Hickenlooper, 67, a socially progressive, pro-business Democrat who has called himself an “extreme moderate,” had long said he was considering a run, and made early visits to Iowa and New Hampshire. His biggest challenge will be distinguishing himself in what is sure to be a packed field of potentially history-making candidates and deep-pocketed household names.
“I’m running for president because we need dreamers in Washington, but we also need to get things done,” he said in a video announcing his candidacy, with the Rocky Mountains as his backdrop. “I’ve proven again and again I can bring people together to produce the progressive change Washington has failed to deliver.”
Hickenlooper plans to run as a “pragmatic progressive,” a candidate with extensive executive experience in a primary field of senators. He also suggested that his childhood as a self-declared nerd has prepared him for an electoral battle against the president.
“As a skinny kid with Coke-bottle glasses and a funny last name,” he said in the video, “I’ve stood up to my fair share of bullies.”
As governor from 2011 until he reached his term limits in 2019, Hickenlooper employed a careful, consensus-building approach that won him praise from both sides of the aisle and helped him guide Colorado out of a recession and through a series of floods, wildfires and mass shootings in the first years of his tenure. When he left office in January, his state had one of the nation’s best economies.
He had also signed a contentious gun control package that included universal background checks, and helped Colorado become the first state in the nation to enact methane capture requirements, a measure he has said was equivalent to taking 320,000 cars off the road every year.
But even in Colorado, fellow Democrats have expressed skepticism that his signature low-key approach will translate to national success.
“I don’t think John has at all defined why he is running,” said Rick Ridder, a political strategist and longtime friend of Hickenlooper. “There are very few people I know who wake up and want to go caucus to support a raging moderate.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.