2020 United States Senate election in Colorado

The 2020 United States Senate election in Colorado was held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Colorado, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.

Under Colorado law, the filing deadline for U.S. Senate candidates was March 17, 2020, the third Tuesday in March of the election year; the primary election occurred on June 30. Incumbent senator Cory Gardner lost re-election to former governor John Hickenlooper. Gardner was unopposed in the Republican primary, and Hickenlooper defeated former State House Speaker Andrew Romanoff in the Democratic primary.

This race was one of two Republican-held U.S. Senate seats up for election in 2020 in a state President Trump lost in 2016; the other was in Maine. Many pollsters and pundits considered Gardner to be the most vulnerable Republican senator facing re-election in 2020 due to his narrow victory in 2014, the state's leftward shift, and Trump's unpopularity in the state. As predicted, Hickenlooper easily defeated Gardner by a 9.3-point margin. However, Gardner did manage to outperform Donald Trump in the concurrent presidential election by roughly four points. This became the first election Gardner had lost in his political career as well as being the widest margin of loss for a Coloradan U.S. Senator since 1978. This was the third consecutive election where this seat flipped parties, and also the second consecutive election in which the incumbent senator lost re-election to a second term for this particular seat. At the age of 68, Hickenlooper is the oldest first term senator from Colorado.

Background
Gardner was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2014, narrowly defeating incumbent Democratic senator Mark Udall in a very successful election year for Republicans. Gardner was widely considered vulnerable in 2020 due to Colorado's recent Democratic trend and his support for Trump. Polling showed that more voters had a negative view of Gardner compared to a positive one. Gardner also faced a four year grassroots campaign across the state by progressive political activists to hold him accountable for his votes, featured a cardboard cutout dubbed "Cardboard Cory". The seat was expected to be highly competitive and the most likely Republican-held seat to flip Democratic. The Democratic nominee, former governor John Hickenlooper, had a consistent double-digit lead over Gardner in the polls.

Various minor scandals in the days leading up to the June 30 Democratic primary sparked speculation that Romanoff might win, but Hickenlooper had an advantage in name recognition, and harsh negative attacks by Romanoff reportedly led many state Democrats and voters to sour on him.

Nominee

 * Cory Gardner, incumbent U.S. senator

Withdrawn

 * Margot Dupre, estate agent
 * Gail Prentice, veteran and business owner

Nominee

 * John Hickenlooper, former governor of Colorado and former candidate for President of the United States in 2020

Eliminated in primary

 * Andrew Romanoff, former Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives, candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010, and nominee for Colorado's 6th congressional district in 2014

Withdrawn

 * Dan Baer, former executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education and former United States Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (endorsed John Hickenlooper)
 * Derrick Blanton
 * Marcos Boyington, software engineer
 * Diana Bray, psychologist and climate activist (endorsed Andrew Romanoff)
 * Denise Burgess, businesswoman and Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce board member
 * Ellen Burnes, Colorado State University professor and former chair of the Boulder County Democratic Party
 * Lorena Garcia, community organizer
 * David Goldfischer, associate professor at the Korbel School for International Studies at the University of Denver and national security advisor
 * Mike Johnston, former state senator and candidate for Governor of Colorado in 2018
 * Danielle Kombo, medical recruiter and businesswoman (endorsed Stephany Rose Spaulding)
 * Dustin Leitzel, pharmacist
 * Alice Madden, former majority leader of the Colorado House of Representatives
 * Christopher Hawkins Critter Milton, 2020 Unity Party nominee for Colorado's 3rd congressional district
 * Keith Pottratz, technician and veteran (endorsed Lorena Garcia)
 * Stephany Rose Spaulding, professor at University of Colorado Colorado Springs and nominee for Colorado's 5th congressional district in 2018 (endorsed Lorena Garcia)
 * Erik Underwood, entrepreneur and candidate for Governor of Colorado in 2018
 * John F. Walsh, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado (endorsed John Hickenlooper)
 * Michelle Ferrigno Warren, nonprofit leader, immigration advocate, first time candidate
 * Angela Williams, state senator (ran for re-election)
 * Trish Zornio, biomedical scientist (endorsed John Hickenlooper)

Declined

 * Diana DeGette, incumbent U.S. Representative (ran for re-election)
 * Crisanta Duran, former speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives (ran for Colorado's 1st congressional district, then withdrew)
 * Jena Griswold, Colorado Secretary of State
 * Cary Kennedy, former Colorado State Treasurer
 * Joe Neguse, incumbent U.S. representative for Colorado's 2nd congressional district (ran for re-election)
 * Ed Perlmutter, incumbent U.S. representative for Colorado's 7th congressional district (endorsed John Hickenlooper)
 * Joe Salazar, former state representative
 * Kerry Donovan, state senator (endorsed John Hickenlooper)

Polling

 * with Dan Baer and John Hickenlooper


 * with John Hickenlooper and Mike Johnston


 * with John Hickenlooper and Alice Madden


 * with John Hickenlooper and Angela Williams

Caucus
On March 7, 2020, the Colorado Democratic Party held a non-binding Senate primary preference poll at its caucus sites. Attendees could choose delegates to county and then state conventions. If a candidate received at least 30% of the delegates at the state convention they would be placed on the ballot. Some candidates were not listed because they instead chose to attempt to collect signatures to reach the ballot. Candidates needed 1,500 signatures from each congressional district. Hickenlooper and Underwood chose to do both. Romanoff collected the needed signatures as of March 8, 2020.

Caucus results
Romanoff was the only candidate to get more than 30% in the initial precinct caucuses. Hickenlooper withdrew from the assembly process soon afterward, choosing to qualify for the ballot exclusively by petition. Ballot access for assembly candidates will be decided at the state assembly. Caucus winners do not always receive the party's nomination; Romanoff won them in the 2010 Democratic primary for Colorado's Senate race, but Michael Bennet won the party's nomination that year.

The aggregate results of the various precinct caucuses on March 7, 2020, were:

Results
[[File:Colorado U.S. Senate Democratic primary, 2020.svg|thumb|250x250px|Results by county:Hickenlooper

{{legend|#7996e2ff|50–60%}} {{legend|#6674deff |60–70%}} {{legend|#584cdeff|70–80%}}Romanoff

{{legend|#aade87|50–60%}}]]

Nominee

 * Raymon Doane, Libertarian nominee for Colorado's 1st congressional district in 2018

Eliminated in primary

 * Gaylon Kent, author and perennial candidate

Nominee

 * Stephan "Chairman Seku" Evans, former candidate for Mayor of Denver

Eliminated at Unity Party convention

 * Joshua Rodriguez

Withdrawn

 * Gary Swing, perennial candidate

Declared

 * Dan Doyle (Approval Voting Party)
 * Michael Sanchez (independent)
 * Danny Skelly, small business owner (independent)
 * Bruce Lohmiller (Green Party)
 * Theodore Rockwell, Steamboat Springs (independent)

Withdrawn

 * Veronique Bellamy, former candidate for RTD board (Socialist Party)
 * Joseph "Joey" Camp, performance artist (independent)
 * Lisa Garcia (independent)
 * Christopher K. Springer (independent)
 * Donald George Willoughby (independent)
 * Marti Wolf (independent)

Poll Results

 * with generic Democrat


 * on whether Cory Gardner deserves to be re-elected


 * with Generic Republican and Generic Democrat
 * with Mike Johnston

Results
The election was not particularly close, with Hickenlooper winning by 9.32%. Hickenlooper's win was expected, as Colorado has moved more toward being a blue state. Key to Hickenlooper's victory was Denver County and its surrounding suburban counties, Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, and Jefferson, the latter of which had been pivotal to Gardner's victory in 2014. Gardner did well in the typically red El Paso County, home of Colorado Springs. Gardner also did well in many rural areas of the state. However, Hickenlooper's strong performance in heavily populated counties proved too much for Gardner to overcome. Hickenlooper was also likely helped by Joe Biden, who won the state by 13.5%.

Hickenlooper is the first senator from Colorado who was also the Governor of Colorado since Senator Edwin Johnson was elected in 1936. Hickenlooper was sworn in as Senator on January 3, 2021, for a six-year term that expires on January 3, 2027.

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
 * Chaffee (largest municipality: Salida)
 * Larimer (largest municipality: Fort Collins)

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
 * Alamosa (largest municipality: Alamosa)
 * Huerfano (largest municipality: Walsenburg)