U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper plans to run for reelection in 2026, putting to rest any speculation about his future plans.  

“That depends if I run for president,” Hickenlooper said when asked during a visit to the Denver Press Club on Thursday. “That was a joke! I love being a senator.”

He added: “As a governor, I loved having the authority in making final decisions. I loved sharing all of the opinions, I loved trying to bring people together and come up with better solutions. But the cadence is intense. Whereas in the Senate, I spend two hours a day reading, calling people to discuss a relatively small number of issues that I have slowly but surely become an expert in … I totally intend to run in 2026.”

Hickenlooper explored and then ended his campaign for president in 2019, and he then turned his attention to running for the U.S. Senate.  

During the presser, the senator talked about the issue of reclassifying marijuana into a Schedule III drug, an idea that Biden officials are exploring. 

“I don’t like the reclassification,” Hickenlooper said. “I think it should be declassified… We had an incredible Healthy Kids survey in Colorado, and it demonstrates over the last 12 years there has been no increase in experimentation, consumption and frequency.”

“In many cases, we are probably better off with more marijuana consumption and probably less alcohol consumption. They do seem to be related somewhat … and not anything worse off. People smoking pot as a part of their relaxation and kick back process is not any worse off than people who have been drinking.”

Until recently, scientific research around the effects of cannabis has been scarce due to its classification as a Schedule 1 drug. Researchers at the Colorado School of Public Health at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus recently pointed to studies showing that very potent marijuana is associated with psychosis, but that it also offers some benefits, such as reducing anxiety and depression.

Hickenlooper also said he has been focused on immigration because “we need that at every level.”

“We need guest workers. We need high tech workers. We educate them, but then we force them to leave,” he said. 

Hickenlooper said he supports a two-term limit for congressional delegates.

“For the Senate, 12 years is plenty. That’s a lot of time. I do think that we lose something by having too much age there,” he said.