Andrés Carrera is running for the Democratic nomination for Colorado’s 34th Senate District in the 2026 primaries.
Colorado’s 34th state Senate District covers downtown Denver, spanning about 26 miles and containing about 166,000 people, according to the Colorado Census.
The district is currently represented by state Sen. Julie Gonzales, who has held the seat since 2019. Gonzales announced in December her bid to challenge U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper. The seat has been held by a Democrat for a little over a decade.
Also running in this primary are Graciela Irlando Garcia and Michael Guzman.
Who is Andrés Carrera?
Carrera, 33, has been involved in Colorado politics since 2009, when he interned at Sen. Michael Bennet's office. Since then, Carrera has worked for Gov. Jared Polis and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston.
Carrera’s family came to the U.S. from Mexico, something Carrera speaks proudly about. He said he believes heavily in the American dream.
“My family came over to this country with little more than $50 in their pocket and an incredible work ethic. And they used that to start small businesses, to work with janitors, and eventually, my parents were the first ones to go off to college. My mother became an attorney all because the system that we had built back then rewarded hard work,” Carrera said. “I feel a special responsibility to make sure that that promise is kept alive because I'm a direct beneficiary of it.”
Carrera listed “fairness” as his main running point and said he would focus on meeting people where they’re at to become homeowners.
“I'd like to say screw affordability, this is about fairness. It's not fair that college graduates can't buy a home,” he said. “It's not fair that people who work two jobs can barely pay for groceries. It's not fair that childcare costs $2,000 a month.”
He said he wouldn’t be in favor of publicly owned grocery stores, but would push for publicly funded grocery stores, which would operate more like a nonprofit than a regular grocery store like King Soopers.
What’s his experience?
Carrera went to Colorado State University for international studies and was most recently the political director for Johnston. Before that, he was the deputy director of community engagement for Polis and the Denver metro regional director for Hickenlooper.
He said that he currently has over 130 endorsements from different community leaders, including, “the four former mayors of Denver who are still alive”: Michael Hancock, Hickenlooper, Wellington Webb and Federico Peña. He also said he has received endorsements from figureheads in the Latino community, including Polly Bacca, the first Latina state senator and state representative.
According to his LinkedIn, he also lived in China teaching English for four years. Carrera is trilingual in English, Spanish and Chinese.
Carrera’s take on the state and national Democratic party
“I think the Colorado Democratic Party right now is in incredible hands. I am very, very satisfied with the leadership at the CDP,” Carrera said. “I think that, and it's not just opinion so much as the fact, that we were a blue island in a red wave not too long ago, and that doesn't happen by accident. You need some really seasoned hands steering the ship and making sure that we're putting up really good numbers.”
However, when it comes to the national party, Carrera’s opinion is the exact opposite.
He said they’re “about as fierce as a chocolate eclair,” adding that he feels like the party is toothless in fighting against the Trump administration.
“There's this huge conversation right now about the direction that the Democratic Party should go. I think more important than anything, it just needs to get some teeth to it. It needs some fight in it,” he said.
He said the conversation about whether the Democratic Party should be more moderate or progressive is very important. But while they’re figuring it out, Carrera said the national party needs to “grow a pair and start fighting for its values at least half as hard as the Republicans do. That's what I would like to see is the National Democratic Party that fights for its values and stops bringing a knife to a gunfight.”
Where to find more information
His campaign: Carrera has a website, an Instagram and an X account. All can be found here.
