely blacked out. So from a distance, my work appears simple,

but then when you get closer, you start seeing it form and tell a story. And as closer as you get, the more profound and more defined. And that's pretty much us out here in Colorado as being black, being a black artist, a creative. We're not seen unless they see us up close. You know, we kind of just fade in until you walk up and then you see us. I want to back up. You mentioned selling your first piece at the Colorado Black Arts Festival.

What do you remember about that? oh, it was so amazing. You know, everyone, you know, all the artists, you all have their tents. Again, when I mentioned, like, I wrote, sold and everything, because I didn't want to part with it. I was like, I love this piece.

I love this piece. I love the piece. And the piece that sold, I did not write, sold on it. So this gentleman comes in at the end of the festival, towards the end, and he's walking around all these other booths. He walks up to my booth and it's this vibrant, red, bright color piece. And he's like, how much? and I'm like, sorry.

I didn't write sold on it. And then it was like, $200, you know, and he's like, sold. He bought the piece, pay cash, he picked it up, he walked through. And all I just remember was, first it was like, oh, no, my piece is gone. But no, the community, all of the artists were clapping, they were cheering. They were like, you sold your first piece, congratulations. And that's how the festival is with all. amongst all of us. It's just we all support each other and we work together. We praise each other.

So that's what made me keep him back. You know, just that community, a sense of belonging and being with my fellow artists, creatives, the music, like Yelisa was saying, just being a part of, and it's three days. You know, you don't want to leave. Actually, I hate leaving because I got a pack. But, but, but, It's just my favorite time of the year. I look forward to it. And, yeah, that's selling my first piece. And now I sell many pieces and I hope to sell more. Well, Jalisa, you alluded to this earlier.

What have been the big struggles, especially as many organizations face funding challenges, largely related to the DEI pushback underway now? Yes, I think right now is the huge impact of DEI. and we have felt that quite a bit. A lot of organizations, nonprofit organizations, have felt that challenge. But it doesn't hit too hard because we look at it in community support and dollars in that front. Some of the other challenges is really just the volunteer piece of it. We're always looking for community members to support the festival and making sure we have people

that can commit. It's a lot of work for the nine months. And as we look into the future of the organization, we're certainly looking for more folks to be involved as we grow and expand our story beyond just the festival. And so really coming up with some of the, you know, the strategic planning with the organization and how we grow so that we can become that cultural, visual arts institution for the Denver community. It's a big lift per se. And so we that's just definitely some of the challenges, but DEI is definitely the bigger one. You mentioned the future. What are your big dreams and hopes for the future? You mentioned 40 more years. What's the wish list?

The wish list would be for the organization. We're the Colorado celebration of African American Arts and Culture. The Colorado Black Arts Festival is a huge part of who we are. But we really want to start to lean into this other side of the organization where we can bring year-round programming that impacts the community directly, that supports our artists directly through entrepreneurship and artist development or education and learning for our youth, and then looking at community wellness through the arts. And so that would be my big dream eventually getting to a place where not only are we just running the festival and people see us out that one time of the year, but they start to see us a little bit more throughout the year leading up to the

festival. Is there anything extra special happening for the anniversary? I would say the parade I'm looking forward to. We have two coordinators that have been working really hard to make the parade something that is big again in part of the festival. We didn't have it last year, but this year, we're bringing it back to celebrate this milestone. I'm also looking forward to the Oie O'Ginga Artists Pavilion this year. We have 32 submissions. of artists that have submitted their work to be jurored and we will display them in this pavilion as part of our festival art garden. So I'm really excited to see some of these pieces. And what's interesting is that the Black Arts Festival really works to bring to the forefront season artists,

as well as our newer artists that are up and coming, that just need that, you know, opportunity to just showcase their work, whether that's through feedback, just putting themselves, out there. And I think we provide that opportunity. So I'm looking forward to seeing some of the new artists that I think came out of nowhere. Well, Kisha, besides displaying your own work as a visual artist, what do you usually look forward to most at the festival? People. Seeing people talking to, like you mentioned, just people coming up to my booth, seeing the young artist, looking up to me or I'm looking up to them and giving out advice, just the community, the music, the other artists,

the other talented people amongst us. Sort of a synergy. The synergy. It's just so much fun. I just enjoy that. That's my favorite part. And then, you know, and I'd like to make sure that someone walks away with a piece of my work

because I like to make all prices accessible. They can get something from very little. to attire because, you know, art is for all. And you want to share that. And so make sure that everybody walks away with something. Well, that's a great point to end on. Thank you both for being here. This is exciting.

Thank you. Thank you for help. That was Jalisa McIntosh, executive director of the Colorado Black Arts Festival and featured artist Keisha Makonessa at Denver-based mixed media artists with deep ties to the festival's longstanding impact, talking about the Colorado Black Arts Festival celebrating its 40th anniversary

when it returns to Denver City Park July 10th through 12th. For more information, visit c-o-b-a-f.org. That's c-ol-b-a-f.org. We'll also put a link to the festival at cpr.org.

When I couldn't find my way, you did it, Chief. And you continue to keep on making way out of no way. As we head to break, here's gospel singer and Colorado Springs native, Stephanie Summers, the season 10 winner of the BET music competition, Sunday's best. She'll be performing at this year's festival, which starts Friday, Denver City Park. I'm Shandra Thomas Woodfield. This is Colorado Matters from CPR News and KRCC.

I'm Shandra Thomas Woodfield. The vote's not finalized quite yet, but progressive sailed through last week's primary election in Colorado. So what does this shakeup suggest about the state of politics here? Let's take stock with our politics and policy podcast, Purpleish, from CPR and the Colorado Capital News Alliance. Here's Jesse Paul from the Colorado's son, along with CPR's Caitlin Kim and Binta Berklin. The excitement building for Colorado's primary election night did not disappoint. Colorado voters delivered pretty clear results. They are tired of the status quo. I'm really interested in seeing a change from the old guard

to bring in some fresh new ideas and have candidates that are representing the interests of the community that they're going to be representing if they get elected. People are struggling out here and like ideas for change I think really resonate. Look, however you slice it, it was a great

night for anti-establishment progressive candidates, including a Democratic socialist who ousted a longtime incumbent in Denver in a race that we all know grabbed national headlines.

and that we really start talking about the future of Colorado. It is time that we turn Colorado around, and that starts tonight.

In a big election year, with all of the top statewide elected offices up for grabs. And control of Congress on the line. There was a lot riding on this primary. So what do the shake-up start? tell us about the state of politics in Colorado as we head into the general election.

I want to talk about kind of the overall election takeaways. Colorado definitely seemed to get swept up in this anti-incumbent, anti-Washington wave, a few exceptions, but the voter anger was pretty palpable. Yeah, I think the one thing you could say is if you were from Washington, D.C., If you were establishment, if you had held elected office for anywhere close to like double digits, you were not going to really survive. You were going to have a bad time. Well, let's get into those results and let the fun begin.

Let's start with one of the night's biggest upsets. This is Congressional District 1. This is Denver's congressional seat. political newcomer and Democratic socialist Malak Kiros beat out 15-term incumbent, Diana DeGette. I'm about the same age that my dad was when he came to this country. Betting on the promise, he chose Denver to be our home because he knew that this city would welcome us. And that same city just voted to send a 29-year-old recovering lawyer, barista, immigrants.

Democratic Socialists to Congress. I love the rap horns. Sound effects, Jesse. Yeah, I actually have that one on my phone. Anyways, look, I didn't feel like this was an upset. People were pretty excited about our campaign. But talking about the impact here, it's kind of hard to overstate the political earthquake

that this loss was for Diana to get. She's the dean of delegation. She's been in Congress for 30 years. She's fended off so many primary. challenges before. And now having Malaciros in this seat in Colorado's safest, I think, congressional seat means that the state will have a DSA member of Congress and a new leader for the state's progressive movement. Yeah. And Jesse did sort of build on what you were saying. Like, I remember talking to Diana DeGette at one point. She said she first voted for Pat Schroeder when she

was in high school. So that means Diana DeGette during her entire lifetime has voted for two people for Congress, Pat Trotter and herself. Diana DeGette did respond to her loss. She said this wasn't the way she wanted to go out, but she was proud of her accomplishments during her time in Congress, she congratulated Kiros and wished her the best. She also went on to say the number one job is standing up to Donald Trump and protecting democracy. I strive every day to be the quintessential legislator, passing bills of my own design and collaborating with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to make a better society for all Americans. Sadly, in our toxic political climate, there seems to be little room for that type of polyps.

anymore. And we did hear a lot of voters say they wanted generational change. They wanted more progressive ideas. I was one who thought this could be close that Diana DeGette could win. And a caveat to that was, you know, this was a three-way race. And Wanda James didn't end up making much of an impact. But that was kind of at least a question for me going into this race. All right. Well, our producers are yelling at us. So we need to describe what DSA is versus Democratic Party. So DSA, if you haven't heard about it before, is the Democratic Socialists of America. It's basically like the furthest left offshoot of the Democratic Party. Malakiros calls herself a Democratic Socialist. She was backed by the DSA branch in Denver. And she really wrote on that progressive momentum to beat out

to get, who honestly is pretty progressive herself. I am going to play devil's advocate here for a second because I know the national media and we are all talking about the DSA and what it means for the sort of the rise of it within the Democratic Party. But some of the things that Melakiros ran on are not exactly new ideas, you know, universal health care, child care, taxing the rich. I think younger voters were tired of hearing about it and actually wanted leaders who would do something about it. This is what Mele Gravas Alase, who grew up with Keros, had to say about that. I want to say that people want the same things. They want an affordable Denver.

They want to be able to live freely without, like, fear of anything happening. They want crime to be low. There are different ways to go about it for sure. So I think she's still open to having the conversation with everyone and not just kind of pushing forward with what some may consider as like the most radical opinion. I think the big policy differences we actually seen this cycle is how people feel about the Israeli government. That was a big distinction in this race. Kuros calls the deadly war in Gaza a genocide and campaigned on the fact that she does not think to get did enough to push back against Israel. Kuros's entire race was born out of this letter that she wrote when she was working at a law firm.

That letter criticized Israel that ended up getting her fired. It's what brought her back to Denver in the first place. She's refused to call the Boulder firebombing last year anti-Semitic. She's faced a lot of criticism from the Jewish community over her rhetoric. And in terms of actual Israel policy to get has been pushing for a two-state solution, while Kuros says that Israel should no longer be a Jewish-dominated state. Denver is deep blue, but do you think Kuros will shift a little bit more to the center or moderate any approach she's taking for the midterm elections? No, because she doesn't have to because, as you said, Denver is deep blue.

She ran left of Diana DeGette, and Diana DeGette was already pretty left, and won, and I don't see her changing her brand. Now, that said, the fact that she's on the ticket, especially as the Republican Party tries to stave off efforts to flip the 8th Congressional District. They're going to tie many root now to Melot Kiroz. Yeah, Republican's strategy in Colorado is now basically to tie every single Democrat in the state to Malak Kuros. We saw that happening even before the first district race was called. And some of our swing districts, you can expect to see ads and mailers and candidates talking about Kuros, even though they're running against someone very different.

Another significant upset of the evening, governor's race. we have Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser beating U.S. Senator Michael Bennett for the Democratic nomination to be Colorado's next governor. Bennett started this campaign, much higher name ID, and this was his race to lose. Totally. Bennett entered this race, as you mentioned, with a huge name ID advantage. Three statewide elections can't discount that, had a ton of endorsements from Big Nade Democrats and a boatload of money. There was a poll that Bennett's campaign put out a year ago showing him above 50% of the vote with a 30 percentage point lead. And he totally blew it. I mean, this was like a blowout win by Wiser.

It was not as close as I thought it would be. Talking to so many voters ahead of this election night, I heard from a lot of people who were undecided, but then leaning towards Wiser. Because Wiser and Bennett are very similar on policy positions. They centered campaigns on affordability. and pushing back against the Trump administration. But to the voters I spoke with, they viewed Wiser as this fighter in a way they didn't see Bennett like that. There was just not any kind of excitement for Bennett's gubernatorial campaign. And there were all kinds of questions that surrounded Bennett's decision to leave the Senate,

concern over Bennett's votes for Trump nominees, a belief, a pretty misguided one, that Wiser was more progressive in the race. And all of these things paired with that incumbent discontent. the anti-Washington, D.C. feeling in Colorado, that all really led to a really difficult night for Bennett. I think that's true. And even though Wiser is an elected official, he was seen as a newer, fresher face than someone working in Washington, D.C., who is a U.S. Senator. And also the fact that Wiser, I think, did a good job of painting Bennett as more establishment and had that very catchy slogan, keep Bennett in the Senate. And someone who doesn't follow this race as closely as the two of you, what I found interesting is that Wiser was able to sort of get this anti-establishment mantle when he's been in government for the last eight years. He's the furthest thing from anti-establishment.

And I don't think we can discount that a lot of Democratic primary voters are very concerned about what the federal government may throw at Colorado in the coming years. You know, there's already been federal funding cuts, disaster relief issues, space command. And I heard from a lot of voters that they did want to have a governor who they felt could go toe to toe to toe with the Trump administration who could really try to protect Colorado. And Wiser made that case. I'm going to pivot us all back to Congress, you know, my favorite place. Is it your favorite place? No, it's not my favorite place. I can't say what it is, but we need bleeper.

I need you to do the horn. I need the horn right now. Let's go to the eighth congressional district that covers the northern Denver suburbs going up into Weld County around Greeley. And again, we've talked about this so many times. This is the state's swingiest and newest district. In its first contest, Democrat Yadira Caraveo narrowly won. Then she narrowly lost to a Republican. Now Democrats want to flip it back to blue.

And now we know who Democratic voters in that district chose to do that. Eddie, Maddie, Maddie, Maddie, state representative Manny Rutnow beat out former state representative Shannon Bird in the Democratic primary on Tuesday in the 8th congressional district. Runell was considered the more progressive candidate in the race, but that's after he shifted a number of his policies during the primary, including on health care, student debt, oil and gas, and his supposed veganism, maybe, maybe not vegan sausage.

We had that in the story. During his campaign, this all kind of moderated. stance thing happened. And he got talked about that in the primary, but it didn't really seem to matter to voters. Routenau won by extremely sizable margin. He got support from a ton of super PACs, including one on AI with a weird Pope ad. I don't know where that came from. And now he's heading into November election against Republican U.S. rep Gabe Evans, a formidable opponent with some of these questions, I think, still outlasting about where his positions are. I think you're right, Jesse. And I was at his victory party in Commerce City.

A lot of his supporters see him as a fighter. They see him as a fresh face. They see him as someone who also looks like them. He's focused a lot on this race about his Latino background, you know, being raised by an immigrant mother, his working class roots, and that it's important for the 8th congressional district, which has a sizable Latino population to have representation. But all that said, he's newer to the district and in a place like the, you know, eighth congressional district, I think that matters.

And he's not as conservative as that district, I think, is or as swinging as this district is. Will Rutnell be successful tacking to the middle? I mean, I think we all have emails and text messages from Republicans saying he's our dream can true. Like, they're going to be focusing on him in veganism and working as an attorney for Earth justice prior. And so I'll be curious what you two think about, root now moving to this. hotly contested competitive midterm election against Gabe Evans, who is a pretty strong supporter of President Trump. So everyone calls the 8th District a, what do we call it, a swing district? But I really think it's a toss-up district, right?

Because it's like 50% Republican, 50% Democrat. Aren't that it was kind of the same thing? They're not. And here's why. Because in a swing district, you have a group of voters that swing between Democrats and Republicans. But in this district, I think that it's ultimately like a turnout game, right? So if you have 50-50, you see like a 2,500 vote and split here or there. And I think Rutnell is making a bet that he's able to win over those Republican voters.

But I just, I don't see that happening. I'm going to counter. I agree with you. But I do think there is a group that swings. And it was the Latino group that swung for Biden in 2020. It swung for Trump in 2024. And that's why I think you see both of them leaning into their heritage to try and get that swing. Because that I think will matter. I think Caraveo actually lost like 20% of the Latina vote between 2022 and 2024.

Yeah, there was a big shift in the demographics. I think for me, the difference would be if you start to see this race split from beyond like a 2,500 vote margin, which is what you saw in CD8 Part 1, CD8 Part 2. If this year, if you see a big swing one way or the other, then I think that would really prove out that theory. And look, this is going to be a trial by fire race for both Rutnell. Evans. Like, this is not going to be easy. You've got Routenell who will have to deal with the DSA stuff. You're going to have Evans who's going to have to deal with Trump, who is unpopular in Colorado and in that district, whether or not Republicans want to admit it. And both sides are going to tie the other to these anchors. The question is, how do they try and bubble up and show that they are either separate or beyond that? And I think that's going to be the trick for both of them. And I'm not sure there's an easy. half for either, to be perfectly honest.

Well, I want to shift to another race we were following and someone who bucked the anti-incumbent trend. That is John Hickenlooper running for re-election in the U.S. Senate. He faced a Democratic primary challenge from a more progressive candidate, state Senator Julie Gonzalez. John Hickenlooper did win by a pretty sizable margin, but maybe a lot closer than some people expect it. Yeah, you know, this didn't surprise me. I feel like when I was talking to voters, everyone's like, oh, yeah, I like John Hickenlooper. You know, maybe I don't know what he's doing in the Senate.

I like John Hickenlooper. He's a known quantity. I think part of the reason that Gonzalez didn't have the success that Melat Kiroz had or Phil Weiser, she got into this race late, right? Wiser got in in January 2025. Melot got in, I think, the summer of 2025. Julie got in like the end of last year. That's just not enough time to raise money and run against someone as well known as John Hickenlooper in the state. I will say the one thing I think she did do correctly that I think people might disagree with on is cutting her ties to the DSA. She had been a long-term, you know, member of that. But when she decided to run for Senate, she cut ties. And to me, that made sense because she's looking to run statewide.

And DSA is not going to run statewide in Colorado, which deep blue here maybe, but still lots of red. Yeah, I don't know if there's a DSA Sterling Ranch. No. Or Grand Junction. What about Pueblo? Yeah.

Look, I think my takeaway from this race is that you have to run a good campaign to win. And Gonzalez just didn't, whether it was getting in late, whether it was not raising enough money, whether it was not picking up enough momentum, a certain someone in my household didn't even know that John Hickenlooper was running for re-election when they opened up their ballot. Well, not name any names. My wife. And look, you saw this up and down the ballot. Bennett didn't run a good race.

He lost. Diana DeGette didn't run a good race. And she lost. It's easy to say this was just that progressive anti-incumbent wave, but I think there's some more nuance to it and that kind of bears itself out in the John Hickenlooper Gonzalez outcome.

Every race is unique and every candidate is unique. So even though we did see this trend that clearly with John Hickenlooper, it wasn't across the board. But we're going to also look at how this progressive wave did show up on other parts of the ballot and what it means for the general election and for other congressional districts in the state. That's next.

That's Perpolis, the podcast. cast about politics and policy from CPR News and the Colorado Capital News Alliance. I'm Shandra Thomas Woodfield. This is Colorado Matters from CPR News and KRCC.

You're back what Colorado Matters from CPR News and KRCC. I'm Shandra Thomas Whitfield. Today we're getting an assessment of the primary election here in Colorado and would it suggest about the future of politics in our state. Let's get back to our podcast, Purpleish, with Jesse Paul from the Colorado Sun, and CPR's Caitlin Kim and Bent to Brooklyn.

Pivoting now to Colorado's largest. congressional district geographically. This is Congressional District 3. It covers Western Colorado, Southern Colorado. I mean, everywhere from Pueblo, Grand Junction, Durango, Telluride. So a very diverse district with a lot of varied interests here. Republican incumbent Jeff Hurd faced a primary challenge. Yeah, Jeff Hurd was able to fend off a challenge from Ron Hanks.

He's a former state lawmaker who I think you both know, who sold himself as more MAGA and more loyal to Trump. Yeah, I mean, there's kind of a little backstory with Heard and Trump. President Trump unendorsed Hurd in this race. Endorsed, unendorsed. It doesn't matter. It was a challenge from the right. Do you guys see Ron Hanks appeal to Donald Trump in the final days before the election? On social media, he was telling Trump that he made a big mistake by backing Hurd and posted his cell phone number telling Trump to call him and give him his support.

But Big Ron couldn't pull it out. I think this is his third straight congressional race. loss. So we'll see if we'll be back. This is a red district. It leans red, but not long ago, Lauren Boebert narrowly won this seat. And it's kind of like a softer red district. There are pockets of deep blue. And it's not, you know, plus 30 points Republican or anything like that. This district, as you said, leans red. And I think the fact that the DCC hasn't put it on its target list indicates it's not really an possible upset territory. But I think, again, a lot

depends on the political wins this fall and the economic wins this fall. I think this is a lot tougher just given how big of a district it is. Even if Republicans have a pretty good chance of winning this seat, I think we should at least point out who the Democrats are in this race. So there was a Democratic primary in the third district as well on Tuesday. Former Aspen City Councilman Duane Romero. He beat out Armada Ski's founder Alex Kelloff, also of Aspen, the Battle of the Aspenites. Aspenites, as you remember, last cycle there was an Aspenite and the cycle before that. same person, and I'm Frisch. And so now we're going to have another Republican versus an Aspen Democrat.

Swinging over to an adjacent district, congressional district five. This includes most of El Paso County incumbent Republican Jeff Crank's seat. He did not face a primary challenge. So this is the Colorado Springs area. It's been a conservative stronghold, but with redistricting, the seat has become more compact, and also Colorado Springs has become more diverse and urban, a little bit more blue. Yeah, so this is the other Jeff in the delegation, Jeff Crank. He's going to face Democrat Jessica Killen, a veteran was chief of staff for Doug Emhoff, you know, the former second gentleman of the United States. And she beat her primary challenger fairly handily as well.

She's got a big campaign war chest. And I think now with redistricting it has become more compact and more urban, people see the possibility of flipping, especially if you have the right candidate. Yeah, I think I would describe the fifth congressional district as going from bright red blood to dried blood red, maybe something like that. Like, it's still a red district, right? I went to college in Colorado Springs. I remember when Focus on the Family was the biggest influence down there. there. So then like what chance does Killen actually have a flipping the seat, in your opinion? So I'm going to call it more of a bruised purple. Okay. It's on the Dems target list. You know,

the D-Triple C, which is the House campaign arm, is actually investing in the race. They're reserving ad time in the fall. And we've seen at least one outside group spend money on an anti-crank ad. So I think all these steps show that at least Democrats are trying to make inroads into the district so that if it's not flippable now, it could be. in the future.

Based on Colorado's primary results and some of the upsets we had, what do both of you think we've learned about the mood of the electorate in Colorado right now? They don't like the establishment. I think if you work in Washington, people kind of hate you. I will be offended by that, Jesse. I will. I'm sorry. Except for you.

Do you think, you know, we've seen a lot of national media attention around Colorado? Can we say this is a thing? This is a trend now. I think there's still going to be a spotlight on Denver just because of Malakiris. I think people are going to be watching her campaign and seeing where it goes. I do think it's a little overblown because New York City and Denver are different in a lot of ways. Denver mayor Mike Johnson is not New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. I think maybe that is, there's going to be this connecting the dots.

But I'm not sure we're connecting the dots here. here for the right reasons, at least when it comes to like Democratic socialist takeover of the Democratic Party. One thing that I found interesting, and I'm coming back to a voter I talked to who twice has voted for President Trump. He's 27, lives near Greeley, didn't vote in the primary, but does plan to vote in November and does usually vote in the general election. If you didn't know he'd voted for Trump and listened to parts of my interview with him,

he sounded like a Kuros voter. He's upset about billionaires. He's upset about not feeling like working people can get ahead, that politicians say one thing and do nothing. He's frustrated with not having good choices on either side of the aisle. So I think we're going to see a lot of commonality across the political spectrum of wanting change, different solutions. But I think this is definitely kind of a very interesting political moment. I agree. We could do an entire episode on horseshoe theory, but I think we're out of time. Jesse Paul from the Colorado Sun joining CPR's Bent to Berkland and Caitlin Kim for Purpleish,

the podcast about politics and policy from CPR News and the Colorado Capital News Alliance, which also includes KUNC News and Rocky Mountain PBS. Hear the entire episode on our website, cpr.org, or wherever you get your podcast.

Thanks for joining us today. I'm Shandra Tom with Whitfield. This is Colorado Matters from CPR News and KRC.

Thank you.