The U.S. Senate is one of two chambers in the federal legislative branch. Senators are able to propose and vote on legislation, and bills must pass both the House and the Senate to have a chance of becoming law. Senators have a few specific responsibilities House members don’t, most notably the power of “advice and consent” to confirm Presidential nominees for positions including Supreme Court Justices and federal court judges, and secretaries and top-level officials in key federal departments. Senators confirm treaties, and as we saw earlier this year the Senate is the chamber that holds official trials that can result in the removal of a person from office, in case the House passes Articles of Impeachment. Every state in the Union gets two Senators, and they are elected to six-year terms with no term limits.
Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper
John Hickenlooper, Democratic: Hickenlooper was born in Pennsylvania, and earned a master’s degree in geology from Wesleyan University before beginning work as a petroleum geologist in Colorado. After being laid off, he and partners opened the Wynkoop Brewery in downtown Denver in 1988, before the national brewpub craze really took off. Hickenlooper ran for and won the race for Mayor of Denver in 2003, and won another term in 2007. However, former Colorado Governor Bill Ritter decided not to run for another term in 2010, and Hickenlooper entered the Governor’s race and won. He was re-elected Governor in 2014, and Governors are term-limited in Colorado so he had to step down in 2018. He ran unsuccessfully for President of the United States during 2019 and 2020, and decided to enter the Senate race in early 2020. Hickenlooper defeated former Colorado Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff in the Democratic Senate primary, by about 59%-41%.
Hickenlooper’s current policy positions include:
- Support for a public health care option, strengthening the Affordable Care Act through strategies including boosting subsidies, lowering the cost of prescription drugs through actions such as allowing Medicare to negotiate directly with drug companies, and prioritizing the “social determinants of health,” such as environmental and nutritional factors, to minimize likelihoods of disorders in the first place.
- Rebuilding the economy through strategies such as: a $15/hour minimum wage, investment in local economies for communities of color, support for labor unions, addressing higher education affordability and supporting apprenticeship programs, job growth in green energy industries, and investing in technological leadership.
- Investing in climate research, transitioning to electric vehicles, rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, supporting green industries and encouraging younger generations to seek green careers, and strengthening green building standards.
A Governor’s “voting record” is somewhat different from the record of a legislator, since Governors typically sign bills that pass both chambers of the General Assembly into law unless they’re objectionable, in which case Governors have veto power. Hickenlooper signed roughly 3,100 bills into law over the course of eight years, and only vetoed 23 along with a partial veto in the 2011 budget.
On the Web: https://hickenlooper.com/
Cory Gardner, Republican: Gardner was born in Yuma, Colorado. He earned a juris doctor degree from the University of Colorado, and went on to serve as General Counsel and Legislative Director for former Republican U.S. Senator Wayne Allard. He was appointed to serve House District 63 in the Colorado House of Representatives in 2005, and won ensuing elections to serve in the House until 2011. Gardner ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010 and won, and won another two-year term in 2012. In 2014, he ran for U.S. Senate against Democratic incumbent Mark Udall, and won 48.2%-46.3%. Gardner is the incumbent in the 2020 race.
Gardner’s record in Congress includes:
- Gardner has voted a number of times to repeal or partially repeal the Affordable Care Act. He is from rural Colorado, and supports increasing rural access to health care services, increasing the supply of physicians in rural areas, and boosting telehealth as a way to at least begin the health care process for people who must travel long distances to reach facilities.
- Gardner sponsored the Great American Outdoors Act, creating the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund to support deferred maintenance projects on federal lands, and making funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) permanent. The bill was recently signed into law.
- Gardner voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, informally known as the Trump tax bill, which gave large tax cuts to wealthier Americans and included the Opportunity Zone program, which offered tax incentives to developers considering projects in distressed areas.
- Gardner voted against only one of Trump’s major nominations over the course of Trump’s first two years, and voted to confirm Supreme Court Justice nominations Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
- Gardner has voted to defund Planned Parenthood at least 10 times, co-sponsored a fetal personhood bill, and voted this year for a bill that would have banned abortion after 20 weeks.
On the Web: https://www.corygardnerforsenate.com/
Richard’s Take: Vote Hickenlooper. He’s experienced in governing as the former Mayor of a city of a half-million people and Governor of the State of Colorado, he’s well-versed in the real world as a geologist and business owner, plus he’s likeable and able to work with disparate interests to get tasks accomplished.
But what’s really at stake in this nationwide election is majority control of the Senate, and it’s completely possible the race for control will be tight – and even a 50-50 split would be beneficial for Democrats if Biden wins, since the Vice President casts tiebreaker votes. If the Senate remains majority Republican, it would be likely that progressive bills will continue dying or being stalled in the Senate like they are today, and the Senate will not confirm progressive appointees. To a certain extent, results of this Colorado election could even help knock Mitch McConnell out of his position as Senate Majority Leader, which is worth fighting for. If interested, read much more about this general topic and the Senate race on my website at https://richardvalenty.com/2020/09/hickenlooper-a-little-love-for-the-ex-guv/.
Hickenlooper is a moderate Democrat who does not try to hide his political philosophy, but voters on the farther left who won’t vote Hick because he isn’t far enough to the left are literally risking shooting most of their own values in the foot for some number of years. Senate terms are six years long, so this election could play a part in determining the Senate majority for the next two years and the next two election cycles. Dems have a reasonable chance in 2020 to take the White House and the Senate while maintaining the House majority, which means there’s a chance that liberal and progressive bills could pass Congress and be signed into law.
And let’s be really honest here. Gardner has good experience as a former state legislator, a U.S. Representative, and as the incumbent Senator. He won the 2014 Senate race against a big name in Mark Udall, he comes off nicely on TV, and he’s backed by lots of money. The number of voters who might vote Gardner based on partisan ideology or a TV commercial is larger than the number of voters who really understand Gardner’s voting record or wonky policy issues. Polls have generally been good for Hickenlooper throughout the election cycle, but counting Gardner out completely would be overconfidence, and Republicans will be really happy if anyone decides not to vote Hickenlooper for any reason whatsoever. Please don’t help them out.
ALSO RUNNING
Raymon Doane, Libertarian: Doane has a bachelor’s degree in management, and has held positions including property tax specialist for Colorado Department of Local Affairs, tax examiner for the Colorado Department of Revenue, and business analyst for Colorado Department of Revenue. His policy positions include reducing U.S. military spending – increasing reliance on diplomacy and technological innovation to help cut costs; support for the Second Amendment; reducing trade barriers; reducing the complexity of doing business; allowing foreign students with four-year degrees to apply for citizenship; and allowing pharmaceutical imports from other countries assuming they have acceptable quality control.
https://www.doane4colorado.com/
Stephan Evans, Unity Party: Evans is a florist and small business owner from Denver, who joined the Denver chapter of the Black Panther Party in the 1960s, and ran twice unsuccessfully for Mayor of Denver. His candidate platform includes: Open Carry Unrestricted Nationwide; Reparations of $100 Trillion Dollars for Black American Descendants of Slaves; Attainment of Accessible Housing; New Homestead Act giving Land to those Displaced by Gentrification; 5G Towers need to be restricted until more research is done on health risks; Abolish Prisons; and Release Inmates convicted of low-level Offenses.
Bruce Lohmiller, Green Party write-in: Lohmiller was also a Green Party write-in for the 3rd Congressional District in 2018. The site votesmart.org says he was born in Pueblo and lives in Grand Junction. A Denver Post questionnaire from 2018 says his positions included: War (Prevent It) , Alt. Fuels (Air Compression Power) And Immigration (Open Boarders (sic) And Oppose Cartels).
https://www.facebook.com/brucelohmiller
Danny Skelly, write-in: Skelly is a small business owner whose business is located in Evergreen, and a self-described “bipartisan independent.” Policy positions include making sure the oil and gas industry can continue to do business in Colorado, support for gun ownership, reforming the family court system and trying to make sure every child has two parents in their lives, and adding funding to police departments rather than defunding.
Daniel Doyle, Approval Voting Party: I could not find a campaign website for Doyle. The Approval Voting Party is dedicated to implementing approval voting in the United States, eliminating the Electoral College, and implementing multi-winner congressional districts.
Michael Sanchez, Independent: I could not find online information about Sanchez.
