Gov. John Hickenlooper, after winning another four-year term in office, gives his acceptance speech at the state Capitol on Nov. 5. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
The narrative in Colorado from the 2014 elections: Republican Cory Gardner surged to victory in the U.S. Senate race and Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper barely survived.
This is and is still portrayed . But as the final picture of the vote materializes — with near-complete returns from Democratic counties now tallied — the scene is different.
Hickenlooper defeated Republican Bob Beauprez by 3.14 percent. Gardner bested Democratic U.S. Sen Mark Udall by 2.16 percent. So Gardner won by a smaller margin, the latest numbers show.
“Itap fair to say Gov. Hickenlooper withstood the red tide better than Cory Gardner rode it,” said Alan Salazar, the governor’s chief political strategist.
One of the most overlooked aspects to the election: Hickenlooper nearly won by the same margin as he did four years ago when you look at the total conservative vote.
Itap not obvious at first. In 2010, Hickenlooper bested second-place finisher Tom Tancredo, running for the American Constitution Party, by 14.67 percent.
But the 2010 election split the conservative vote after Republican candidate Dan Maes’ implosion. Maes won just 11.14 percent. Take the two candidates together and .
So Hickenlooper’s adjusted margin of victory in 2010: 3.53 percent.
The difference from his 2010 win and his 2014 re-election: 0.39 percent. Itap such a smaller disparity — from one strong Republican midterm year in 2010 to a “wave” Republican midterm in 2014 — that one could argue Hickenlooper barely even stumbled in his re-election bid.
Republicans rather focus on how they nearly missed and closed a huge gap from Hickenlooper’s 2010 victory. And instead of the Hickenlooper-holds-steady message, Democrats rather cast it in terms of the “Republican wave crashed at the Rocky Mountains.”
The party’s operatives held a conference call Tuesday, hosted by Colorado-based Project New America, to reiterate the line and tout the state’s swing status. What they gloss over is how Republicans won every statewide campaign except governor. The GOP also made huge gains in the state legislature — — when Democrats were supposed to hold their ground.
The only one who did: Hickenlooper.
