Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper announced Monday morning that he’s running for the Democratic nomination for the 2020 presidential race.
“It’s official: I’m asking you to interview me for President,” he said in a tweet announcing his decision to run. “Our country is in crisis, and we need someone who knows how to bring people together and get things done.”
Here are some things to know about Hickenlooper:
- Hickenlooper was born Feb. 2, 1952, outside of Philadelphia. He is the youngest of four children.
- He earned his bachelor's degree in English from Wesleyan University in 1974, according to 5280. After discovering a love for geology, Hickenlooper stayed at the university for four more years to earn a master's degree in earth and environmental science, according to the magazine.
- Hickenlooper moved to Colorado in 1981 to pursue a career in geology. He lost his job in 1986 and spent two years unemployed before he and some friends launched a craft brewery in Denver, according to FiveThirtyEight.
- Hickenlooper was a prominent businessman in Denver by the time he decided to enter the city's mayoral race in 2003, according to The Denver Post. He won over voters with a quirky ad campaign in a race so civil that The New York Times called it "remarkable in modern American politics." Hickenlooper went on to win re-election in 2007 with 87 percent of the vote, FiveThirtyEight reported.
- Hickenlooper ran in 2010 to become governor of Colorado, a race he won with 51 percent of the vote. In 2014, he was re-elected for a second term. He left office Jan. 8.
- Hickenlooper married writer Helen Thorpe in 2001, according to The New Yorker. They welcomed their son, Theodore, in July 2002. The couple separated in July 2012 and later divorced.
- On Jan. 16, 2016, Hickenlooper married business executive Robin Pringle, according to the Post.
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