Hickenlooper for Senate? It could still happen, observers say
When John Hickenlooper tweets about his presidential aspirations, a torrent of replies follow that all say the same thing: Forget the White House. Run for the U.S. Senate.
“You are not doing yourself, or Coloradans, any favors by staying in this race any longer,” Katina Harrison replied to a photo Hickenlooper posted on Twitter announcing he had landed in New Hampshire, home of the nation’s first Democratic primary. “Please do what you should have done from the jump & run for Senate.”
National political observers believe Democrats have one of their best chances to regain partisan control of the Senate in 2020. All eyes are on Colorado — a swing state where unaffiliated voters have aligned in recent elections more with the political left — as one of a handful of states that will determine whether Republicans keep their edge in the upper legislative chamber.
While there is no shortage of Democrats running for the Senate nomination here, party leaders, consultants and rank-and-file voters alike are whispering out loud their concerns that there isn’t yet a candidate who can match Republican incumbent Cory Gardner’s name recognition, fundraising prowess and charisma on the campaign trail.
Hickenlooper could change that if he shifted his attention closer to home, local and national political experts said.
“I want Cory Gardner gone,” Harrison, a Ken Caryl Democrat, said Wednesday in an interview with The Denver Post. “And I think Governor Hickenlooper has the name recognition to get that done.”
Rejecting the calls
Right now, Colorado’s popular former two-term governor is one of two dozen Democrats running for the party’s presidential nomination. Since he launched his campaign in March, the former brewpub owner has failed to capture the imagination of his party’s national base.
This month, several members of Hickenlooper’s top staff left after they suggested a Senate run. News of a dismal fundraising quarter followed. And while the businessman hopes to reboot his campaign and launch a comeback focused on early nominating states, his trajectory to the White House is uncertain more than ever.
Hickenlooper repeatedly has quelled the calls — including a plea from late-night comedian Samantha Bee — for him to run for the Senate. His answer to the question has evolved from a waffling “maybe” to a decidedly “no thanks.” More evidence that he’s not interested in a run surfaced last week: His wife, Robin, donated to a different candidate who’s already in the race.
Hickenlooper is one of several high-profile Democrats who has rejected the idea of running for Senate. Included in that club are fellow presidential primary contenders Beto O’rourke, a former Texas congressman, and Montana
Gov. Steve Bullock. Stacey Abrams, who narrowly lost her Georgia gubernatorial bid, also has decided not to run for the Senate.
However, political observers suggest Hickenlooper could still get in the race if he had a change of heart.
The former Denver mayor, who expressed interest in a Senate appointment just a decade ago, wouldn’t be the first politician to jump from one race to another.
“One of the things his campaign has demonstrated is that he’s not going to move into the top tier of presidential candidates,” said Democratic consultant Curtis Hubbard. “But he still has a lot to offer. One of the best things John can do for his party, Colorado, the country is to take on one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the country and make sure Cory Gardner is a one-term senator.”
Even as the requests for Hickenlooper to get into the race persist, there would no anointment. Hickenlooper would have to fight for the nomination. Just as his political positions and governing style make him an ideal candidate for a general election, the state’s base in charge of selecting a nominee may look to someone more progressive.
“Anybody who has been watching Colorado elections for the past few years can see Democrats have moved further to the left,” said Michal Rosenoer, executive director of Emerge Colorado, a nonprofit that trains Democratic women to run for office. “Progressive Democrats are the ones who are winning both locally and statewide. Any Democrat who thinks winning a statewide election by running to the middle doesn’t understand the game they’re playing in anymore.”
A crowded field
At the moment, 10 Democrats are running for the Senate nomination.
Leading the pack are former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, former state senator and gubernatorial candidate Mike Johnston and former Obama ambassador Dan Baer.
Romanoff has embraced at least two major progressive policies du jour: Medicare for all, which would create government-run health care, and the socalled Green New Deal.
While Johnston ran a fairly progressive campaign for governor, he’s yet to strike too far to the left during this campaign.
And Baer has yet to take any substantial policy positions.
Each has put up impressive early fundraising numbers and collected a battery of endorsements, but none of the three has won statewide office before. In fact, Romanoff lost his primary challenge to U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet in 2010. And Johnston came in third in the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary.
There is also a long list of women — several of them black or Latino — who are running, including former state House Majority Leader Alice Madden, state Sen. Angela Williams and scientist Trish Zornio.
Any one of them would represent a major shift for Colorado, because the state has never elected a woman to the Senate. However, they each have a long way to go in attracting donors and building their brand with the state.
It’s true that Gardner is vulnerable — a recent survey found that only 40 percent of Coloradans have a favorable opinion of the junior senator. But longtime political observers have warned not to dismiss the Yuma Republican. Given that the outcome of Colorado’s Senate contest will play a critical role in deciding partisan control of the upper chamber, Gardner is expected to have nearly unlimited financial resources.
That’s one more reason Democratic loyalists want the most formidable candidate.
“Hickenlooper is their strongest potential candidate for a general election,” said David Flaherty, a Colorado Republican pollster. “He’s run and won before. People know his style. His brand is helping all Coloradans and not running negative.”
Rubio comparison
If he were to advance out of a primary, there’s one more problem. Hickenlooper repeatedly said he didn’t want the job and at one point even plainly said, “I’m not cut out to be a senator.”
Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said there’s a way for Hickenlooper to walk back those comments, much like Florida’s U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio did after running for reelection in 2016 following his failed bid in the Republican presidential primary.
“You don’t have to give hostage to history,” Jillson said, adding that Hickenlooper could do more damage to his brand if he hangs on too much longer. “Part of being a political leader is understanding the flow of events. You do have a history and reputation. Don’t ruin that.”
Terry Sullivan, who ran Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign, rejected the premise that Hickenlooper’s situation is akin to Rubio’s, pointing out that Rubio dropped out of the race well after most states had voted during the primary.
Sullivan added that it was a fool’s errand to convince a politician to run for an office they aren’t interested in.
“Hickenlooper should run for the office he wants to serve, not the office people on Twitter are pushing him to,” he said.