Hickenlooper hasn’t ‘ruled out’ possible Senate bid

Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) said he may still consider running for Senate in 2020 if his standing in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary doesn’t improve. 

The Colorado Springs Gazette reports the governor said he would be a “fool” to continue his long shot presidential bid if he doesn’t see a change in polls. 

{mosads}The comments were made in an interview with Sirius XM’s Chris Frates on Sunday. 

When pressed by Frates regarding a potential Senate run, Hickenlooper reportedly said, “I’ve never ruled out anything.”

He added that he’s “still 100 percent right now focused on being president.”

Hickenlooper has been polling between 0 and 1 percent in the crowded primary field. He has not met the Democratic National Committee’s threshold to qualify for the September debates.

Despite his failure to gain traction in the presidential primary, Hickenlooper is widely recognized as a strong candidate to take on Colorado’s Republican Sen. Cory Gardner as Democrats try to flip the Senate. He is one of several presidential candidates many Democrats have said should run for Senate and Colorado, Arizona and Maine are seen as the most competitive states for Democrats to pick up. 

Hicknelooper has previously dismissed speculation over a potential Senate run. 

“I don’t think that’s my calling,” he told reporters in July. “If I think of what God wants me to do, if there’s a beam of light coming down from heaven, what it’s illuminating for me is taking the things I’ve done, putting teams of really unique individual skills, and putting those teams together so that we really take on the big challenges of this country and of this world.”

At the time, Hicknelooper even acknowledged that his staffers told him he’d be a “lock” to defeat Gardner. 

A Hickenlooper campaign spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.