Less than a week after exiting the Democratic presidential field, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is running for the Senate.
The widely expected move, reported by news outlets Thursday, potentially sets up a marquee Senate race in Colorado between Hickenlooper, a brew pub entrepreneur and former Denver mayor, and Republican incumbent Sen. Cory Gardner. Senate Democrats are eyeing Colorado as their best pickup opportunity of the 2020 cycle, a cornerstone of their still long-shot bid to win a majority. Senate Republicans currently hold a 53-47 edge in the chamber.
But Hickenlooper may first have to navigate an already crowded primary field. Candidates include former diplomat Dan Baer, former state Sen. Mike Johnston, and former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, among others. Hickenlooper’s candidacy may lead some Democratic rivals to withdraw, but so far nobody has said they would defer to him.
Colorado has become increasingly politically hospitable territory for Democrats over the past dozen years. Democratic nominees have won the state’s electoral votes in three straight races, with suburbanite votes increasingly spurning the GOP. In Republican circles, Gardner is seen as a rising star, having beat an incumbent Democratic House member in 2010, and then Democratic Sen. Mark Udall four years later. But Gardner has done little to separate himself from President Trump, a figure held in disdain by growing elements of the Colorado electorate.
Hickenlooper served as governor from January 2011 to January 2019, after nearly eight years as Denver mayor. He entered the Democratic presidential fray on March 4, but failed to gain traction in a field that at one point numbered more than 25 aspirants. Hickenlooper ended his candidacy in a YouTube video on Aug. 15.
Hickenlooper was the second 2020 Democrat to exit the presidential race, after Rep. Eric Swalwell of California. On Wednesday night, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced that he, too, is quitting, with an eye on running for a third gubernatorial term in 2020.
