Matchup of two political veterans
Neither Gardner nor Hickenlooper has ever lost a race in Colorado
U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner is the most powerful Republican in Colorado, a fast-talking and fast-rising star within his party, a beacon of light for the political right in this increasingly Democratic state.
John Hickenlooper is Colorado’s best-known Democrat, a popular former governor with almost universal name recognition and a quirky persona that has played well in the Centennial State for two decades.
Over the next four months, Gardner and Hickenlooper will go blow-for-blow across the state in the electoral equivalent of a heavyweight title fight. Both raise massive amounts of money and neither has lost an election in Colorado, a streak of political perfection that will end for one of them Nov. 3. Closely watched here and in
Washington, its one of the few races that will decide which party runs the Senate.
Hickenlooper begins the race in the lead — a rarity for a challenger facing an incumbent — because of President Donald Trump’s unpopularity in Colorado and the state’s recent Democratic leanings. Polling averages show Hickenlooper began July with a roughly 10 percentage-point head start.
“There is a strong, strong recognition that Cory Gardner is part of what’s taking this country in the wrong direction,” Hickenlooper said in an interview Tuesday night, following his primary victory.
“Throughout much of the primary campaign, I knew I wanted to unify the party eventually, after the primary. So we focused on Cory Gardner, on why he supports Trump’s lawsuit to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, on how in Colorado 2.4 million people have pre-existing medical conditions and will lose their protections if that lawsuit succeeds,” he added.
Hickenlooper dominated Tuesday’s Democratic primary, winning even in ultra-liberal Boulder County, a strong sign that he can unify his party in time for November. Andrew Romanoff, his progressive opponent, has pledged his full support to Hickenlooper and vowed to help Democrats defeat Gardner any way he can.
The fight will be over the unaffiliated voters who make up more than a third of Colorado’s electorate.
Republicans acknowledge that Hickenlooper starts with an advantage but believe the race will narrow significantly as Gardner, a sharp debater and skilled orator, bests Hickenlooper on the campaign trail. They say Hickenlooper enters the race bruised by a bad
June that Gardner will not let voters forget about anytime soon.
“I’m excited to go across the state of Colorado talking about my accomplishments for the state of Colorado,” the Republican senator said in an interview Tuesday night. “The fact is, the past six years I’ve been a problem solver for this state and will continue to be. We brought the Bureau of Land Management to Colorado, opened up Space Command in Colorado, (passed) historic tax cuts for Colorado, and we’ll continue that progress for the people of Colorado.”
Gardner calls Hickenlooper “the most extreme-left” candidate Colorado Democrats have ever nominated, despite Hickenlooper’s reputation within his own party as a moderate or even centrist Democrat.
“John Hickenlooper has no ideas of his own, other than Chuck Schumer’s talking points,” Gardner added, referring to the Senate minority leader from New
York. “I vote 100% of the time for Colorado, and that is what I’m going to continue to do.”
Gardner’s strategy at this stage is twofold: First, focus on policy achievements during his first term in the Senate, portraying himself as someone who works for Colorado rather than Trump or his party. And two, paint Hickenlooper as an out-of-touch liberal who hasn’t been upfront about his violations of state ethics laws.
“If Hickenlooper wants to run a clean race then he should waive the statute of limitations and be honest about his trips on private jets and other ethics violations that were outside the statute of limitations,” Gardner said Tuesday. “Be honest with the people of Colorado. If he wants to be honest, be honest.”
For Hickenlooper, who has traditionally been a fairly clean campaigner, the strategy is to tout Colorado’s successes when he was governor and tie Gardner to Trump, especially on the salient issues of health care and coronavirus response. Hickenlooper laughed loudly Tuesday night when asked about Gardner’s claim that he is the most corrupt governor in the history of Colorado.
“When I ran for mayor, there were eight other people running, and four of them were really talented, had significant constituencies, and, boy, it was bare knuckles and they attacked this and attacked that. I stayed on the issues pretty much the whole time,” Hickenlooper said of his successful 2003 campaign in Denver.
The Democrat knows to expect a full range of criticisms from Gardner and Republicans this year. He says he’s ready for everything they’ll throw his way.
“You can call it both guns blazing. I would say their mud cannon is going to be splurching.”