With Joe Garcia’s announcement this week that he will soon be stepping down as lieutenant governor, speculation has quickly turned to who Gov. John Hickenlooper will tap to fill the post.

Will the new No. 2 simply be a placeholder to serve out the term-limited administration’s final three years in office? Or will the Democrat select a replacement who could use the post as a springboard to a gubernatorial run in 2018?

“The governor is completely liberated here,” said independent political analyst Eric Sondermann. “He’s term-limited. He can play whatever game he wants to play.”

The governor’s office announced Tuesday that Garcia has accepted a position as president of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. Garcia – who also serves as executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education – plans to begin his new job by July.

Upon a vacancy in the office, the state constitution says the governor nominates a successor, who must be confirmed by a majority vote in both chambers of the General Assembly. It’s up to Hickenlooper to decide what kind of lieutenant governor he wants.

Sondermann said the governor can go in any number of directions. He could pick a serious gubernatorial contender whose position as lieutenant governor would give him or her an advantage over other potential 2018 candidates. He could also pick a close associate – “someone fun” – he could work with to finish the work he started in 2011.

“Or he can play constituency politics if he wants, whether it’s ethnic or female or a specific interest group,” Sondermann said. “But he pretty much has carte blanche.”

Garcia told The Colorado Statesman that he isn’t giving Hickenlooper any advice right now.

“I want to be in on the conversation,” he said. “But it’s early yet, and we haven’t figured out who that person ought to be and what role they ought to play. So those things are very preliminary.”

Hickenlooper could choose another Latino to fill the post. Garcia supports making that consideration but said the governor will weigh additional factors.

“I think, given the demographics in our state, it is a population that should be considered when the governor makes his decision,” Garcia said. “But ultimately the governor has to pick the best person for the job, (the) best person to carry out his agenda over the next three years.”

Latino groups lauded Hickenlooper’s choice of Garcia as his running mate in 2010.

“When he picked (Garcia), it was an opportunity for this community to have a say at one of the highest levels of government,” said Joelle Martinez, executive director of the Latino Leadership Institute.

Martinez said her organization will encourage the governor to select another Latino to fill the post.

Geographic balance could also be a factor in Hickenlooper’s decision. Republicans often knock Democrats for being too “Denver-centric” at the Capitol. Garcia, who served as president of Colorado State University-Pueblo, provided that balance for Hickenlooper, a former Denver mayor.

State Sen. Leroy Garcia — a Democrat from Pueblo, like the lieutenant governor — said Lt. Gov. Garcia has been a “great advocate for southern Colorado.” Sen. Garcia added that it’s “absolutely essential” that a lieutenant governor bring regional balance to an executive administration.

“It’s important that you have people who understand those issues (that are important to southern Colorado),” said Sen. Garcia. “Joe comes from that.”

Sen. Garcia said he has “immense pride” in the fact that the sitting lieutenant governor is a Latino from Pueblo — boxes Garcia himself can check. But Garcia said he won’t be lobbying for the post.

“I’m proudly serving Pueblo and southern Colorado, and I take pride in what I’m doing now,” he said.

Hickenlooper could make a pick that doesn’t make a splash. The governor could decide he doesn’t want to interfere with 2018 politics. Besides, whomever Hickenlooper picks, the nominee would have to be approved by both the House, which is controlled by Democrats, and the Senate, where Republicans own a one-seat majority.

“I think that it could be holy hell in the Senate, because Republicans don’t want to see a potential political successor to Hickenlooper get through,” said Ellen Dumm, a political consultant who was once a staffer to former Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien.

“It could be a prolonged battle. I think (the governor would) rather get stuff done at the Legislature than fight over who is lieutenant governor.”

Sondermann thinks Hickenlooper could rankle some Democrats if he nominates a serious 2018 contender for the position.

“If Hickenlooper wanted to put his finger on that scale, some Republicans might find that hard to swallow, but I think the bigger battle would be in the Democratic Party,” he said.

Sondermann said four prominent Democrats have been rumored as possible gubernatorial candidates in 2018: former U.S. Sen. and former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, state Sen. Mike Johnston, Denver Deputy Mayor and former State Treasurer Cary Kennedy — and Joe Garcia. (There’s also been plenty of chatter lately that U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter has his eye on a run for governor.)

But speculation over Garcia’s political future ended with this week’s announcement.

“If that had been my goal, there would have been no reason to leave my current position,” Joe Garcia said of any gubernatorial ambitions. “I was in the best possible place from which to launch a campaign, so the fact that I’m moving to a different position answers that question.”

Garcia said it’s unlikely that he will seek elected office in the future. Instead, he will focus on many of the same issues he’s been working on the last five years — improving higher education outcomes for all populations and “making sure we’re graduating people not just from our majority population, but from our minority population as well.”

Garcia said he will miss working at the Capitol.

“When you walk into that Capitol in the morning and have a look around, it really does remind you in a very clear way that what you’re doing matters — and matters to the entire state,” he said. “It’s a real honor to have the opportunity to work in that building on behalf of the people of Colorado. I will always miss that. It’s been one of the highlights of my professional career.”

— Twitter: @VicVela1