Former Gov. John Hickenlooper announced on Thursday that he was both ending his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination and that he would give a potential Senate run back in Colorado against GOP incumbent Cory Gardner “some serious thought.”
While Hickenlooper spent months saying that he did not want to serve in the upper chamber, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer never gave up trying to recruit him even after the former governor launched his White House campaign. The New York Times’ Jonathan Martin also says that Schumer was the one who publicized a recent Garin-Hart-Yang poll that showed Hickenlooper dominating in a hypothetical Senate primary, though it’s not clear if the DSCC was the one that paid for that survey.
However, a Hickenlooper Senate campaign is not yet a done deal. The Denver Post’sNic Garcia wrote hours before Hickenlooper ended his presidential run that he was still deciding whether he wanted to take on Gardner.
A number of other Democrats are currently running here, and a few of them sound ready to run against the former governor if need be. Former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff was asked Thursday if Hickenlooper’s plans would impact his own, and he responded, “No.”
State Sen. Angela Williams went even further and previewed the argument she could use against Hickenlooper in a primary. Williams, who would be the first black woman to represent the state in Congress, said of Hickenlooper, “He's been attacking the progressive values of a lot of women and people of color on important issues, including health care,” and she added, “And that's very unfortunate and disappointing. So I think he'll have some challenges on his hands.”
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