The war between Hamas and Israel, some 7,000 miles away, is scrambling Colorado’s political climate, particularly among Democrats, whose members are sharply divided over the conflict that has raged on for nearly two years.

That divide has been reverberating from the state Capitol down to city council hearings.

One strategist described what’s happening in the Democratic party as a lot of “soul searching,” even as another strategist decried what he described as antisemitic tendencies under the cloak of labeling someone as a “Zionist.”

Notably, two Democrats, who were particularly outspoken in their pro-Palestinian views, both lost their primary elections last year.

Dick Wadhams, a Republican political strategist who worked on the campaigns of former Gov. Bill Owens and U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota, said their behavior drove away a significant portion of their Democratic base.

“They had gone way too far to the left, not only being pro-Palestine — which, by the way, there’s a legitimate concern about the Palestinian people, I think everybody agrees with that — but it had evolved into antisemitism and pro-Hamas,” Wadhams told Colorado Politics. “I think that it finally caught up with those two.”

Wadhams was referring to former legislators Elisabeth Epps and Tim Hernandez, who represented Democratic strongholds in Denver before their ouster.

Hernandez had joined a pro-Palestinian protest shortly after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, which killed 1,200 people and took hostage some 250 individuals. In a video, Hernandez was repeatedly asked to condemn Hamas and refused to do so explicitly. Instead, Hernandez said he condemns “any form of colonial violence perpetuated upon any group of people.”

Hernandez later released a video condemning Hamas and apologizing for “any harm caused to many in the Jewish community.”

Epps, meanwhile, disrupted House proceedings during a special session in November 2023, when she shouted, “Free Palestine!” That prompted Rep. Ron Weinberg, R-Loveland, who is Jewish, to head for the House podium. However, before he could speak, Epps went up to the House gallery to join a group of pro-Palestinian protesters, who shouted at legislators, waved flags, and shut down proceedings.

Later that day, former Rep. David Ortiz, D-Littleton, called Epps’ actions “embarrassing” in a post on X.

“Some people are here to do work… others are here to put on a performance & act like petulant children,” he wrote.

Wadhams said he believes a lot of “soul-searching” is occurring within the Democratic Party and that moderates are trying to distance themselves from progressives. The latter, he said, are “pro-Hamas.”

“I know they will deny it, but that’s how it comes across,” he said.

Another pivotal moment

On June 1, just outside the Boulder County Courthouse on Boulder’s Pearl Street, Egyptian national Mohamed Sabry Soliman threw two Molotov cocktails at a group called Run for Their Lives, whose members seek to spread awareness of Israeli hostages still in the hands of Hamas.

The attack injured at least 15 people, including a Holocaust survivor and a dog.

Wadhams viewed the attack as another pivotal moment for Colorado’s political landscape.

“The significant movement since the attack in Boulder is that I think some of these Democratic elected officials, I think, have realized that antisemitism is very dangerous and they need to temper their enthusiasm for terrorist thugs like Hamas and tone down that antisemitism,” he said.

A Democratic strategist, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity to share his views freely, said he identifies with the progressive wing of the Democratic party but struggles with its position on the Israel-Hamas war as a Jewish person and a Zionist.

Broadly speaking, Zionism refers to a movement to create and support the establishment of a Jewish state in Israel.

The strategist noted that several Jewish progressives, including Rep. Steven Woodrow of Denver and RTD board member Chris Nicholson, lost support from some left-leaning organizations during the 2024 election due to being Zionists.

The strategist said he believes that calling someone a Zionist has now become a socially acceptable way to be antisemitic.

Like Wadhams, he also believes Epps and Hernandez’s behavior, in particular, played a significant role in their unseating.

However, unlike Wadhams, the Democrat strategist attributed their primary electoral defeat to their actions, rather than their beliefs, noting that Sen. Jodeh, who has family members who are directly affected by the war, has retained the support of both the Palestinian and Jewish communities and was elected from the House to the Senate.

Jodeh, the strategist, noted has no record of “inflammatory” behavior.

A shift in the political landscape

Wadhams noted another change since the Boulder attack.

Rep. Anthony Hartsook, R-Parker, released a statement “strongly condemning” Rep. Junie Joseph, a Boulder Democrat, for attending a private reception for Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar. Hartsook described Omar as a “notorious antisemite.”

Joseph told Colorado Politics she attended the event as “an ambassador for Boulder” out of respect for Omar.

“I firmly believe that bridging divides requires honest engagement and continued dialogue,” she said. “Avoiding one another leads only to more misunderstanding and pain. To be clear, attending a fundraiser for Rep. Omar — who has long been a voice for marginalized communities — does not conflict with my condemnation of an attack on a group in our community. Supporting human rights and expressing grief and solidarity in the face of violence are not mutually exclusive.”

Noting the criticism Joseph received, Wadhams remarked, “I think the landscape has changed on this issue.”

“National and international events were driving it, but I think the local tragedy in Boulder really drove it home,” he said.

An international conflict, a local rift

Mark Wallach, one of nine members of the Boulder City Council, said the Israel-Hamas war has had a profound impact on community members from all backgrounds. In an opinion piece for Boulder Reporting Lab, he called the atmosphere in Boulder surrounding the war “toxic.”

For several months, pro-Palestinian activists attended open comment sessions, interrupting council business to the point that meetings were temporarily moved online. Public comment was suspended for the first council meeting following the June 1 attack, in part because the city’s Police Department stated that its officers were too exhausted to provide adequate reinforcement, if necessary.

According to Wallach, the activists want the City Council to introduce a “cease-fire” resolution. Members voted 7-2 against doing so, with the majority stating that they do not feel it fits within the scope of their business as a municipality.

“It’s not that individually we don’t have opinions on the war, it’s that it’s not in our lane and we don’t do that,” Wallach said. “We’re there to fix the roads and deal with issues of that kind.”

According to Wallach, he and several other Jewish councilmembers have been called names by some protesters, which he described as having “gotten more and more insulting” — to the point of being labeled “Nazis.”

It was around that point that councilmembers decided to suspend public comment.

“A lot of people stopped coming because they felt unsafe,” Wallach said of the more recent open meetings. “The last few meetings, councilmembers were walked to their cars by the police. That is just not something that I appreciate.”

Wallach said he and his fellow city councilmembers are not planning to draft a ceasefire resolution anytime soon.

“We made a decision,” he said. “They don’t accept the decision, and they think it is their right to try to bring to a halt our ability to do our business.”

He added, “We had been discussing what we could do, and after the attack on 13th Street, it became very clear that we needed to do something.”

Wallach is hopeful public comment will start back up once the City Council returns from its summer break in August.

“We value open comment, and we value the interaction of the community with the council,” he said, adding that he would not support a motion to continue to restrict public comment.

“The issue is not the speech” of the protestors, Wallach added. “I’m perfectly prepared to have pro-Palestinian advocates come and speak to me. What I’m not prepared to do is put up with the kind of behavior that prevents us from doing our business. It’s the behavior that’s objectionable, not the speech.”

Wallach has noticed a change in Boulder since the attack, one that he’s unfortunately all too familiar with. He saw it after the 2021 King Soopers shooting, and as a New York City native, he saw it in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, he said.

People, he said, are rallying together in support of their community.

A week after the attack, about 15,000 people gathered on Pearl Street for another Run for Their Lives march.

Before the attack, Wallach estimated about 50 people attended the event each week.

“This was a statement that this is just not acceptable,” he said.