Club 20 to discuss Hickenlooper’s decision not to debate
The political debates at the Club 20 meeting of business and civic leaders on the Western Slope is a Colorado election-year tradition, but one former Gov. John Hickenlooper is skipping this year.
The organization is planning a press conference next Monday to announce Hickenlooper’s decision. He is set to meet incumbent Republican Cory Gardner in the November election for Colorado’s U.S. Senate seat.
The Club 20 meeting this year is online Sept. 18-19, livestreamed statewide by Colorado Mesa University, rather than the weekend of festivities in Grand Junction each September.
“In the face of these modifications, the Hickenlooper Senatorial Campaign has announced that they will not attend the Club 20 debates and will only be participating in debates along the I-25 corridor,” Club 20 said in a media advisory Thursday afternoon.
The news wasn’t a surprise, however. The governor’s campaign said more than a week ago it had accepted four debates so far: An Oct. 2 in Pueblo, Oct. 6 in Denver, Oct. 13 in Fort Collins a debate on a date in October to be announced on Telemundo, a Spanish-language network with stations in Denver, Colorado Springs, Grand Junction and Durango.
“We have agreed to 4 debates and look forward to continuing to hear from and talk to voters throughout the entire state,” Melissa Miller, Hickenlooper’s communications director, said in response to Club 20’s announcement Thursday afternoon.
Gardner’s campaign said Thursday he would have been glad to debate for Club 20.
“It’s unfortunate John Hickenlooper is refusing to debate on the Western Slope,” Gardner spokesman Jerrod Dobkin, said in an email. “Senator Gardner looks forward to being at Club 20 on September 19th with or without Hickenlooper, who used to ‘thank’ Club 20 for their advocacy, but now just blows them off.”
The decision also has precedence for the Democrat at the top of the ticket. Jared Polis skipped the debate two years ago on his way to a decisive November win over Republican Walker Stapleton. The Western Slope has been traditionally heavily Republican.
Colorado GOP chair Brita Horn says she’ll resign next month, points to ‘divide within our party’
Ernest Luning
ernest.luning@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 14 hours ago
Colorado Republican Party Chair Brita Horn said Thursday that she will resign her position next month following the GOP’s state assembly, citing what she described as an “enduring divide” within the party “marked by vitriol and hostility.” Horn’s announcement came...
Colorado committee recommends rejecting alcohol, marijuana tax hike to fund mental health care
Marissa Ventrelli
marissa.ventrelli@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 22 hours ago
In a rare move, Colorado’s Capital Development Committee unanimously recommended that another legislative committee reject a bill asking voters to approve higher excise taxes on alcohol and marijuana to fund a new mental health hospital in Aurora. Sponsored by Rep....
Republican Jeff Crank, Democrat Jessica Killin qualify by petition for Colorado’s 5th CD primary
Ernest Luning
ernest.luning@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 1 day ago
Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank and Jessica Killin, one of the Democrats challenging the first-term incumbent, have both qualified for the primary ballot in Colorado’s 5th Congressional District after turning in a sufficient number of petition signatures, state election officials...
Split vote by Colorado Title Board stops ballot push to privatize Pinnacol Assurance
Marianne Goodland
marianne.goodland@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 17 hours ago
The Colorado Title Board, a three-member panel that sets the language for ballot measures, recently reversed a prior decision and blocked a proposal to privatize Pinnacol Assurance from moving forward. The main issue decided by the title board is whether...
Colorado joins multi-state call to keep ICE away from polling locations
Jacob Mauk
jacob.mauk@denvergazette.com
Updated 4 days ago
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced Monday that the state has formally requested written confirmation from the Department of Homeland Security that ICE agents will not be stationed at polling locations during the 2026 election cycle, according to a...
Can deliberation save democracy? | Vince Bzdek
Vince Bzdek
vince.bzdek@gazette.com
Updated 4 days ago
In September 2019, 523 Americans traveled to Dallas for an experiment called “America in One Room.” The gathering was designed to test a theory: Could representative citizens deliberate productively even in an era of intense polarization? The event focused on...
Redistricting scheme would give Colorado Democrats seven House members, split El Paso County | Bob Loevy
Bob Loevy
bob-loevy@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 5 days ago
A proposed redistricting plan, which could give Colorado seven Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives and only one Republican, would split El Paso County into two parts and thereby weaken the county’s influence in Congress. El Paso County,...
Colorado Democrats, Republicans fight over ballot fiscal information
Marissa Ventrelli
marissa.ventrelli@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 7 days ago
Republicans and Democrats clashed anew over legislation that would require identifying which programs would see a funding reduction if a ballot measure passed, with the former saying it’s yet another way for the government to control the campaign narrative and...
Democrat Dwayne Romero jumps in primary to challenge Republican Jeff Hurd in Colorado’s 3rd CD
Ernest Luning
ernest.luning@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 16 hours ago
The Democrat who has been running for nearly a year to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District got some company in the primary this week. Dwayne Romero, a Snowmass Village business owner and decorated Army...
Colorado’s congressional redistricting proposal could flip three Republican House seats | ANALYSIS
Michael Braithwaite
michael.braithwaite@gazette.com
Updated 5 days ago
A Democrat-backed proposal to redraw Colorado’s congressional map for the 2028 election could flip three Republican districts. The proposal, introduced by a group called Coloradans for a Level Playing Field, is yet another development in a national redistricting debate after...
PREV
PREVIOUS
TRAIL MIX | A 'take no prisoners' Republican joins the Resistance
In late February, Jonathan Lockwood was backstage at President Donald Trump’s rally in Colorado Springs, mingling with some of the prominent Republicans he’d worked with for nearly a decade to come up with the most vivid ways to get out the party’s messages. In the years he’d been serving as a spokesman for upwards of […]
CSU president launches investigation after allegations of COVID-19 'cover-up'
One day after a report alleged that Colorado State University’s athletics department was covering up COVID-19 cases among student athletes and disregarding precautionary measures, the institution’s president says she has launched an investigation. “This investigation will come out of my office. It will move quickly, and I will transparently share the outcome with all of […]