Hick should run for Senate
Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper made the right decision ending his presidential campaign. The path to the presidency was simply out of reach.
Presidential hopeful Hickenlooper was unable to gain traction. Beyond messaging and organizational problems, he lacked a strong grassroots movement and the extraordinary financial backing necessary to deliver his message to crucial Democratic voters.
Along with half of the Democratic presidential field, Hickenlooper would not have qualified for the third Democratic presidential debate on September 12th. While the failure to make the third debate wouldn’t have disqualified him from running, the path forward would have been nearly insurmountable.
While dropping out is a disappointing result, Hickenlooper still has a thrilling opportunity to join the Democratic Senate team and outmaneuver President Donald Trump.
The time is right; Sen. Cory Gardner’s seat is hot in 2020 and up for the taking.
Gardner has embraced Trump and there is fundamentally no light between the two. Our senator has been out of touch with the Coloradans who he has hidden from, siding with Trump over 90% of the time, and repeatedly ignoring the best interests of his Colorado constituents.
Every week Gardner provides another example of why he must go.
Simply put, the future of the Supreme Court, our planet, economic equality, health care, gun control, and foreign policy, may all come down to the United States Senate race in Colorado. For Democrats to take back the Senate next year, winning Colorado is crucial.
According to Roll Call and the Cook Political Report, the fate of our Senate race is a tossup, highly competitive and either party has a chance of winning.
Although there is a pool of talented candidates running for the Senate seat, here’s the blunt reality: Hickenlooper, fondly known to Coloradans as Hick, would immediately shift this race from a toss-up to an almost certain pick-up against Gardner.
If the issue for Democratic primary voters is who is the most likely Democratic candidate to beat Gardner, Hickenlooper is the obvious choice.
The national 314 Action Fund, created a draft Hickenlooper senate campaign and paid for a poll of 739 Colorado voters, conducted August 8-11 by Public Policy Polling. The poll found Hick leading Gardner in a head-to-head contest, 51% to 38%.
Any Democratic candidate who chooses to stay in the race
will have their hands full trying to defeat him. With universal statewide name recognition, deep relationships and proven fundraising capabilities, Hick will have a distinct advantage over his competition in securing the nomination
A new Colorado poll was released at the end of July by Garin-hart-yang Research Group showing Hick with a stunning 51% lead over the next closest Democratic candidate.
He continues to be very popular with Colorado Democratic primary voters. In fact, in the GHY poll 77% would have a favorable reaction if he entered the race, and only 9% reported a negative response.
Colorado voters are familiar with Hickenlooper and what he stands for: mainstream Colorado values. Over his 15-year political career in Colorado, he gained voters trust with a long list of meaningful accomplishments. He left Colorado a better place than he found it moving it from 41st in the nation in job creation to the nation’s best economy. Further, by the time he left office, 95% of Coloradans had health insurance coverage.
Hickenlooper signed two significant gun control laws as governor: requiring universal background checks and banning large-capacity ammunition magazines.
Last week on the heels of two more dramatic mass murders, Gardner once again offered nothing more than meaningless condolences to those impacted by these heinous crimes. Niceties don’t prevent violence or save lives. Gardner has opposed even reasonable gun-control measures and is aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell in preventing them from seeing the light of day.
As the obvious Democratic forerunner and with an opponent like this, Hick will be able to attract broad base of financial backers from across the country to help him defeat Gardner.
Sure, Hick has repeatedly dismissed a Senate run. But focusing on that misses the point and the urgency of the moment.
Indeed, a similar scenario played out in 2016 when Marco Rubio abandoned his presidential run and ran for re-election in the Florida senate race. Rubio had repeatedly said he wasn’t going to reverse course but did in order to keep the Republican seat, which, if lost, would have larger implications for control of the Senate.
Run Hick, run. For the people, for the good of our country’s values. Run for the Senate.