Dems’ decision day in U.S. Senate race
Romanoff, Hickenlooper are facing off to take on Sen. Gardner
As he walked door to door in Denver’s northeast Montbello neighborhood Saturday morning, leaving two campaign flyers on every porch, 25-year-old Nick Tuta of Boulder explained what Tuesday’s election means to him.
“This is a really good opportunity to put someone in office who won’t just listen to us, but who will actually be working with us and fighting for us in the Senate,” he said through a mask. “The Green New Deal, Medicare for All — these are things we really need in our society right now.”
Tuta and a dozen other members of the youth-led and climate-focused Sunrise Movement canvassed the neighborhood on behalf of Andrew Romanoff, who’s competing against former Gov. John Hickenlooper in a closely watched U.S. Senate Democratic primary.
After a campaign season unlike any other, in which part assemblies went virtual and inperson events ground to a halt for months, the final votes are due by 7 p.m. Tuesday. In addition to the Democratic U.S. Senate matchup, the 3rd Congressional District has primaries on both the Democratic and Republican sides, and there are a number of statehouse and
district attorney primaries in the Denver metro area.
Romanoff enters Tuesday an underdog even though Hickenlooper had a rocky month that included two ethics violations. The former governor and Denver mayor is the favorite of the Democratic Party establishment both in Colorado and Washington, D.C., who compelled him to run for Senate last summer.
“This will be a campaign with mission,” Hickenlooper told supporters in a virtual pep talk Saturday. “The opportunity is there, if we can get people mobilized and make sure people vote — vote in this primary but then go out, get that muscle exercised, so they’ll vote in November. This could be the election that finally changes the world.”
“It’s going to be a long, hard battle,” Hickenlooper added, looking ahead as he often does to November’s contest against Republican Sen. Cory Gardner. “It’s going to be a brawl. … It’s going to be a long slog.”
Romanoff spent his final two weeks of the campaign distracted by a matter even more important to him than Tuesday’s election: the declining health of his father, who died Sunday after a series of strokes and falls. Hickenlooper sent his condolences, a gentle moment after a tense month in the head-to-head contest.
About 20 Democrats ran for U.S. Senate, but many top challengers bowed out after Hickenlooper entered in August. Eight remained until the spring, when only the moderate Hickenlooper and the progressive Romanoff made their way onto the June 30 ballot. An eleventh-hour court challenge to add other candidates who blamed the coronavirus for signature-gathering difficulties was approved by a Denver judge but later rejected by the Colorado Supreme Court.
And so, the past two months have been a head-to-head bout between the two. In three debates plus forums, television ads, press releases and speeches, Romanoff pulled few punches, laying out stark contrasts on health care, the environment, campaign finance and a slew of other top Democratic priorities.
Hickenlooper, meanwhile, largely avoided talking about Romanoff, keeping the focus on Gardner and President Donald Trump, in accordance with his long history of positive campaigning. When it did come time to criticize Romanoff, for running an accurate but attacking ad June 19, the criticisms came from Hickenlooper’s allies in the Colorado
Capitol and in Congress, not from the candidate himself.
The two candidates have prioritized a similar trio of issues — health care, climate and the economy — but laid out differing plans for dealing with them. Hickenlooper has often cited his past record as governor and Denver’s mayor, while Romanoff has emphasized more aspirational and ambitious plans for the future.
Romanoff has been popular with climate activists, championing a Green New Deal and claiming Hickenlooper is too close to Colorado’s oil and gas industry. He has been endorsed by many of the state and nation’s top climate activists, including former U.S. Senate candidate Diana Bray.
“I don’t necessarily trust the polls,” Bray said. “Everything is up for grabs, as a monumental reset is occurring, and I believe that Andrew will win the primary.”
Hickenlooper has been popular with gun control activists, winning endorsements from most major gun control groups in the country and campaigning alongside prominent activists in the movement, such as Gabrielle Giffords and Shannon Watts. The latter spoke at a campaign phone banking event Saturday.
“We have a chance to flip the Senate to a gun sense majority and that happens if (Hickenlooper) gets elected,” said Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action. “We are fired up and ready to go.”