2026 Primary Election: Colorado Candidates for U.S. Senate

The duty of a U.S. Senator is to faithfully and judiciously advocate for the needs of ALL their constituents and especially those who are actively being marginalized and discriminated against. I will fight for policies that advance full civil rights protections, access to gender-affirming healthcare, and safety for trans people—and I will use my platform to tell the truth: MAGA extremist attacks on LGBTQ+ people are about control and scapegoating, not “protecting” anyone.

We must ensure that all Americans are protected from discrimination, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation. LGBTQ+ citizens have waited too long for these protections. Senator Hickenlooper is committed to fighting for those protections through legislation, advocacy, and communication with the public and with Senate colleagues. He has successfully pushed back against efforts to include language and policies that would have discriminated against LGBTQ+ individuals in federal legislation and will continue that fight going forward. As Governor, he signed marriage equality into law before the Supreme Court ruled on the issue and made Colorado the eighth state to do so and voted for the Respect for Marriage Act in the Senate to protect marriage equality nationwide.

I was proud to co-sponsor the Kelly Loving Act during the 2025 legislative session, and would support similar legislation at the federal level to fully protect trans individuals and other members of the LGBTQ+ community against discrimination in the areas of employment, housing, healthcare, education, and public accommodations.

Yes. Senator Hickenlooper is a cosponsor of the Equality Act, which would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations, jury service, education, access to credit, federal funding, and more. It would also add protections against sex discrimination in parts of anti-discrimination laws where these protections had not been included previously, such as public accommodations and federal funding. He has also sponsored bills on equality in taxes, allowing couples to amend past returns and remove gender-specific references to marriage in the tax code.

I support Medicare for All because it will guarantee access to high quality healthcare for everyone, regardless of their race, age, gender-identity or any other part of their identity. Fundamentally, healthcare decisions should be made by patients and their doctors, not politicians. Passing a universal healthcare policy like Medicare for All would mean ensuring access to gender-affirming care for everyone who seeks it. I have spoken firsthand with families who moved to Colorado in order to seek gender affirming care for their trans child, and would fight against any policies that seek to intervene in the patient’s decision-making process with their doctors and their families.

Senator Hickenlooper has fought for access to high quality, affordable health care for all Americans, including the LGBTQ+ community. He believes that health care decisions should be made by families, individuals, and doctors, not politicians and will continue to fight for those protections legislatively.

I co-sponsored the legislation that banned conversion therapy in 2019 and support a ban at the national level. The evidence on this issue is clear - conversion therapy is harmful and ineffective. In response to the lawsuit Chiles v. Salazar, the American Psychological Association, in addition to 13 other mental health and medical professional organizations, filed an amicus brief in support of Colorado’s law. I do not believe religious exemptions are applicable when the physical and mental wellbeing of a minor is at risk.

Senator Hickenlooper supports Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy and joined his colleagues in sending an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold the constitutionality of the ban. He supports a national ban and is a cosponsor of the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act of 2025 (S.1663), which would classify commercial conversion therapy as an unfair or deceptive practice. Conversion therapy has no scientific success and studies show the therapy poses dangerous health risks to LGBTQ youth.

The rulemaking and guidance processes of any agency should rely on evidence and science, and the process by which comments are considered and rules are made must be transparent to the public. Where corporations and dark-money groups unduly influence an agency’s rulemaking process, they should be named and held accountable. As for enforcement, I believe that when any agency, court, or legislation attempts to scapegoat LGBTQ+ people, there should be strong accountability mechanisms in place. I will lead by listening and by bringing community and subject matter experts to the table. I craft policy alongside the community, not on behalf of the community.

As the only scientist in the Senate, Senator Hickenlooper has fought against the Trump Administration’s attack on science. He has and will continue to fight to preserve funding for scientific research and to rebuild our federal workforce to ensure that decisions made by Congress and agencies are made by experts with the best available science.

I will always be an ardent defender of the First Amendment, but the pursuit of one person’s constitutional rights should not infringe upon the rights of another. Religious entities should not dictate how federal dollars are spent, because they have no jurisdiction other than their stranglehold on MAGA. Christian extremists don't get to discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community on the basis of their "religious freedom." I will fight any efforts that distort religion for bigotry.

While it is important to protect religious freedom and an individual’s right to worship and raise their families as they see fit, eligibility for federally funded services and public programs should never be based on sexual orientation and gender identity and we should never discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community in accessing these programs and funding.

Leading means listening, and as one of Colorado’s U.S. Senators I commit to always being a partner to LGBTQ+ communities and organizations across the state. As a state senator I have regularly hosted town halls, have legislated in partnership with people directly impacted by issues of injustice, have grieved alongside you in moments of crisis, and have worked to translate that pain into policy — that won’t change when I’m a US Senator.

As he has done during his time in elected office, Senator Hickenlooper will continue to regularly meet and engage with constituents, community organizations, and activists across Colorado and keep them central to his policymaking agenda.

Senator Hickenlooper has also utilized his relationships with LGBTQ+ advocates across the country to elevate a pro-equality agenda and challenge the Trump administration's attempt to silence LGBTQ+ voices. In June, Hickenlooper organized a pride performance titled “Love is Love” with Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller at the Kennedy Center in defiance of their recent cancellation of the Gay Men’s Chorus and International Pride Orchestra.