Former Governor of Colorado, one-time presidential hopeful and current candidate for the U.S. Senate, John Hickenlooper, followed suit of fellow Democratic candidates during COVID-19. As Iowa Senate candidate Theresa Greenfield did on Thursday, Hickenlooper sent a fundraising plea to supporters, claiming that the global health pandemic is “impacting” his ability to fundraise:
"So, I need to be honest with you: just as this pandemic has surely impacted you and your family, it has impacted our campaign, too.
We’ve canceled our in-person fundraisers. Our average online contribution has unsurprisingly dropped in the last week. And my campaign manager is working overtime to rework our paid media budget, just as Mitch McConnell’s super PAC booked millions of dollars in ads to help our opponent," Hickenlooper said in a fundraising email.
Hickenlooper also echoed the partisan talking points pushed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), claiming that the emergency bill Sen. Schumer helped craft does not bring the American people economic relief:
This bill helps workers, families & hospitals. But we have much more to do to fight this public health & economic emergency: We need housing assistance, resources for rural communities & to make sure that money is going to people and small businesses in need—not the rich guys. https://t.co/h8rofnpz31
— John Hickenlooper (@Hickenlooper) March 26, 2020
Hickenlooper leads incumbent GOP Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO) in most polls, but recently lost the state’s Democratic caucus by a huge margin to his progressive primary challenger, and withdrew from Colorado’s assembly process:
BREAKING: Our grassroots campaign just crushed the DC machine & won today’s caucuses! The powerbrokers & party bosses in Washington didn’t get the memo, but it turns out a lot of people in CO want to replace @CoryGardner with a progressive champion. Thank you! #cosen #copolitics pic.twitter.com/pXNW9FHf6S
— Andrew Romanoff (@Romanoff2020) March 8, 2020
A favorite of Sen. Schumer for the Senate map in November, Hickenlooper’s electability will be put to the test in Colorado’s June 30th Senate primary.