2020 United States Senate election in Colorado

An election 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.

2020 United States Senate election in Colorado

← 2014
November 3, 2020
2026 →
 
Nominee John Hickenlooper Cory Gardner
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 1,731,114 1,429,492
Percentage 53.50% 44.18%

Hickenlooper:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%
Gardner:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%
Tie:      40–50%      No data

U.S. senator before election

Cory Gardner
Republican

Elected U.S. Senator

John Hickenlooper
Democratic

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 in which 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.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

  • Cory Gardner, incumbent U.S. senator

Withdrawn

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

Endorsements

Cory Gardner (R)

U.S. presidents

  • George W. Bush, 43rd president of the United States
  • Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States

U.S. executive branch officials

Organizations

  • Campaign for Working Families
  • Huck PAC
  • Republican Jewish Coalition

Individuals

  • Charles Koch, billionaire political activist

Results

Republican primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Cory Gardner (incumbent) 554,806 100.00%
Total votes 554,806 100.00%

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

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
  • 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)
  • Kerry Donovan, state senator (endorsed John Hickenlooper)
  • 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

Endorsements

John Hickenlooper

U.S. presidents

  • Barack Obama, 44th president of the United States

Former U.S. Executive Branch officials

  • Ken Salazar, former U.S. Interior Secretary and former U.S. senator (CO)

U.S senators

  • Kamala Harris, 2020 vice presidential nominee, United States Senator from California (2017–2021)
  • Amy Klobuchar, senator for Minnesota (2007–present), former 2020 presidential candidate.
  • Elizabeth Warren, U.S. senator from Massachusetts (2013–present), former 2020 presidential candidate

U.S. representatives

  • Ed Perlmutter, U.S. representative (CO)

State officials

  • Roy Romer, former governor of Colorado

Local officials

  • Brianna Buentello, state representative
  • Leroy Garcia, president of the Colorado Senate
  • Dylan Roberts, state representative

Newspapers

  • The Durango Herald

Organizations

  • 314 Action
  • Bend the Arc: Jewish Action
  • Congressional Black Caucus PAC
  • Congressional Hispanic Caucus
  • Council for a Livable World
  • Democratic Majority for Israel PAC
  • Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
  • End Citizens United
  • Everytown for Gun Safety
  • Feminist Majority PAC
  • Giffords
  • J Street
  • Joint Action Committee for Political Affairs
  • League of Conservation Voters
  • Let America Vote
  • NARAL Pro-Choice America
  • National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare
  • Sierra Club
  • Students for Gun Legislation
Andrew Romanoff

State officials

  • Polly Baca, former state senator and state representative
  • Peter Groff, former Colorado State Senate president and state representative

Individuals

  • Bill McKibben, environmentalist, lecturer, and founder of 350.org
  • Marianne Williamson, author, former candidate for California's 33rd congressional district, former 2020 presidential candidate

Newspapers

  • Sentinel Colorado

Organizations

  • Climate Hawks Vote
  • Our Revolution
  • Progressive Democrats of America
  • Sunrise Movement

Polling

Poll source Date(s)
administered
Sample
size
Margin
of error
Jena
Griswold
John
Hickenlooper
Mike
Johnston
Andrew
Romanoff
Other /
Undecided
SurveyUSA June 19–24, 2020 575 (LV) ± 6.0% 58% 28% 15%
Myers Research and Strategic Services June 16–17, 2020 500 (LV) ± 4.4% 51% 39%
Unspecified polling firm October 2019 – (LV) 68% 19%
September 3, 2019 Johnston withdraws from the race
Public Policy Polling (D) August 28–29, 2019 509 (LV) 60% 3% 9% 27%
66% 17% 17%
August 21, 2019 Hickenlooper announces his candidacy
August 9, 2019 Griswold announces that she will not run
Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group July 25–28, 2019 600 (LV) 6% 61% 10% 8% 15%
Public Policy Polling (D) July 12–14, 2019 561 (LV) 4% 44% 3% 12% 38%

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:

Candidate Total raw votes Percentage of vote won (%)
Andrew Romanoff 8,629 54.98
John Hickenlooper 4,761 30.34
Trish Zornio 976 6.21
Stephany Rose Spaulding 771 4.91
Uncommitted 520 3.31
Erik Underwood 35 0.22

Results

Democratic primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic John Hickenlooper 585,826 58.65%
Democratic Andrew Romanoff 412,955 41.35%
Total votes 998,781 100.00%

Other candidates

Libertarian primary

Nominee

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

Eliminated in primary

  • Gaylon Kent, author and perennial candidate

Results

Libertarian primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Libertarian Raymon Doane 3,477 62.41%
Libertarian Gaylon Kent 2,094 37.59%
Total votes 5,571 100.00%

Unity Party

Nominee

  • Stephan "Chairman Seku" Evans, former candidate for mayor of Denver

Eliminated at Unity Party convention

  • Joshua Rodriguez

Withdrawn

  • Gary Swing, perennial candidate

Write-in candidates

Declared

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

General election

Debate

Host Date & time Link(s) Participants
John

Hickenlooper

Cory Gardner
Colorado State University October 13, 2020
6:00pm MDT
Present Present

Predictions

Source Ranking As of
The Cook Political Report Lean D (flip) October 29, 2020
Inside Elections Lean D (flip) October 28, 2020
Sabato's Crystal Ball Likely D (flip) November 2, 2020
Daily Kos Likely D (flip) October 30, 2020
Politico Lean D (flip) November 2, 2020
RCP Lean D (flip) October 23, 2020
DDHQ Likely D (flip) November 3, 2020
538 Likely D (flip) November 2, 2020
Economist Likely D (flip) November 2, 2020

Post-primary endorsements

Cory Gardner (R)

Organizations

Newspapers

  • The Gazette
John Hickenlooper (D)

U.S senators

  • Michael Bennet, U.S. senator from Colorado (2009–present), former 2020 presidential candidate

Unions

  • International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers
  • National Education Association
  • SEIU Local 105
  • United Auto Workers
  • United Farm Workers

Organizations

  • Black Economic Alliance
  • Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance
  • Humane Society of the United States Legislative Fund
  • MoveOn
  • Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund
  • Population Connection

Polling

Graphical Summary

Poll results

Poll source Date(s)
administered
Sample
size
Margin
of error
Cory
Gardner (R)
John
Hickenlooper (D)
Other /
Undecided
Keating Research/Onsight Public Affairs/Colorado Sun October 29 – November 1, 2020 502 (LV) ± 4.4% 42% 53%
Data for Progress October 27 – November 1, 2020 709 (LV) ± 3.7% 45% 54% 2%
Swayable October 23 – November 1, 2020 443 (LV) ± 6% 43% 57%
Morning Consult October 22–31, 2020 727 (LV) ± 4% 44% 52%
Morning Consult October 11–20, 2020 788 (LV) ± 3.5% 42% 50%
RBI Strategies & Research October 12–16, 2020 502 (LV) ± 4.4% 39% 53% 7%
RMG Research/PoliticalIQ October 9–15, 2020 800 (LV) ± 3.5% 42% 51% 7%
Civiqs/Daily Kos October 11–14, 2020 1,013 (LV) ± 3.6% 42% 53% 3%
Keating Research/OnSight Public Affairs/Melanson October 8–13, 2020 519 (LV) ± 4.3% 41% 51% 7%
Morning Consult October 2–11, 2020 837 (LV) ± 3.4% 40% 50%
YouGov/University of Colorado October 5–9, 2020 800 (LV) ± 4.64% 40% 48% 12%
SurveyUSA October 1–6, 2020 1,021 (LV) ± 3.9% 39% 48% 14%
Morning Consult September 11–20, 2020 613 (LV) ± (2% – 7%) 42% 49%
Morning Consult September 8–17, 2020 599 (LV) ± (2% – 4%) 44% 46%
Fabrizio Ward/Hart Research Associates August 30 – September 5, 2020 800 (LV) ± 3.5% 46% 51% 4%
Global Strategy Group (D) August 28 – September 1, 2020 800 (LV) ± 3.5% 42% 52% 5%
Morning Consult August 21–30, 2020 638 (LV) ± 4.0% 39% 48% 13%
Morning Consult August 16–25, 2020 ≈600 (LV) ± 4.0% 39% 48%
Public Policy Polling (D) August 18–19, 2020 731 (V) ± 3.2% 42% 51% 7%
Morning Consult August 6–15, 2020 ≈600 (LV) ± 4.0% 38% 49%
Morning Consult July 27 – August 5, 2020 ≈600 (LV) ± 4.0% 39% 50%
Morning Consult July 17–26, 2020 616 (LV) ± 4.0% 42% 48% 11%
Morning Consult July 13–22, 2020 ≈600 (LV) ± 4.0% 41% 50%
Public Policy Polling June 29–30, 2020 840 (V) ± 3.4% 40% 51% 9%
Keating Research/OnSight Public Affairs/Melanson May 1–3, 2020 600 (LV) ± 4.0% 36% 54% 10%
Montana State University Bozeman April 10–19, 2020 379 (LV) ± 4.4% 31% 48% 21%
Keating Research October 10–14, 2019 500 (LV) ± 4.4% 42% 53% 5%
Emerson College August 16–19, 2019 1,000 (RV) ± 3.0% 40% 53% 8%
Global Strategy Group (D) August 13–14, 2019 617 (LV) ± 3.9% 39% 49% 13%
Public Policy Polling August 8–11, 2019 739 (V) ± 3.6% 38% 51% 12%
Hypothetical polling

with generic Democrat

Poll source Date(s)
administered
Sample
size
Margin
of error
Cory
Gardner (R)
Generic
Democrat
Other /
Undecided
Global Strategy Group (D) August 13–14, 2019 617 (LV) ± 3.9% 38% 48% 14%
Global Strategy Group January 31 – February 4, 2019 818 (RV) ± 3.4% 40% 51% 9%
DFM Research January 2–5, 2019 550 (A) ± 4.2% 38% 46% 16%
Change Research (D) December 2–4, 2018 540 (LV) ± 4.2% 41% 47%
Public Policy Polling (D) August 2–3, 2017 628 (V) ± 3.8% 41% 46% 13%
Public Policy Polling (D) June 30 – July 1, 2017 870 (V) ± 3.6% 39% 53% 8%

on whether Cory Gardner deserves to be re-elected

Poll source Date(s)
administered
Sample
size
Margin
of error
Yes No Other /
Undecided
Fabrizio Ward/AARP July 29–31, 2019 600 (LV) ± 4.0% 32% 50% 19%

with Generic Republican and Generic Democrat

Poll source Date(s)
administered
Sample
size
Margin
of error
Generic
Republican
Generic
Democrat
Other /
Undecided
YouGov/University of Colorado October 5–9, 2020 800 (LV) ± 4.64% 39% 47% 14%
Climate Nexus February 15–19, 2020 485 (RV) ± 4.5% 40% 48% 12%
Fabrizio Ward/AARP July 29–31, 2019 600 (LV) ± 4.0% 42% 44% 14%

with Mike Johnston

Poll source Date(s)
administered
Sample
size
Margin
of error
Cory
Gardner (R)
Mike
Johnston (D)
Other Undecided
Global Strategy Group (D) August 13–14, 2019 617 (LV) ± 3.9% 39% 50% 11%
Fabrizio Ward/AARP July 29–31, 2019 600 (LV) ± 4.0% 45% 39% 2% 14%

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.[citation needed] 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.

United States Senate election in Colorado, 2020
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic John Hickenlooper 1,731,114 53.50% +7.24%
Republican Cory Gardner (incumbent) 1,429,492 44.18% −4.03%
Libertarian Raymon Doane 56,262 1.74% −0.85%
Approval Voting Daniel Doyle 9,820 0.30% N/A
Unity Stephen Evans 8,971 0.28% −0.04%
Total votes 3,235,659 100.00% N/A
Democratic gain from Republican

By county

By congressional district

Hickenlooper won four of seven congressional districts.

District Gardner Hickenlooper Representative
1st 24% 74% Diana DeGette
2nd 36% 62% Joe Neguse
3rd 52% 45% Scott Tipton
Lauren Boebert
4th 59% 39% Ken Buck
5th 57% 40% Doug Lamborn
6th 42% 56% Jason Crow
7th 39% 58% Ed Perlmutter

See also

  • 2020 Colorado elections
  • 2020 United States Senate elections

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