{"id":50557,"date":"2020-11-04T22:09:29","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T05:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/does-cory-gardner-have-a-future-in-politics\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:52:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:52:23","slug":"does-cory-gardner-have-a-future-in-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/does-cory-gardner-have-a-future-in-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Cory Gardner have a future in politics?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Republican
Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner participates in the final debate in the 2020 race for Colorado\u2019s U.S. Senate seat at Colorado State University in Fort Collins on Oct. 13.<\/span>Associated Press file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

What\u2019s next for Cory Gardner?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the big question on Colorado Republicans\u2019 minds a day after Gardner was decisively knocked out of his U.S. Senate seat by Democrat John Hickenlooper.<\/p>\n

At only 46, Gardner still has plenty of time to regroup and continue his political career, which began in 2005 when he was appointed to a seat in the Colorado Legislature. He also could head to the private sector.<\/p>\n

Those closest to Gardner say they haven\u2019t discussed the Republican\u2019s future with him and that he\u2019s been focused on his Senate re-election bid. Gardner made no mention of his future in his concession speech Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not somebody who\u2019s already got his next job lined up,\u201d said Rachel George, a former congressional staff member for Gardner. \u201cThat\u2019s not his personality.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that hasn\u2019t stopped speculation by his biggest cheerleaders about the options he has before him, nor has it eliminated their hopes that he will continue to be a force in Colorado politics.<\/p>\n

One possibility: He could run for Colorado governor in 2022.<\/p>\n

Sean Duffy, a Republican strategist and former aide to Gov. Bill Owens, said Gardner has a bright future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he would be a darn good governor. He reminds me very much of Bill Owens in his demeanor and his approach,\u201d Duffy said. \u201cHe\u2019s a good debater \u2013 he can get fired up but he doesn\u2019t get loud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gov. Jared Polis\u2019 first term is up in 2022 and there isn\u2019t yet a clear Republican frontrunner to challenge the Democrat. Polling shows a majority of Coloradans approve of the governor\u2019s job performance.<\/p>\n

Anyone who decides to take on Polis will also face a significant financial hurdle because he is so wealthy and willing to spend his money on his political future. In 2018, the year Polis was elected governor, he spent $23 million on his race and handily defeated Republican Walker Stapleton.<\/p>\n

Individual donors can give Colorado gubernatorial candidates only $1,250 each election cycle, making it difficult for anyone to keep up with Polis\u2019 self-funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis money advantage is a major barrier to entry,\u201d said Josh Penry, a Republican political consultant and friend of Gardner\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Penry says life as a senator has been grueling for Gardner. It has meant that he\u2019s often away from his wife and three children, who live in northeastern Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot,\u201d Penry said. \u201cHe does not live a glamorous lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n

That said, Penry doubts someone as ambitious and driven as Gardner will be able to simply hang it up and walk away.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who are drawn to this business don\u2019t usually satiate their appetite right away,\u201d he said. \u201cMy guess is we haven\u2019t heard the last of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gardner will also likely face difficulty shaking his ties to President Donald Trump in Colorado, said Rick Ridder, a veteran Democratic pollster. Gardner\u2019s link to the president was in large part why he lost Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Ridder expects those difficulties to last, though it \u201cmay not last at this level.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t look at this data set and say: \u2018Boy, a good centrist Republican can win,\u2019\u201d Ridder said, referencing his recent polling.<\/p>\n

Other Democrats agree.<\/p>\n

\u201cCory\u2019s problem was the state has changed and he did not,\u201d said Laura Chapin, a Democratic consultant and fierce Gardner critic. \u201cThe voting demographics of Colorado do not lead to future career plans for Cory Gardner.\u201d<\/p>\n

She thinks Gardner will likely become a lobbyist. That could be difficult for him, however, since he sponsored legislation in the Senate that would have banned members of Congress from ever becoming lobbyists.<\/p>\n

Greg Brophy, a Republican former state senator in Colorado, thinks Gardner could end up in Trump\u2019s Cabinet if the president is re-elected to another term. If Trump loses, Brophy thinks Gardner has options.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a rare talent,\u201d Brophy said. \u201cI feel confident that he still has a future in politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

If he doesn\u2019t want to stay in politics, Duffy, the GOP consultant, says there\u2019s a path for Gardner, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could run a company. He would be a very good CEO. He\u2019s whip-smart, and he\u2019s as nice as he is smart,\u201d Duffy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople will call. He\u2019s well-liked.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

a potential 2022 gubernatorial run in his future<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[266,28,24],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-50557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-election","tag-headlines","tag-u-s-sen-cory-gardner"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50557"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87776,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50557\/revisions\/87776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50557"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=50557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}