John Hickenlooper: Everything You Need to Know

ByABC News
July 28, 2016, 4:14 PM

— -- Name: John Hickenlooper

Party: Democrat

Date of Birth: Feb. 7, 1952

Age: 64

What he Does Now: Governor of Colorado

What he Used to Do: Worked as a geologist in Colorado for Buckhorn Petroleum, started the Wynkoop Brewing Co. brewpub. This was Colorado’s first brewpub. He did this before jumping into politics. Was mayor of Denver and then governor.

Hometown: Narberth, Pennsylvania

Family Tree: He is the son of Anne (née Morris) and John Wright Hickenlooper. His paternal great-grandfather was Union general Andrew Hickenlooper. He was raised by his mother after his father died when he was young.

Key Career Moments:

  • Mayor of Denver
  • Successfully marketed Denver as the place to host the 2008 Democratic National Convention
  • In 2005, Time Magazine named him one of the top five big city mayors.
  • Governor of Colorado. In 2012, he was elected to serve as vice chair of the Democratic Governors Association. He currently serves on the Western Governors' Association and is chairman of the National Governors' Association.

    What You Might Not Know About Him:

  • He’s a Quaker from Pennsylvania.
  • He loves craft beer and started his own brewing company, which was Colorado’s first brewpub.
  • Initially he was against marijuana legalization, but said he will support the will of the people of Colorado.
  • He and his wife held a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in April at their home.

    • What He Has Said About Clinton:

  • On Oct. 1, 2015, Hickenlooper expressed doubt about Clinton’s candidacy for president and concern over the investigation into her her private email server, telling a Denver audience that the 2016 election is “kind of grim, to be blunt.” He added “I don’t know where this whole thing is going to go in terms of her [email] server and whether there is something in there that is really going to turn out to have broken the law -- which I think would be the death knell.”

  • In May 2016, he said it was time to move on from the email server conversation and to focus on Clinton’s experience and qualifications to be president. “She said she made a mistake, right? Let’s move on. I think she’s probably the most prepared person to run for high political office in this country in several decades. And some people say, and I’m not -- you know, you’d have to look at it, if she -- if she was a man, all this stuff wouldn’t be the same at the same level. That there’s an awful lot of criticism being used -- I mean literally millions of dollars of criticism against her every week over things that really aren’t that -- you know, against a man wouldn’t be brought up like that.”

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