John Hickenlooper

John Hickenlooper

John Hickenlooper serves as the junior United States Senator from Colorado - since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Hickenlooper was mayor of Denver from 2003 to 2011 and governor of Colorado from 2011 to 2019.

John Hickenlooper was born in Narberth, Pennsylvania, a middle-class area of the suburban Main Line of Philadelphia.A 1970 graduate of The Haverford School, an independent boys school in Haverford, Pennsylvania, he went on to attend Wesleyan University, where he received a B.A. in English in 1974 and a master's degree in geology in 1980.

Hickenlooper worked as a geologist in Colorado for Buckhorn Petroleum in the early 1980s. When Buckhorn was sold, Hickenlooper was laid off in 1986. He and five business partners opened the Wynkoop Brewing Company brewpub in October 1988 after raising startup funds from dozens of friends and family along with a Denver economic development office loan. The Wynkoop was one of the first brewpubs in the United States.

JStreet PAC endorsement

In 2024 JStreet PAC endorsed John Hickenlooper.

Natural Resources Defense Council

In 2022 the Natural Resources Defense Council endorsed Senator John Hickenlooper.

World Economic Forum

Left programs

While Cory Gardner has voted repeatedly to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Hickenlooper proudly embraces it declaring “Health care is a right, not a privilege.” He is proud of his health care record in Colorado and views the ACA as a foundation on which we should build, not the final product. He vows to fight climate change calling for a transition to a 100% renewable energy economy with net-zero emissions by 2050 and will work for a job-creating energy plan for America. Even in gun-totting Colorado, he has the courage to stand up to the NRA and call for sensible gun control measures which even most sensible gun owners can support. He embraces economic measures which will grow the economy by bringing together employers and potential employees with skills training programs. His commitment to arms control is consistent and goes back to his days demonstrating against the war in Vietnam and for the nuclear freeze movement.

Shanghai

China tour

A delegation of CSU representatives led by Provost and Executive Vice President Rick Miranda will join Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper in China on Oct. 12 2015 following his visit to Japan. They will meet with the founder and chairman of Cathay Industrial Biotech and other company representatives in Shanghai to discuss Cathay Biotech’s work in Colorado and with CSU.

CSU Vice Provost for International Affairs Jim Cooney explained that CSU is coordinating the visits of several groups to China in mid-October, and the visit to Shanghai with Hickenlooper is one of the top priorities.

Another top priority for the China trip is an international “Symposium on Agricultural Extension and Technology Transfer,” Oct. 16-17 in Anhui Province. Vice President for Engagement Louis Swanson has been the chief CSU organizer for the symposium. Thirty-nine Chinese universities will send representatives to discuss the topic with several CSU faculty members. Senior government officials from three Chinese ministries plus Anhui Province will also be involved in the event, which is expected to be covered widely in the Chinese media.

“It is a path-breaking collaboration on extension and technology transfer between China and the United States, and it will spread CSU’s name widely in China,” Cooney said, adding that Miranda will be the featured CSU speaker at the symposium.

During the visit to China, the CSU delegation will also meet with representatives from seven Chinese universities to develop ongoing partnerships or consider new forms of collaboration. In addition, there will be a CSU Confucius Institute Seminar on urban water at China’s famous Tsinghua University Oct. 21-22.

In addition to Miranda, Cooney and Swanson, other CSU officials on the China trip include Vice President for Research Alan Rudolph, Vice President for University Operations Lynn Johnson, Associate Provost for Instructional Innovation Mike Palmquist, and Associate Provost for China Programs Wei Gao, also a professor in Ecosystem Science and Sustainability.

“With 31 participants, this is by far the largest delegation we have ever sent to China,” Cooney said.

Common Defense endorsement

Common Defense endorsed John Hickenlooper in 2018.

"End the Forever War"

END THE FOREVER WAR PLEDGE

The United States has been in a state of continuous, global, open-ended military conflict since 2001. Over 2.5 million troops have fought in this “Forever War” in over a dozen countries – including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Jordan, Niger, Somalia, and Thailand. I pledge to the people of the United States of America, and to our military community in particular, that I will (1) fight to reclaim Congress’s constitutional authority to conduct oversight of U.S. foreign policy and independently debate whether to authorize each new use of military force, and (2) act to bring the Forever War to a responsible and expedient conclusion.

2020 signatories of the Common Defense pledge.

Presidential Candidates

Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Julian Castro, John Hickenlooper, Beto O'Rourke, Mike Gravel, Andrew Yang.

Endorsing Yara Zokaie

Senator John Hickenlooper, Senator Michael Bennet, Rep. Joe Neguse, State Rep. Cathy Kopp.

NIAC support

NIAC Action did not endorse any Senate candidates but our members provided financial support for many of the crucial races needed to flip the Senate. At least two challenger candidates defeated pro-Trump incumbents in the Senate, including Mark Kelly (D) in Arizona and former Governor John Hickenlooper (D) in Colorado, both of whom are supportive of the JCPOA and more equitable immigration policies.

Council for a Livable World

John Hickenlooper for Senate (D-CO).

Former Colorado Governor and presidential candidate John Hickenlooper didn’t take the usual path to public office. After working as a geologist, he became a brewer and small-business owner whose successful pub was a part of the revitalization a portion of Denver.

He is running for Senate against one of the most vulnerable Republican Senators, Sen. Cory Gardner, a first-term Senator in what political experts rate as a toss-up race. Colorado is a state that has been leaning blue; Hillary Clinton carried the state by five points in 2016 and Democrats have won the last four gubernatorial races.

As a young man, Hickenlooper was active in both the nuclear freeze movement and anti-Vietnam war demonstrations. Upon entering politics, Hickenlooper was elected Mayor of Denver and then a two-term governor of the state. He is one of the most popular politicians in Colorado history, has terrific name recognition and is a great fundraiser.

He also opposes new nuclear weapons being proposed by the Trump administration and supports re-entering the Iran nuclear agreement and extending the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty.

He will be a terrific addition to the U.S. Senate.

War protestor

During the Vietnam War John Hickenlooper received a student deferment, but the military was no longer drafting young men when he graduated from college in 1974.

“I marched on Washington to oppose the Vietnam War. I went to the first Earth Day in 1969".

Rocky Mountain Institute connection

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper (left) and RMI Trustee John Abele 2008

RMI Co-Founder Amory Lovins and U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper 2022

John Hickenlooper has close ties to the Rocky Mountain Institute.,

From the Aspen Daily News June 1, 2022:

"Sitting around U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colorado, and Rocky Mountain Institute co-founder Amory Lovins on Tuesday morning felt like a bit of a homecoming for many of the people in attendance. After all, many of them have worked together over the years.

“I’m also a former RMI employee, and this is where we used to have our staff meetings, and then our work, we would all work down in the little [room] down there … so it’s really great to be back in this building,” mused Alice Laird, now executive director of Clean Energy Economy for the Region. “My work is deeply inspired by Amory, trying to make it real on the Western Slope.”

Hickenlooper, for his part, said that he was there to listen — an extension of the general approach to his newest political post after serving as Colorado governor from 2011 to 2019. Though, he said, he didn’t mind having behind-the-scenes conversations, like the hours-long one he held with U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, before the confirmation hearing for Tracy Stone-Manning, director of the Bureau of Land Management.

Now, after essentially a living-room discussion — albeit with the soothing sounds of a waterfall and nearby banana trees growing in Lovins’ home greenhouse area — it’s possible that Mona Newton and Chris Caskey may get an audience with Stone-Manning. Newton, former executive director of the Community Office for Resource Efficiency now consults with Caskey, a Paonia-based climate scientist and owner of Delta Brick and Climate Company. They are working together on a methane-capture project in Coal Basin.

The mining district, near Redstone, leaks approximately 1.3 million cubic feet of methane per day; Hickenlooper was recently instrumental in securing $1.2 million in federal funds for the project. The senator suggested Newton and Caskey pool together a group of stakeholders to better their chances at luring the BLM director out of Washington, D.C., but also took notes as he was making his offer to facilitate a conversation. Lovins offered his home as a meeting place.

Hickenlooper also jotted down notes with interest when hearing from Holy Cross Energy President and CEO Bryan Hannegan, who charged the senator with examining current federal law as it pertains to energy — especially where federal lands are concerned.

“... What we’re seeing across the broader West, we’re seeing shorter winters, drier summers, more wildfire risk. For those of us that are reliant on hydropower and the federal transmission system, I think an honest question for you to consider [is], to what extent can federal lands become a source of other resources that we can use to make up for the hydro?” he posed. “Can we develop wind and solar projects that can replace [other Bureau of Reclamation or BLM projects]?”

That’s not currently possible under federal law protecting public lands, he continued, but it’s the kind of innovative rethinking he and other stakeholders would like to see from the national government in tackling climate change.

And Holy Cross is doing its part, Hannegan noted.

“Holy Cross is one of six utilities in the country with a 100% clean-energy goal by the end of this decade,” he said. “Eight years from now is yesterday in utility planning terms, so we’re already working on that. By the end of next year, we’re looking at being 85-90% clean and carbon free in our portfolio.”

Some of the utility co-op’s regional partners in those efforts were in the room on Tuesday. As far as examples of electrified buildings — that also tackle the housing crunch — there were two representatives present: Habitat for Humanity President Gail Schwartz and Aspen Skiing Co. Sustainability and Philanthropy Manager Hannah Berman. Habitat for Humanity, “with the support of RMI and others,” Schwartz said, was able to “create the concept of the homes, where it produces more energy than it uses … and Holy Cross used it as a beta site.”

For the 27 families living at the development, their utility bills hover around $14, she continued.

“I think we’ve shown internationally what we can do,” she said. “Twenty-seven homes took $10 million in subsidies. Why that subsidy is required to bring on efficient homes … that’s where we need to break it down.”

Berman, too, spoke to the policy concerns and arenas in which her employer hopes to see even more support when combating the climate change that poses an “existential threat” to the resort’s business model.

“We’ve seen a month less of winter since 1980 — it isn’t that long ago,” she said, “And now we’re increasingly concerned that wildfires during the summer are what would prevent us from staying in business … We’ve seen other ski areas have to turn on their snowmaking equipment in the summers to fight fires, and that’s not something that our local mountain community or economy could necessarily withstand.”

Right after climate is affordable housing, Berman said of SkiCo’s list of concerns. Which is why it recently built The Hub in Willits, an all-electric building in the valley.

“For us, having the federal support and local policy, state-level policy to be able to take action on climate and rapidly electrify and decarbonize is critical because … the whole point is it needs to be bigger than ourselves.”

Hickenlooper thanked the group of stakeholders who took the time to speak with him Tuesday morning, emphasizing the challenges of putting himself “in the middle of all this ruckus.” He also spoke to the political realities, such as having the oil and gas industry’s “feathers smoothed over” — that is, reassuring that nobody will be immediately put out of business by more eco-friendly initiatives.

“Unfortunately, most of the American people just want to go to work every day and come home and spend time with their family. They’re not caught up in this stuff — at their own risk, admittedly,” he said.