Last Tuesday marked a ground shift in Colorado Democratic politics.

Ever since Oct. 7, 2023, progressive Jews have been sidelined by the very party we helped to build. From the moment Israel was attacked by Hamas, before the war even started, we were alienated, ostracized and demonized by the far left of the Democratic Party. People we worked with for a decade took to the west steps of the State Capitol to chant antisemitic slogans like, “From the river to the sea,” and “Globalize the intifada,” one a call for the eradication of the Jewish state, the other a call for the murder of Jews worldwide. Last Tuesday night we showed up and we showed Democratic Jews in Colorado are here to reclaim our party.

We founded Stop Antisemitism Colorado as a counter force to the rise in antisemitism in our political discourse, primarily from the far-left flank, as it has long been commonplace on the far-right. Last week’s Democratic primary victories were a resounding rebuke of the far-left’s attempted takeover of Colorado’s governing party, and their vitriol and demonization  fracturing the Democratic party. In every race we worked, our candidates won by sizable margins.

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Democratic incumbent Reps. Elisabeth Epps and Tim Hernandez lost their primaries by wide margins, as did all but one candidate backed by Denver Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Colorado voters made it known — you can’t celebrate on the day of a terrorist attack and get away with it. You can’t hijack the people’s business for the purpose of spreading anti-Jewish hatred and get away with it. You can’t disrupt city council meetings over ceasefire resolutions or protest alongside Hamas sympathizers on college campuses and expect silence from the Jewish community. This was an emphatic rebuke of the loudest voices, whose binary thinking and hate-filled rhetoric isolates and dehumanizes Jews. No one is buying their hate cloaked in self-proclaimed “progressive values.” There is nothing progressive about marginalizing any community.

Primary elections typically favor the activist wing of the party, but these results show we flipped that traditional script. Reps. Epps and Hernandez not only alienated mainstream voters, they motivated the Jewish community to show up and make our voices heard. They can blame corporate interests and dark money all they want, but the bottom line is voters weren’t buying what they were selling. They have no one to blame but themselves. You can’t claim to care about justice and human dignity and then turn on the Jewish people, who have always stood shoulder to shoulder in the fight for equality with every progressive social movement and every other marginalized group. We will not let the fringe of our party silence us, jeopardize our safety, or shape our future.

And yet, despite the clear message at the polls, this week the Colorado Democratic Party went forward with a hugely problematic ceasefire resolution, failing to call for the unequivocal release of the American and Israeli hostages held in Gaza for more than eight months. This tone-deaf attempt to appease the fringe was met with thousands of emails from Democratic Jewish voters and allies, and ultimately a sound defeat of the resolution, 55% of the State Central Committee voted it down. Just as the Jewish community mobilized to defeat the far-left candidates stoking anti-Jewish rhetoric in last week’s primary elections, we once again organized to defeat this ill-conceived and unbalanced resolution.

Democrats were up in arms after Charlottesville, when the KKK, the Proud Boys and other fringe far-right hate groups marched in the streets with torches and swastikas. Antisemitism was on the rise under Donald Trump. But when we saw anti-Jewish behavior equally on display from Democrats and “leftists,” we felt a deafening silence from within our own party. If the Democrats are going to let the far left spin this equally destructive narrative and continue their hyperfocus on delegitimizing the state of Israel and demonizing Jews for a war waged on the other side of the world, they are going to lose. And they are going to be on the wrong side of history.

We will continue to fight tooth and nail against anyone who seeks to gain power at the expense of our safety. We refuse to sit idly by while elected officials or candidates for public office traffic in antisemitism or seek to silence us. Just as we listen when other marginalized communities speak from their lived experience, it’s time to stop dismissing the Jewish community when we say the language of far-left, anti-Israel activists is dehumanizing and dangerous.

This election was about more than just winning or losing; it was about sending a clear message: Colorado Democrats do not support the divisive and isolating tactics of the far left. We are reclaiming our place in the party, reaffirming our voices and our contributions matter. This is our party too, and we will not let it be taken over by those who seek to marginalize us.

As we move forward, we remain committed to fostering an inclusive and respectful dialogue within the Democratic Party. We will work to build connections and deepen the understanding of our history, of Jews’ systemic oppression, and the existential threats to our safety. In doing so, we can ensure our party remains a place where all voices are heard and valued. Last Tuesday was just the beginning.

Stefanie Clarke and Dawn Reinfeld are two of the co-founders of Stop Antisemitism Colorado, formed in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack to address the egregious rise in antisemitism in our political discourse.