You could hear the strain in Colorado U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper’s voice last week as he sought to assure CNN’s Jake Tapper the Democratic Party was just fine, thank you. It was even “united,” Hickenlooper claimed, in its quest to end Republican rule in Washington.

“I don’t agree with everything that’s, that, that, uh, Ms. Kiros is, is claiming and fighting for, but I believe in a big tent,” a stammering Hickenlooper told Tapper. “If the Democratic Party is really going to represent farmers and ranchers and middle class workers and be able to compete in states like Indiana and Kansas and Nebraska, we’ve got to have a big tent.”

It’s as if he actually were trying to reassure himself. His desperation was evident with his knowing nod to “Ms. Kiros.” 

The 29-year-old upstart Melat Kiros — who cruised to victory in nabbing the party’s nomination from 15-term incumbent 1st Congressional District U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette in last week’s Democratic primary — is part of the socialist shockwave that has whipsawed the party nationwide. She is said to have electrified naively enthusiastic, first-time Gen Z voters — but has unnerved the party’s mainstream.

Kiros, whose win made national news, already has left traditional Democrats reeling. Not only from her embrace of the voodoo economics of socialism — skin the rich, feed the poor and, magically, we’ll all be happy — but also with her unrelenting condemnations of Israel and her refusal to distance herself and her campaign from rabid antisemitism.

She is of course mirroring the madness now gripping her party from coast to coast. From New York’s new Mayor Zohran Mamdani to Vermont’s old socialist, Bernie Sanders, a rabble of rebels has overtaken the party and is marching to, well, they’re not sure. But Kiros is in the vanguard.

Hick’s nervous smile and pleading tone with Tapper on The Lead were a noteworthy departure for the characteristically lackadaisical junior senator. Nearly invisible during his first term in the Senate, he isn’t known for breaking a sweat in any endeavor.

Now, he was passionate. Or, was it, scared? It was as if he had been shaken by a near-death experience. In a sense, he had. 

Hickenlooper won the Democratic nomination for reelection to the Senate by a comfortable margin in Colorado’s statewide vote on June 30. But he was kicked to the curb by voters in his own overwhelmingly Democratic hometown, Denver. There, he lost to another upstart socialist, state Sen. Julie Gonzales. And on a shoestring budget, she gave the former Denver mayor and Colorado governor a run for his big money statewide, as well. So, he felt the shockwave, too.

What will Hickenlooper and all of Colorado’s other old-school Democrats do to recover their balance? How about starting with a denunciation of Kiros’ soft spot for terrorism, like Hamas, and for her wooing antisemites? Make it clear theirs is not the party of hate.

Meanwhile, Democrats are the ruling party of predominantly unaffiliated Colorado — the state’s Republicans having perennial problems of their own — even as the party’s baton is being passed to reckless rebels without a clue. 

Rest assured, Senator, these aren’t your fellow Democrats — certainly, none like you’ve ever known. They’re not even the proverbial barbarians at the gate. They’re already inside your big tent. And they’re running the three-ring circus that has displaced traditional Democratic Party concerns.

No need to grit your teeth and wince while you offer truisms about unity. Admit you have some irresponsible people who have managed to win office — and that they either have to be reined in or run out.