If there was any question which of the Democrats running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Cory Gardner is the front-runner and which is the scrappy underdog, Tuesday night’s televised debate delivered a clear answer.

In nearly every exchange during the brisk, 30-minute debate on 9News, former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff took shots at former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, who aimed most of his criticism at Gardner and the incumbent’s allegiance to President Donald Trump.

After Hickenlooper called for reforming law enforcement rather than “defunding” the police, as some protesters and activists are demanding, Romanoff fired back that reform was not enough.

“We do need to shift resources and demilitarize the police. We need to invest in community services,” Romanoff said. “John fundamentally misunderstands this moment, just as he misunderstands what ‘Black Lives Matter’ means.”

Romanoff was referring to a recent online forum on racial justice when Hickenlooper said he took the phrase to mean “every life matters,” a reading some on the left said misses the point entirely.

“I stepped on my own words,” Hickenlooper said Tuesday, reminding viewers of his reputation for putting his foot in his mouth.

Romanoff later said Hickenlooper should consider withdrawing from the race – calling his candidacy “a threat we cannot afford” – in the wake of last week’s ruling that he violated state ethics law by accepting a plane ride and fancy dinners from corporations on two occasions when he was governor.

Moderator Kyle Clark asked Hickenlooper if he was sorry for breaking the law and if he regretted ignoring a subpoena issued by Colorado’s Independent Ethics Commission, which subsequently held Hickenlooper in contempt.

After described the circumstances surrounding the violations – Hickenlooper said he’d traveled to talk up Colorado any chance he got – Hickenlooper said he accepted one of the commission’s decisions and took responsibility for misunderstanding the arrangements on a trip to the Bilderberg international conference in Italy, but stopped short of apologizing.

Romanoff agreed with Clark, who asked whether he thought Hickenlooper jeopardizes Democrats’ chance of beating Gardner because the ethics issues are serious or because it’s an easy attack ad.

“It is both,” Romanoff said. “Look, John Hickenlooper just wrote the Republicans’ ad against him – twice now. First when he told everybody in the state he’d be a terrible senator and didn’t want the job” – something Hickenlooper said numerous time as a presidential candidate when he was resisting attempts to lure him into the Senate race – “and now when he breaks the law, refuses to apologize, defies a subpoena and becomes the first person ever held in contempt by the independent ethics commission.”

Added a grinning Romanoff: “John Hickenlooper represents a threat we cannot afford. I think he should consider withdrawing from this race.”

Hickenlooper shrugged off the suggestion and turned the tables on what he termed a “dark-money Republican group” that filed ethics complaints against him, one element of a barrage of attacks that will greet the nominee.

He also got in a rare dig at Romanoff, pointing out that he won election statewide as governor in 2010 and 2014 – “difficult years for Democrats” – in the same elections Romanoff lost runs for the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House, respectively.

“Andrew, you haven’t won in, what, 12 years?” Hickenlooper said, though the last election Romanoff won was to a heavily Democratic, Denver-based state House seat in 2006, 14 years ago.

“I think it’s clear I have a relationship with Coloradans through thick and thin, and they are going to recognize these as smear tactics,” Hickenlooper said.

The debate, conducted remotely via a videoconferencing platform, took place the same day some voters began receiving mail ballots for the June 30 primary.

While the two Democrats share plenty of positions, differing in many cases only on how aggressively to pursue the same aims – their answers to yes-no questions during a brief lightning round were nearly identical – they drew sharp lines on familiar terrain, including the steps to achieve universal health care and how to confront climate change.

At one point, discussing Romanoff’s support for Medicare for All and Hickenlooper’s more “evolutionary” public option approach, Romanoff accused his opponent of “parroting the talking point of the insurance industry and the Republicans.”

But on Tuesday night, it was the Republicans who were parroting – or at least amplifying – Romanoff’s attacks on Hickenloper.

“Romanoff is throwing HAYMAKERS at Hickenlooper tonight,” tweeted Kyle Kohli, the Colorado spokesman for the Republican National Committee.

“We agree with Mr. Romanoff, Hickenlooper should drop out,” said Colorado GOP spokesman Joe Jackson in a statement issued after the debate concluded.

Saying Hickenlooper “ducked questions tonight as well as he ducks subpoenas,” Joanna Rodriguez, spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, called Hickenlooper’s refusal to apologize for the ethics violations “a stain on his candidacy.”

“At least Romanoff had the courage to answer questions,” she said in a statement, adding that neither candidate “has what it takes to represent Colorado.”

The debate, co-sponsored by Colorado Politics and The Gazette, was the first of three primary debates the candidates have scheduled.

Hickenlooper and Romanoff lock horns again Wednesday 6-7 p.m. in a remote debate sponsored by CBS4, The Colorado Sun and CPT-12, set to stream live here. Next Tuesday, they’ll appear in the Denver7 studios at 6 p.m. for a 90-minute debate co-sponsored by The Denver Post, Colorado Public Radio and the University of Denver.