Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has entered the 2020 race for president.
In a video released Monday, Hickenlooper said he was launching a Democratic bid because he wanted to stand up to President Trump.
“I’m running for president because we’re facing a crisis that threatens everything we stand for,” Hickenlooper said in the video. “I’ve stood up to my fair share of bullies. Standing tall when it really matters if one of the things that really drives me.”
The video focused on Hickenlooper’s time as mayor of Denver and governor of Colorado. It highlighted what he accomplished for the state during those 16 years, including facing drought, recession, forest fires, floods, and the mass-shooting in a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., where 12 people were killed and dozens others were injured.
“I’m running for president because we need dreamers in Washington but we also need to get things done,” Hickenlooper said. “I’ve proven again and again I can bring people together to produce the progressive change Washington has failed to deliver.”
During a Monday appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Hickenlooper lamented a “crisis of division,” among Americans.
“I think it’s probably the worst period of division that we have had in this country since the Civil War,” Hickenlooper said. “Ultimately I’m running for president because I believe that, not only do I believe that I can beat Donald Trump, but that I am the person that can bring people together on the other side and actually get stuff done.”
The former governor said deepening divisions are making public policy challenges like climate change and healthcare costs tougher to solve.
Hickenlooper’s presidential bid quickly drew derision from the Republican National Committee on Monday.
“John Hickenlooper is the latest tax-and-spend liberal to join the race,” said RNC Communications Director Michael Ahrens. “But according to Hickenlooper, he’s actually ‘a lot more progressive’ than his far-left opponents. In a primary dominated by socialist policies like the $93 trillion ‘Green New Deal,’ that puts him way outside the mainstream.”
On Thursday, Hickenlooper will attend a send-off rally in Denver before heading to Iowa over the weekend to begin his campaign tour.
Hickenlooper is one of the more than a dozen Democrats competing for the party’s presidential nomination in 2020. He faces several high-profile lawmakers, including Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Kamala Harris, Calif., Kirsten Gillibrand, N.Y., Cory Booker, N.J., Elizabeth Warren, Mass., and Amy Klobuchar, Minn.
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