DENVER, Colo. – Democrat John Hickenlooper is projected to defeat Republican incumbent Cory Gardner for Colorado’s U.S. Senate seat, The Associated Press reports.
BREAKING: Democrat John Hickenlooper wins election to U.S. Senate from Colorado, beating incumbent Sen. Cory Gardner. #APracecall at 7:42 p.m. MST. #Election2020 #COelection https://t.co/lGfinjTqT4
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 4, 2020
The flipped seat puts the Democratic Party one step closer to potentially regaining control of the Senate.
Hickenlooper is the former governor of Colorado and the ex-mayor of Denver. He also ran for president during this election cycle before dropping out and entering the Senate race.
The mountainous state now has two Democratic senators. Hickenlooper will join Sen. Michael Bennet in Washington D.C.
Gardner has represented the Centennial State since 2015. His seat was seen as one of the GOP’s most vulnerable, because the state has steadily moved left over the past few years.
According to The Associated Press, Democrats have won every statewide race since Gardner’s election, with the exception of a board of regents position in 2016.