Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper was not given a backslapping response from his fellow Democrats following his announcement he would run for the U.S. Senate this election cycle.
Fresh after Hickenlooper dropped his presidential campaign bid, the Colorado Democrat launched his Senate campaign.
However, the field of Democratic primary candidates seeking to challenge Republican incumbent Sen. Cory Gardner had already begun to fill with almost a dozen candidates, and the response from the state party as well as the field of candidates and their supporters was immediate.
Hickenlooper has already said multiple times during his presidential run he was not interested in running for the Senate. Back in February, in remarks he made that may come back to haunt him, he stated in Iowa, “I’m not cut out to be a senator. Senators don’t build teams. Senators sit and debate in small groups, which is important, right? But I’m not sure that’s my — I’m a doer. That’s what gives me joy.”
Colorado Senate Democrats Communications Director Keith Barnish excoriated Hickenlooper for viewing the Senate campaign as a runner-up trophy after dropping his White House run.
“Running for U.S. Senate isn’t a consolation prize for losing a presidential primary … Colorado is ready for a new generation of progressive leadership,” Barnish said.
Additionally, liberals are attacking Hickenlooper for entering the race and bringing in the party’s establishment heft to block liberal candidates from capturing the nomination.
“Hickenlooper’s presidential campaign was a genius move to make Democrats so desperate to push him off the presidential stage that many would forget that he would join the Senate as a conservative Democrat who has already pledged to block most progressive priorities,” Justice Democrats spokesman Waleed Shahid said in a tweet on Thursday.
Although polls show him as the clear front-runner in the primary, his fellow primary contenders show no willingness to drop out just yet.
Colorado state Sen. Angela Williams, a Democratic primary contender in the race, slammed Hickenlooper’s entry saying that “Governor Hickenlooper has failed to fight for the progressive solutions our state and country need.”
