WASHINGTON –
Colorado's former Gov.
John Hickenlooper on Monday joined the growing field of
Democratic candidates hoping to unseat President
Donald Trump in 2020.
The centrist Democrat made the announcement in an online video titled "Standing Tall." The video touts Hickenlooper's accomplishments as governor and highlights his biography as an unemployed geologist who became a successful restaurateur.
"We need a leader who can bring people together and get stuff done. As a successful entrepreneur, mayor and governor, I’ve proven that I can build and lead amazing teams of talented people- a key ingredient to effecting real progressive change. I hope you'll join me," he tweeted Monday morning.
The two-term governor left office in January. Before becoming governor, he served two terms He is expected to campaign on his ability to implement Democratic goals in a politically divided state and to try to stand out from the largely progressive group of Democratic candidates by portraying himself as a pragmatist. Hickenlooper has hedged on supporting Medicare for All and the Green New Deal.
"I'm running for president because we're facing a crisis that threatens everything we stand for," Hickenlooper, 67, said, as the video displayed an image of Trump. "As a skinny kid with Coke bottle glasses and a funny last name, I've stood up to my fair share of bullies."
Hickenlooper said, "we need dreamers in Washington but we also need to get things done. I've proven again and again I can bring people together to produce the progressive change Washington has failed to deliver."
On "Good Morning America" on Monday, Hickenlooper further detailed the crisis he believes America is facing, citing climate change and the soaring cost of health care as symptoms of a larger problem.
"This is a crisis of division," he said. "And I think it's probably the worst period of division that we've had in this country since the civil war.
"Ultimately I'm running for president because I believe not only that I can beat Donald Trump, but that I am the person that can bring people together on the other side and actually get stuff done," he said.
The campaign video pointed to his success in bringing oil and gas companies together with environmentalists to agree on methane emission caps. The campaign video also focused on Hickenlooper's gun control efforts in the wake of the 2012 mass shooting in an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater. He signed bills requiring universal background checks and limiting magazine capacity to 15 rounds.
He previously told the Fort Collins Coloradoan that he would bring a western perspective and collegiality missing from much of the national debate. It was one of the first times the former governor specifically addressed the question of whether he would run for president in 2020.
"I understand that I would be a ridiculous long shot, and we're not a big state, we don't have all the donors and giant corporations and all that stuff," Hickenlooper said at the time. "I think there's a reason we've had the No. 1 economy for two years in a row. I don't think that happened by accident. I think that was a function of that unity, that feeling that we're all in this together and we're going to find solutions to our economy and our education, make sure that we have a workforce."
Hickenlooper will be able to point to other liberal accomplishments as governor. He signed a law legalizing same-sex civil unions in 2013 and opposed the death penalty. He also ordered Colorado to adopt California's low vehicle emission standards before leaving office.
But some progressives felt that Hickenlooper was too supportive of the energy industry and were critical of his opposition to ballot measures that sought to limit drilling in suburban areas.
In 2017, Hickenlooper and former Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich joined to propose fixes for the Affordable Care Act. The bipartisan effort fueled speculation that the pair might consider a "unity ticket" in 2020, but Hickenlooper threw cold water on that idea in September.
The Republican Nation Committee rejected the notion that Hickenlooper is a moderate, calling him a "tax-and-spend liberal" in a statement Monday.
"John Hickenlooper is the latest tax-and-spend liberal to join the race. But according to Hickenlooper, he’s actually ‘a lot more progressive’ than his far-left opponents. In a primary dominated by socialist policies like the $93 trillion ‘Green New Deal,’ that puts him way outside the mainstream," said RNC spokesman Michael Ahrens.