U.S. Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff secured a significant victory over the weekend, easily winning a preference poll of Democratic candidates in the primary race to take on Republican Sen. Cory Gardner this November.

Romanoff, a favorite of progressive activists, dominated the better-funded John Hickenlooper in statewide caucuses Saturday, winning more delegates than Hickenlooper in every large Colorado county en route to a commanding win.

Statewide, Romanoff won 55% of support in the preference poll, Hickenlooper earned 30%, Trish Zornio received 7%, Stephany Rose Spaulding won 5%, and Erik Underwood won 0.2%. Another 3% of caucus attendees were uncommitted, according to the Colorado Democratic Party. A few small counties had not reported as of Sunday night and are not included in this total.

In Denver County, where Hickenlooper was mayor for eight years, Romanoff won 61% of delegates to 22% for Hickenlooper, 9% for Spaulding and 6% for Zornio.

In Boulder County, a hub for liberal activism, Romanoff won 64% of delegates to 21% for Hickenlooper, 9% for Zornio and 3% for Spaulding.

Romanoff also won majorities in Adams County, Douglas County, Jefferson County, Pueblo County and Larimer County, plus a plurality in El Paso County.

“You defied the political establishment and carried our message — a Green New Deal, health care for all, an economy that works for everyone — to communities across the state,” Romanoff told supporters in an email Sunday.

Held on an unseasonably warm Saturday and amid worries of a coronavirus outbreak, the low-turnout caucuses were the first occasion for Democrats to choose among their party’s large U.S. Senate candidate field. Rather than choose the front-running Hickenlooper, most instead went with the liberal Romanoff.

At Thomas Jefferson High School in Denver, Barbara Groth, 67, voted for Romanoff. She expressed frustration with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for throwing its support behind Hickenlooper, calling that decision a “huge disservice to Romanoff.”

At Overland High School in Aurora, Michael Carr also chose Romanoff, who went on to win 56% of delegates in Arapahoe County and 55% in Adams County.

“He’s the best at building bridges with the other side,” Carr said of the former Colorado House speaker, who often touts his bipartisan record in the legislature. “It can’t just be us versus them; we all have to work for the good of our country.”

As a result of Saturday’s preference poll, most of the delegates sent to county caucuses later this month will be Romanoff supporters, making it likely that he is able to earn 30% of support at an April 18 state assembly.

Romanoff, Spaulding, Underwood and Zornio will each need 30% of assembly support if they are to have their names placed on June 30 primary ballots. Several other candidates are taking a signature-gathering route to ballot access, bypassing the caucuses. Hickenlooper is taking both routes and has turned in signatures.

Romanoff expects the weekend win will boost his fundraising and volunteer recruitment, but caucuses in Colorado are not predictive of primary success. Cary Kennedy won the Democratic gubernatorial caucuses in 2018 but lost to Jared Polis later that year. And Romanoff won the 2010 U.S. Senate caucuses over Sen. Michael Bennet but lost to the incumbent Bennet in that year’s Democratic primary.

Hickenlooper predicted two weeks ago that he would win the preference poll but downplayed both his expectations and the importance of caucuses in remarks to reporters Saturday afternoon. He said the true contest will be the June 30 primary.

“I’ve run statewide twice in bad years for Democrats and I have a relationship with Democrats across the state,” Hickenlooper told reporters outside his precinct site, referring to gubernatorial wins in 2010 and 2014. “And that relationship should allow me to build momentum and really take Cory Gardner on head to head.”