The U.S. Senate race in Colorado is expected to be one of the most hotly contested of 2020. The seat in question is currently held by a Republican and Democrats hope to put it into their column.
It appears that the main contenders are now set. With the Democratic nominee being John Hickenlooper. A familiar name to many residents of Colorado. But, recently, his campaign has hit some snags.
Found to have committed ethics violations
Hickenlooper was recently found to have committed ethics violations while he was the governor of Colorado. An independent ethics commission announced the decision earlier shortly before the primary election.
The Denver Post notes that Hickenlooper, at one point, defied a subpoena in the process as well.
The charges stem from flights on private jets that Hickenlooper apparently didn't pay for. As the flights cost more than $59 at the time, accepting the flights were against Colorado law. Hickenlooper was fined as a result of the commission's findings.
But as CNN reports, that hasn't been his only recent issue. Some of Hickenlooper's comments, both recent and from years past, haven't gone over well with Black Lives Matter activists. A newly-formed super PAC supporting him also called into question his stance against 'dark money' in politics.
Despite these and other questions, Hickenlooper easily won the Democratic primary.
His only remaining rival for the Democratic nomination was Andrew Romanoff. Romanoff is a former speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives. In 2010, he ran for the Democratic nomination for Colorado's other U.S. Senate seat. He lost to incumbent Michael Bennet. In 2014, Romanoff ran for the U.S. House of Representatives from Colorado's 6th District.
He lost to Republican incumbent Mike Coffman.
Hickenlooper is to compete with the incumbent Republican Senator Cory Gardner. Before being elected to the Senate, Gardner was a U.S. representative and a state representative.
Hickenlooper was a two-term governor
Hickenlooper is a former geologist, educated at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.
He later became a co-owner of a brewpub. He first held political office in 2003 as the mayor of Denver, Colorado. The state's capital and most populated city.
He became popular as a moderate who crossed party lines. In 2007, he won re-election with well over 80% of the vote. He won the Colorado governor's race in 2010, in which the Republican vote had been sharply split. In 2014, he won re-election by winning a plurality of the vote.
Hickenlooper was briefly a candidate for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president of the United States. He dropped out of the race in August of 2019.
