Colorado Republican Sen. Cory Gardner is struggling in recent polls, but he is counting on slip-ups from his likely Democratic challenger, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, to help reset his campaign.
Gardner, first elected in 2014, is down by 13 points to Hickenlooper, according to the RealClearPolitics average. That makes him the most likely Republican incumbent to lose reelection, in a state 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton won by 5 points.
Senate Democrats are eyeing a path to the majority after the 2020 elections, beginning in Colorado, along with competitive races in Arizona, Maine, Montana, North Carolina, and possibly other states.
But Hickenlooper’s campaign has been bumpy of late. Colorado’s governor from 2011-19 entered the race against Gardner late, after a presidential bid that went nowhere. Hickenlooper, a former Denver mayor, also faces a Democratic primary challenge on June 30 from former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, though he’s expected to prevail.
Hickenlooper, a onetime brewpub proprietor, has also been on the receiving end of bad publicity over charges by the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission. The panel last week found the former governor twice violated state law when he did not publicly disclose that he accepted two gifts: a ride on a private jet for the commissioning of the USS Colorado submarine and a limousine ride in Italy.
Additionally, Hickenlooper, in his second primary debate on Wednesday, made two remarks Republicans used as fodder to mock him. In one instance, Hickenlooper mistakenly said “the shooting of George Floyd,” referencing the 46-year-old black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis.
Hickenlooper also said at the debate that he would support presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden but that he believed the sexual assault allegation lobbed against the former vice president and senator by his former Senate staffer Tara Reade was true “to a large extent.” Reade’s claims have been largely debunked.
Gardner, meanwhile, is receiving help from Senate Republican leadership as he tries to hold onto his seat. With an eye on Gardner’s reelection bid and Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines, who is also trying to win a second term, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell scheduled consideration of landmark environmental legislation.
The Great American Outdoors Act would allocate almost $10 billion over the next five years to handle deferred maintenance on public lands and give permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The legislation would be a boon to the outdoor recreation industry if passed.
Previously opposed by Republicans, including McConnell, the Kentucky Republican hinted to reporters this week the measure could help the reelection prospects of Gardner and Daines.
“What we had was a unique opportunity to actually make a law,” McConnell said. “It is in proximity to the election, but nobody said you should quit doing things just because there is an election. We have one every two years.”
Hickenlooper managed to raise $4.1 million to Gardner’s $2.5 million in the first quarter of 2020. But Gardner, who was a House member from 2011-15 and a state legislator before that, still has a 2 -1 cash-on-hand edge over Hickenlooper.
