Bernie Sanders won’t endorse Hickenlooper in Senate race

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders won’t weigh in on Colorado’s hotly contested Democratic Senate primary, he told The Denver Post in an interview Friday — declining to endorse former presidential rival John Hickenlooper, who is now running for a U.S. Senate seat.

“I will do whatever I can to make sure that a Democrat beats Senator Gardner,” Sanders said, referring to Colorado’s junior senator, Cory Gardner, who is up for re-election in fall 2020.

But “I’m going to sit out the primary and let the candidates explain their views to Colorado and hope the best candidate wins. That’s a decision for the people of Colorado, not me.”

Sanders spoke to The Post before his first campaign stop in Colorado of the Democratic presidential primary season. Sanders will speak Monday evening at Civic Center.

Sanders won Colorado’s 2016 caucus and has a slim lead among the state’s Democrats, according to an early public poll. Colorado is expected to be a hotbed during the 2020 Democratic primary. Voters here will cast their vote March 3, also known as Super Tuesday.

Other candidates who have made stops in Colorado so far include Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris.

Despite his popularity in Colorado, Sanders has been the subject of attacks from both Hickenlooper and another Colorado politician who’s still running for president, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet.

Hickenlooper and Bennet, known as moderate Democrats, have warned that Sanders’ plans — especially his plan to expand Medicare to everyone — are too massive and expensive for the American people to accept.