This past November, Haverford alumnus and former two-term Colorado governor John Hickenlooper ’70, was elected to the United States Senate. Hickenlooper, the first and only senator to graduate from The Haverford School, was also a two-term mayor of Denver.
After spending sixteen years in high-profile political offices, Hickenlooper is one of Colorado’s most well-known politicians. After he suspended his five-month presidential campaign in August 2020, Hickenlooper turned his attention to attempting to unseating incumbent Senator Cory Gardner. Running for the senate was something that Hickenlooper initially dismissed before his presidential campaign.
In February of 2019, Hickenlooper told Politico, “I’m not cut out to be a senator… Senators don’t build teams. Senators sit and debate in small groups, which is important, right? But I’m not sure that’s my—I’m a doer. That’s what gives me joy.”
This passion for “doing” is something that Hickenlooper has made clear throughout his political career. He brought Colorado’s economy from 40th in job creation to the number-one economy in the nation. He passed landmark gun safety laws and expanded Medicaid to nearly 400,000 Coloradans and decreased the uninsured rate from 14.3% in 2013 to 6.5% in 2017, according to the Colorado Health Institute.
Hickenlooper wants to bring his “doer” mentality to Washington D.C. and create lasting bipartisan change in our nation.
In addition, Hickenlooper helped to pass pioneering anti-pollution climate change measures that regulated methane emissions in the state of Colorado and he has called for a 100% renewable energy economy by 2050.
Hickenlooper wants to bring his “doer” mentality to Washington D.C. and create lasting bipartisan change in our nation. Hickenlooper will now work with Colorado’s Senator Michael Bennet (D), with whom he has a long history. Bennet served as Hickenlooper’s chief of staff when he was the mayor of Denver. They will be a part of the slim Democratic majority in the senate as President Joe Biden attempts to pass legislation in his first days in office.
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