Hickenlooper has been seriously considering a run for the Republican-held Senate seat in Colorado that is up for election in 2020 — a key pickup target in the Democrats’ strategy to try to retake control of the Senate.
“Today, I’m ending my campaign for president,” he said in a videotaped statement. “But I will never stop believing that America can only move forward when we work together.”
“I’ve heard from so many Coloradans who want me to run for the United States Senate,” he added. “They remind me how much is at stake for our country. And our state. I intend to give that some serious thought.”
Hickenlooper’s White House bid never gained significant traction and struggled so acutely that top staff members departed. He failed to break through in the polls, raised less money than most of his competitors and was all but certain to miss the cutoff for the Democratic debates in September.
A failure to qualify for the debates would have added to a growing list of humbling moments for Hickenlooper, 67, who is also a former Denver mayor, brewpub owner and geologist. All too often he found himself in front of small, distracted crowds at campaign events. He was mistaken at one point for a member of the news media and at another for a different candidate.
Hickenlooper is the second candidate to withdraw from the Democratic presidential field since it expanded significantly in the spring; Rep. Eric Swalwell of California exited the race in July. Twenty-three others are still seeking the nomination.
Hickenlooper had been in discussions about withdrawing from the presidential primary since at least early this month and running for the Senate instead. Colorado is a purple battleground state, and flipping the seat currently held by Sen. Cory Gardner is all but mandatory if Democrats hope to have any chance of retaking the Senate.
A recent poll showed Hickenlooper with more than a 50-point lead over the current leading Democrats in the race for the party’s nomination for the Senate seat; another poll showed him ahead of Gardner by 13 percentage points in a head-to-head matchup. Those surveys were conducted by Democratic polling firms.
Hickenlooper has largely resisted the idea of running for Senate. But this month, as his presidential campaign lurched along, Hickenlooper’s communications director told CNN that the former governor had not “closed the door to anything.” Sen. Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, has spent months trying to recruit Hickenlooper to enter the Senate contest. And during a recent trip to Iowa, Hickenlooper hopped into the car of Colorado’s Democratic senator, Michael Bennet, to discuss his impending decision.
He is one of a handful of presidential candidates, including former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas and Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana, who have been encouraged by some Democrats to drop their bids for the White House and run for the Senate.
On policy, Hickenlooper sought to carve out space for himself as a moderate option for voters during an election cycle that has seen progressive ideas flourish. A successful entrepreneur who helped open a chain of Midwestern pubs and restaurants, Hickenlooper staunchly defended capitalism and rejected socialism — even when it earned him disdain.
In kicking off his campaign, he also pitched himself as a unifier who could help mend what he called a “crisis of division.” But in a partisan era in which many Democrats are seething with anger toward President Donald Trump, messages about compromise and compassion from Hickenlooper and some of his rivals have largely fallen on deaf ears.
As it turned out, the July debates would be Hickenlooper’s final opportunity to speak to millions of Americans at once. He spent much of the evening pushing back on liberal policy ideas like “Medicare for All” and the Green New Deal. With momentum behind the more popular and progressive candidates onstage with him, Hickenlooper at times appeared under strain.
And yet, when it was his turn to give a brief closing statement, he began by expressing only unbridled enthusiasm.
“What a night,” he said. “I’ve loved it.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.