Denver, Colo – Poor former State Senator Mike Johnston dropped out of Colorado’s U.S. Senate Race after ex-governor John Hickenlooper joined the race. Johnston runs quality campaigns with a heavy travel schedule that ventures outside the Denver-Boulder corridor, but still, he remains a runner-up.
Plus Johnston, who is pretty much wrong on everything (also, click here), is a very good orator (unlike Hickenlooper). He has a lot of energy (unlike Hickenlooper) is fairly young (unlike Hickenlooper), and has put up some impressive fundraising numbers (unlike Hickenlooper). In fact, as of the last reporting period, Johnston had raised $3.4 million. He had about $2.6 million cash on hand, clearly outclassing every other Democrat U.S. Senate Candidate looking to challenge Senator Cory Gardner in 2020.
You would think Democrats would be chomping at the bit to have someone like Johnston in the U.S. Senate. Johnston has a lot of intangibles and a lot of upsides – being so young he could hold that seat for a long time.
But alas, that is not going to happen. Instead, the Democrats are on track to anoint Hickenlooper as their champion to take on Senator Gardner.
That’s why Johnston dropping out is so important. Establishment Democrats are pushing out the competition. We would consider Johnston the number one candidate in the race that has the money to be competitive. Expect the other much weaker eleven dominoes (Democrat candidates in the primary) to fall in the very near future.
This also creates a unique situation for Colorado Democrats – the establishment is alienating the base. Republicans do this just about every election cycle, and the base ends up not turning out in November for the election. This often results in Republicans loses. We think the same may happen to the Democrats this time…at least for the U.S. Senate Race.
We’re not necessarily fans of Senator Cory Gardner, in fact as conservatives, he makes us mad quite a bit. However, we do recognize that Cory has a talent and knows how to campaign. Does that mean Cory will win in 2020? Our writers are pretty divided on this topic, and we would love to hear your comments below.
With Cory’s talent, we think the Democrats, are making a mistake with Hickenlooper. Hickenlooper is not up against a Republican campaign debacle like what happened with Dan Maes in 2010 or two-time loser Bob Beauprez in 2014. Hickenlooper is likely facing the only Republican top of the ticket candidate to actually win Colorado in the last 15 years (Bush 2004). FYI – “Top of the ticket” is political jargon for the top-line race. Generally, that means U.S. President, U.S. Senate, or Governor.
But, back to Mike Johnston. Even though he’s a Democrat, there are still points to make. We would guess that Johnston was promised something. He is legally allowed to roll over the campaign funds he raised to another federal campaign like Congress. If he moved back to his parent’s house in ritzy Vail, CO he could challenge Republican Congressman Scott Tipton in Congressional District 3. That would be a dog fight.
This is speculation, but we doubt Johnston will go away, and Republicans will have to deal with him in the future.
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