If he wants it, Ken Salazar has the chops and connections to make a hard run at the governor’s mansion in 2018.
His resume includes four years in the U.S. Senate, four years as U.S. Interior Secretary and a fortune’s worth of contacts in Democratic politics. He has more than a passing interest, too.
“Probably by the end of the summer, I will make a decision about what I’m going to do,” Salazar said in an interview with The Denver Post.
More notable, however, is that whatever Salazar decides, it won’t be enough to clear the Democratic field — a situation that speaks to the upheaval that has gripped the Democratic Party in the past year and only tightened since President Donald Trump captured the White House.
One prominent Democrat, former state Sen. Mike Johnston, already . Congressman Ed Perlmutter of Arvada, former state treasurer Cary Kennedy and are eyeing a run, too.
The jockeying comes amid a surge of liberal activism that over Hillary Clinton in Colorado a year ago and more recently sparked a wave of anti-Trump protests across the state.
For Salazar, the big question is how much the party has changed since 2004 — the last time he appeared on a ballot — and whether he has the right approach, and maybe even the right level of anger, to carry the Democratic banner into the next election.
“I don’t think you have to be angry to be a Democrat, but I think Democrats are angry,” said state Rep. Jovan Melton, D-Aurora, who has not publicly backed a candidate in the primary.
Salazar said he shares many of the concerns that drove demonstrators into the streets Jan. 21 for the Women’s March on Washington; he was among the estimated 100,000 Coloradans who in a sister rally that same day.
And he described as “misguided” several of the executive orders that Trump issued in the first month of his presidency, from a travel ban targeting Muslim-majority countries to another that ordered the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“I think they have not been well thought out in terms of all of their legal and economic ramifications,” he said.
But in the course of a nearly 80-minute conversation, Salazar struck a tone that was more measured than mad — a departure from the often-caustic criticism from Democrats directed in recent weeks toward Colorado Republicans such as Rep. Mike Coffman and Sen. Cory Gardner.
“I was always inspired by Barack Obama’s (saying): There are no red states or blue states, only one United States of America. And yet the reality of it is that the red got redder and the blue got bluer,” Salazar said. “Somehow we have to find a way of bridging the differences.”
Itap a sentiment that could appeal broadly in a general election, given the near-equal split in Colorado among Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated voters. But Salazar first would have to survive a Democratic primary that, at the moment, is fired up over Trump and his early policy decisions.
At the same time, Salazar will have to defend his ties to the Washington establishment — as well as his record on trade and energy issues — before a bloc of Democrats who gave Sanders a 60 percent to 40 percent win over Clinton in Colorado.
Salazar campaigned for Clinton in several states, and she ultimately tapped him to for an administration that never happened. Salazar also offered advice — including the suggestion she target Sanders’ record on immigration, which became public in the hacked e-mails of John Podesta, the chair of Clinton’s 2016 campaign.
“I do not know Senator Sanders’ history on the matter, so it would be very useful for our HRC team to get me a background piece on Bernie’s activity and votes over the years on comprehensive immigration reform,” Salazar wrote in . “Then we can draft an op-ed that is supportive of Secretary Clinton’s approach to immigration reform, and contrast her efforts to Bernie’s.”
Reflecting on the loss, Salazar put some blame on Russian hacking and the by FBI director James Comey to announce a new review of Clinton’s e-mails. But he said the Clinton campaign bore responsibility, too.
“There was also a need to be listening to Democrats who were working class … whose life didn’t seem to be getting any better,” Salazar said.
How Salazar fares in a primary also could be a good gauge on whether Colorado Democrats will keep nominating candidates in the mold of Gov. John Hickenlooper or U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet — politicians who take a moderate approach to energy and environmental issues. Like Bennet, Salazar .
And Salazar, who has a with the League of Conservation Voters, also opposed recent efforts to add to Colorado’s 2016 ballot. But as interior secretary, he established — even as his tenure is most often associated with the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
While at Interior, Salazar for threatening to “punch out” a reporter; he later apologized to the journalist from The Gazette in Colorado Springs.
On trade issues, Salazar took the opposite stance of many liberal activists when he backed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an Obama-era accord that would have eased trade barriers among Pacific Rim countries.
Salazar, who , may have better luck finding common cause with liberal activists on diversity and immigration issues. He said Clinton’s Cabinet would have “looked like America” with officials from all backgrounds, and in an interview he was the most animated when discussing Trump’s rhetoric toward Mexicans or Muslims.
“It is very offensive to those of us who have looked through the lens of civil rights,” Salazar said.
Getting this message to voters, however, would require that Salazar shake off some rust from the campaign trail.
Though he was a top surrogate to Clinton, who carried Colorado by five percentage points, Salazar hasn’t campaigned for himself since winning a Senate seat in 2004. That could be a challenge in reaching younger Democratic voters who may not know the Salazar name.
“If you look at metro Denver, it is a very young, very millennial city that has a lot of folks who have moved here from other parts of the country and not necessarily people who have grown up in the Colorado political system or have grown up hearing the names of the Salazars or the Romers,” said Rick Palacio, outgoing chair of Colorado’s Democratic party.
Salazar may benefit from a change made last year to election rules that makes it easier for unaffiliated voters to participate in primary elections. If those voters are more moderate — and thatap still an “if” — and Salazar is able to use his connections to raise the money to reach them, then he could have one strong advantage headed into the primary.
He is staying active, too. The El Paso County Democratic Party planned to have him as a keynote speaker at an event Saturday.
Speaking generally of politics, he said he has a track record of winning tough races. “I know how to fight,” he said.
But thatap not enough — finding common ground is important too. “Anger by itself won’t solve the problems (that) the nation or Colorado faces,” he added.
Aside from politics, Salazar, 62, has to decide whether he’ll want to balance his personal life with the demanding office of governor. He comes from a tight-knit family and is a to his granddaughter Mireya, 9, who has autism and recently learned to ride a bike.
“Family is at the heart of who I am,” Salazar said.
He also has begun a lucrative second career at the powerhouse firm WilmerHale — , which now has about 25 employees.
“We call the WilmerHale office in Denver the ‘house that Ken built,’” said Andy Spielman, who leads its work on energy and environmental issues. “Thatap what Ken does. He attracts talent, he builds teams, he has a plan and he implements it.”
If he decides not to run for governor, Salazar said he has a back-up plan too — becoming a writer. His goal is to pen “a book that would tell the history of the Southwest and the history of the U.S.-Mexico border in a way that could help raise the consciousness of Americans.”