John Hickenlooper

In August 2019, after dropping out of the race for the presidential nomination, Hickenlooper announced his candidacy for the United States Senate in 2020. Born in Narberth, Pennsylvania, Hickenlooper is a graduate of Wesleyan University with a bachelor's degree in English and a master's degree in geology. After his career as a geologist in 1988, he began a career in business, co-founding the Wynkoop Brewing Company in Denver. Hickenlooper sold his stake in the Wynkoop in 2007 to a group of managers and employees for a reported $7 million. Hickenlooper was elected the mayor of Denver in 2003, serving two terms, until 2011. Considered a "purple" democrat, Hickenlooper was supported by many of Denver's top Republican business leaders. In his first term, Hickenlooper eliminated the city's budget deficit, changed its career personnel system and won bipartisan support tax increases for quality-of-life initiatives, including a $4.7 billion mass-transit project, bringing a light rail system to Metro Denver. TIME Magazine named him one of America’s five best big-city mayors in 2005. In 2010, Hickenlooper won election as governor of Colorado and was re-elected in 2014. Hickenlooper was prevented from running for a third term in 2018 by term limits. During his tenure, the state went from 40th in job creation to 4th. He accomplished Medicaid expansion, infrastructure growth, reductions in state regulations and a balanced budget. He is considered a pro-business Democrat and a strong supporter of the oil and gas industry. On March 4, 2019, Hickenlooper announced his campaign for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States in 2020. His candidacy had been a matter of media speculation for months before his announcement. The campaign struggled to gain traction in the crowded and increasingly competitive Democratic presidential primary field, and Hickenlooper ended his candidacy in August.