Hickenlooper wins reelection: Sen. John Hickenlooper took a second six-year term Tuesday night, and the AP called it just after polls closed at 7 p.m. Mountain Time.
Here is what that means beyond Colorado. Senate control decides which nominees get confirmed and which bills reach the president’s desk. Republicans entered the night defending a 53-47 majority, according to CBS News. With Hickenlooper reelected, both Colorado seats stay Democratic, so Democrats lose no ground in the fight for the chamber.
The Democrat beat Republican state Sen. Mark Baisley, according to Axios Denver. Early unofficial returns had him at roughly 80 percent of the vote. The Colorado Sun showed him ahead 83 percent to 13 percent at 7:07 p.m.
Hickenlooper reelected, but those early numbers will shrink
The Sun notes the margin will tighten as more ballots are counted, though not nearly enough to bring Baisley close.
The final pre-election polls pointed the same way, just less lopsided. A CU Boulder survey from Oct. 29 had Hickenlooper up 57 to 39. ResearchCo’s poll on Nov. 2 had him ahead 61 to 37, according to 270toWin. Voters there had already finished mailing in ballots, as our report on Greeley students racing the voting deadline shows.
Here’s the thing: this Colorado Senate race was never the fight
If you were hoping for drama, you came to the wrong state. Little outside money flowed to either major candidate, Colorado Public Radio reports. Democrats have swept every statewide race in Colorado since 2018, and they hold wide majorities in the legislature.
So why does it matter outside Colorado? Because the Senate map is tight everywhere else. Holding both of Colorado’s seats is one less thing Democrats had to sweat.
NBC News has projected a Democratic House and reports Democratic flips in the Carolinas, but it had not called Senate control as of this writing. That count is still moving, and our rundown of the early Senate races Democrats won tracks it.
How Hickenlooper won a second term: running against the White House
Hickenlooper ran against the White House. Axios reports he tied President Trump to gas price spikes linked to the Iran war and to cronyism in Washington. In a video statement after the win, he said: “Today, Coloradans have once again delivered a clear message: Enough is enough!”
Yet he did vote to confirm 10 of Trump’s Cabinet nominees. His primary opponent, progressive state Sen. Julie Gonzales, hammered him for exactly that. Axios says he has since expressed regret for backing some of those picks.
What happens next after the Hickenlooper second term win
Two things to watch. First, the Senate: the national majority is still unsettled, and that decides how hard it is for the White House to confirm nominees and push its priorities over the next two years. Our look at what the midterms could change in Congress explains the stakes.
Second, and this one is for Colorado readers: Hickenlooper is 74, a former Denver mayor and two-term governor, and he has said this will be his last term. He would be about 80 when it ends. That means the race to replace him begins now, and in a state this blue, the real contest will likely be the Democratic primary.
The scramble to succeed him is where the next Colorado Senate fight will be decided.
