Hanger

Aug 29, 2023

Dick Wadhams

Coloradans breathlessly waited for U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper’s cataclysmic announcement he would seek reelection in 2026.

Actually, no one lost their breath. It was comparable to the response when he ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 2019. Thinking Iowa Democrats would swoon over the banjo–playing former brewpub owner, he was out of the race almost as quickly as he got in.

Just like the proverbial falling tree in the forest that no one heard, did Hickenlooper really run for president when no one seemed to notice or care?

It must be frustrating for the many ambitious Democrats who covet major statewide office but who are blocked from running by existing Democratic incumbents. Gov. Jared Polis is term-limited in 2026 and there will be no shortage of Democratic candidates seeking to succeed him. Secretary of State Jena Griswold and Attorney General Phil Weiser are also term limited and presumably have higher aspirations along with several ambitious legislators and possibly U.S. Reps. Joe Neguse, Jason Crow, Brittany Pettersen and Yadira Caravejo.

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The self-proclaimed “dean of the Colorado congressional delegation” which is apparently based on her endless 27 years in Congress, U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette will predictably want her name mentioned in the media as it has for every open statewide race for governor and senator since she was first elected in 1996 — but it never goes any further than that.

So even though the governor’s race will be open, Hanger-on Hickenlooper is blocking a second major statewide opportunity for these ambitious Democrats.

It is easy to forget Colorado has two U.S. senators since Hickenlooper and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet are both wealthy, white Democrats who even went to the same liberal, elitist Wesleyan University in Connecticut before heading west to save Colorado from itself. Their voting records are virtually identical as reliable votes for expanding the power of the federal government and for massive federal deficits and debt that have caused historic inflation.

The “accidental senator,” U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, rode the deeply anti-Trump wave across Colorado into being elected to a third full term just last year. Bennet, of course, originally was “elected” to the Senate by one vote, that of Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter who appointed Bennet to the Senate when U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar resigned to serve as secretary of the interior under President Barack Obama.

If Bennet serves a full third term, he will be the longest serving U.S. senator in Colorado history at 20 years, 2009 to 2029. Unless he resigns from office before the 2028 election, his seat is out of reach for ambitious Democrats.

It has probably not occurred to Hanger-on Hickenlooper that after 20 years of being in major statewide office it might be time to move on and let a new generation have a shot. He served as mayor of Denver from 2003 to 2010 and governor of Colorado from 2011 to 2019 before being elected U.S. senator in 2020.

During his terribly brief and practically non-existent presidential campaign, he piously declared he had no interest in running for the U.S. Senate because he would be a lousy senator and he would only settle for being president. Even though there was a large, diverse field of Democratic Senate candidates who had devoted themselves to traveling the state for months, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) in Washington, D.C., shoehorned him into the race where they ran roughshod over accomplished candidates, several of whom were Black, Hispanic and women.

Thinking himself above having to appear with his lesser opponents, Hanger-on Hickenlooper largely refused to participate in campaign forums. When pressed by the media, he declared he could not participate because “I need my sleep.”

Rounding out the campaign for one of the worst Senate candidates in decades, Hanger-on Hickenlooper thumbed his nose at Colorado’s ethics laws. On the advice of the Washington, D.C., lawyer sent to Colorado by the DSCC, he initially refused to appear before the Colorado Ethics Commission to answer charges he inappropriately accepted gifts from wealthy benefactors. He finally appeared but was found guilty.

Despite all this, the deep opposition to Republican candidates due to the stench of Donald Trump and his stolen election conspiracy theories resulted in Hanger-on Hickenlooper unseating Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner in 2020.

The question for Colorado Democrats in 2026 — especially those who aspire to higher office — is whether Hanger-on Hickenlooper is indispensable as a senator or if it is time for a new generation to compete for the job.

Dick Wadhams is a Republican political consultant and a former Colorado Republican state chairman.