On March 4, former two-time Colorado governor John Hickenlooper officially announced his plan to run for president in 2020. He joined at least 19 other Democratic candidates now campaigning for a chance to beat President Donald Trump in the upcoming race.
Hickenlooper informed the nation of his candidacy with a video, in which he states, “I’m running for president because we’re facing a crisis that threatens everything we stand for.” The video shows Hickenlooper providing a brief biography and recounting his political success, eventually calling for people to join him in “repair[ing] the damage done to our country and be[ing] stronger than ever.”
According to CNN, Hickenlooper, age 67, was born in Pennsylvania. He studied geology there at Wesleyan University, which led to his move to Colorado to work in the petroleum industry. A lay-off in the 1980s pushed Hickenlooper in a new direction, and he opened a popular brewpub in LoDo, Wynkoop Brewing Company; this got him back on his feet financially and allowed him to make connections across Colorado, leading to his eventual mayoral victory in Denver in 2003 and gubernatorial victories in 2011 and 2014.
As a leader of Colorado, he confronted natural disasters, economic crises and at least one mass shooting, each of which necessitated he work across party lines to keep a unified state. According to The New York Times, Hickenlooper calls himself an “extreme moderate” running as a “pragmatic progressive,” and he was labeled by the Times as a “socially-progressive, pro-business Democrat.”
In terms of the prominent issues, Hickenlooper is largely pro-gun control; this stems from his response to the Aurora movie theatre shooting, after which he passed a ban on high capacity magazines and legislation for universal background checks. On climate change, he is working hard to counter President Trump’s efforts, but he is also notoriously against regulation of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”). He also supports free trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He supports universal health care but has taken no steps toward achieving it.
FiveThirtyEight has speculated about how these identities and stances may help or hurt Hickenlooper in a variety of ways. Certain issues, like his sympathy toward the oil and gas industries, may serve as a turn-off to some voters, and some critique his lack of a clear campaign platform. He lacks name recognition beyond Colorado, and he has considered running on a “unity ticket” with a Republican candidate. However, Hickenlooper brings other unique strengths to the table, including economic and social successes as governor, including a reputation for navigating the legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado, as well as a “quirky” reputation and tendency to create innovative political ads and viral videos.
In the aforementioned video, Hickenlooper continues, “As a skinny kid with Coke-bottle glasses and a funny last name, I’ve stood up to my fair share of bullies,” in reference to President Trump. FiveThirtyEight calls him an “underdog,” but only time will tell if Hickenlooper stands a chance at going head-to-head against Trump in the 2020.
