U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper defeated progressive challenger state Sen. Julie Gonzales Tuesday in Colorado’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary, notching a win for one of the state’s most enduring politicians on a night when voters appeared to be fed up with establishment incumbents.

The Associated Press called the race for Hickenlooper at about 7:30 p.m., when he had secured 57% of the vote and Gonzales had 43%.

Hickenlooper, the 74-year-old former two-term governor and Denver mayor, is seeking a second six-year term amid hopes among some Democratic strategists that the party can flip enough seats to take the majority in the Senate in the fall midterms.

He faced a challenge from the left — from Gonzales, 43, a longtime community organizer once aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America, who represents a district in North Denver.

She faced an uphill battle attempting to dislodge one of Colorado’s most popular elected officials. If campaign spending is any guide, Hickenlooper was poised to run away with the nomination, having raised and spent more than 10 times as much as his primary opponent. The incumbent was on the air with ads in heavy rotation touting his record on public lands and health care for over a month, while Gonzales had to rely on modest spending by outside groups to push her message.

Hickenlooper will square off against state Sen. Mark Baisley, a Woodland Park Republican, in the general election. Through the pre-primary fundraising period that ended in early June, Hickenlooper reported having more than 200 times as much cash on hand as Baisley.

The seat is considered to be safely in Democratic hands by national election forecasters, who noted that Democrats have carried every statewide race in Colorado since 2018 and hold wide majorities in the legislature.

Hickenlooper won the seat following a short-lived 2020 presidential campaign, defeating U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, the last Republican to win a major statewide election in Colorado.

Declaring that Colorado “needs a fighter, not a bystander,” Gonzales took aim at Hickenlooper’s avuncular manner — before entering politics, he opened the state’s first brewpub since Prohibition and refers to himself sometimes as a retired barkeep — while calling for a more aggressive response to economic and civil rights issues.

“Sen. Hickenlooper is a nice man, but his go-along-get-along politics haven’t delivered affordability, accountability or protection for Coloradans who are threatened by the Trump nominees that he voted to confirm,” Gonzales said.

Hickenlooper countered that his methods are successful, pointing to his record blocking the Trump administration from selling public lands and an effort by Democratic lawmakers to overhaul U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.