State Senator Baisley claimed Hickenlooper’s biggest weakness is that “he is fighting Donald Trump” and alleged that ICE “rescued” five year-old boy who they detained and sent to Texas
County Commissioner Pond attacked freedom of religion, claiming Islam is “a real threat to our country”
COLORADO – In case you missed it recently, the MAGA Republicans, who are running to defeat John Hickenlooper in 2026 and flip Colorado’s Senate seat, attacked Hickenlooper for standing up to Donald Trump and doubled down on their extreme views.
Following the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, State Senator Mark Baisley blamed ICE protestors for violence. Hickenlooper called out his remarks and Baisley confirmed his views, going as far as claiming that ICE “effectively saved” the five year-old boy when ICE detained him with his father and sent them to Texas, away from their family in Minneapolis.
Baisley went after Hickenlooper, stating that Hickenlooper’s biggest weakness was how he is standing up to the president for all his cruel attacks on Colorado.
Baisley jumped at the chance to praise the corrupt Trump administration. Even as the president vetoed Hickenlooper’s bipartisan bill to deliver clean drinking water to 50,000 Coloradans, denied emergency funding to help families rebuild their lives after wildfires and floods, and is attacking science and arts across the country, Baisley described the Trump admin as an “amazing Renaissance.”
At an Elbert County Candidate Forum, County Commissioner Sean Pond attacked the Islamic faith as a “real threat to our country” and claimed it isn’t “a religion.” Baisley joined in, stating Islam “is in direct conflict” with the Declaration of Independence and is an “existential threat for our liberties.”
Former state Representative Janak Joshi and retired Colonel George Markert are two of the other extreme candidates in the Republican primary fighting to prove they would be more loyal to Trump and his extreme MAGA agenda in Washington.
While his extreme challengers are focused on attacking our immigrant community and spreading the president’s lies, Hickenlooper has been standing up for Colorado and our immigrant community.
Hickenlooper is calling out the illegal war that the president waged to distract from his failures at home. He voted against funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after the White House and Republicans refused to overhaul ICE. He condemned the reports of “death cards” left to intimidate families of people detained by ICE and is demanding DHS fully investigate the incidents. He previously introduced the NO BAN Act to protect against discriminatory immigration bans like those President Trump implemented during his first term.
He is fighting to lower prices and secure refunds for all the taxes the Trump administration has illegally charged small businesses and Americans with their tariff-taxes.
Hickenlooper’s campaign has continued to build a strong coalition to defeat MAGA and keep Colorado blue. They have received definitive backing from leading progressive advocates, including Planned Parenthood Action Fund, NRDC Action Fund, Brady PAC, GIFFORDS PAC, End Citizens United and Let America Vote, League of Conservation Voters Action Fund and Conservation Colorado, and 314 Action. The campaign has also raised more than $1 million each quarter this year, powered by strong grass roots support, and has more than $3.8 million on hand.
What they’re saying:
Speaking at the Colorado Capitol last week, State Sen. Mark Baisley (R-Woodland Park) blamed protesters for the violence in Minneapolis, calling it a “horrible idea” for protesters to “get involved in legal law-enforcement activity.”
“It endangers those people,” said Baisley from the Senate floor. “It endangers the agents who are trying to carry out the lawful orders to remove violent people from the United States.”
“We want to keep the number of immigrants low enough so that those folks will assimilate into our culture, more than they will bring the richness of their culture,” continued Baisley.
A few days later, U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) posted a video of Baisley’s comments on X with the comment, “American citizens shot dead. A five-year-old separated from his family and taken into custody. Masked officers tossing people into unmarked cars without due process. And you’re instead going after peaceful protestors and our immigrant communities??”
Asked on KHOW radio Feb. 2 to respond to Hickenlooper, Baisley said ICE didn’t arrest the 5-year-old boy, but “effectively rescued” him.
“As I understand it, the ICE agents effectively rescued that abandoned five-year-old boy, took him to his home to go hand him over to his mother, who would not open the door. So what do you do? You take care of a child like that. And they did, and they did absolutely,” said Baisley.
As a factual matter, the child was arrested by ICE after his father fled.
The child’s mother, who is pregnant and had other children in the house when ICE arrived with her son, told Telemundo she feared agents would arrest her if she opened the door. “They used my boy as bait,” NBC News reported.
Baisley’s statement about limiting immigration in order to prevent cultural change in the U.S. isn’t the first time he’s expressed concern about migrants from other countries. In 2021, Baisley told the Colorado Times Recorder that his statement “we have allowed the weeds to overwhelm the garden was not a reference to the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, but rather that “these are people responding to President Biden’s invitation of coming to America in droves in order to become dependent on government largess and vote for more of the same; the destructive culture of socialism.”
Baisley faces former state Rep. Janak Joshi and retired Colonel George Markert in a GOP Senate primary, the winner of which will face the top vote getter in the Democratic primary, which features Hickenlooper, State Sen. Julie Gonzales (D-Denver), and others. Last month, Baisley switched from the gubernatorial to the Senate race.
A pair of progressive national groups that advocate for abortion rights and fighting climate change have endorsed U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper’s bid for reelection, with both calling the Colorado Democrat a proven fighter for their causes.
Planned Parenthood Action Fund said in its endorsement statement that Hickenlooper has stood by the organization’s agenda in the Senate and before that, in his two terms as governor.
“Sen. Hickenlooper knows the federal government has no business making personal health decisions for us,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s president and CEO.
“As governor, he helped expand Coloradans’ access to reproductive health care, including by investing in clinics in rural and underserved areas,” she added. “In the Senate, he’s fighting back against Republicans’ attempts to establish a backdoor abortion ban by permanently ‘defunding’ Planned Parenthood.”
Citing Hickenlooper’s background as a scientist — he’s a geologist — and record on public lands and climate issues, a spokesman for National Resources Defense Council Action Fund said the conservation group supports the Democrat’s campaign for a second term.
“We need fighters like John Hickenlooper now more than ever,” said NRDC Action Fund managing director Jed Ober, in a statement. “He has worked tirelessly in the Senate to address climate change, reduce pollution, and protect our environment. We need to reelect John Hickenlooper to the U.S. Senate because he is fighting attacks on our public lands, rollbacks of clean air and water safeguards, and attacks on science itself.”
Hickenlooper welcomed both endorsements.
“We won’t let extreme MAGA Republicans pull us backwards,” he said in a statement in response to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund backing. “We need to overturn the Dobbs decision, protect abortion access, and keep mifepristone safe and accessible.”
In a separate statement, Hickenlooper said the conservation group’s support will help “mobilize millions of voters, take back Congress, and stop these devastating attacks,” referring to the energy and public lands policies pushed by the Trump administration and congressional Republicans.
Both groups endorsed Hickenlooper’s 2020 run, when he went on to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner.
The new endorsements add to a string of support the former governor and Denver mayor has received from leading progressive organizations, including gun-control advocates Brady PAC and GIFFORDS PAC; election reform groups End Citizens United and Let America Vote; environmental groups League of Conservation Voters Action Fund and Conservation Colorado; and 314 Action, a Democratic-aligned group that works to elect candidates with scientific backgrounds.
Hickenlooper’s campaign manager, Justin Lamorte, told Colorado Politics in a statement that the stream of endorsements demonstrates that his boss is delivering for the state.
“Whether it’s defending our democracy from Trump’s corruption and corporate interests, blocking Republicans’ plans to sell off Colorado’s public lands, reigning in ICE and opposing cruel mass deportations, or fighting to make health care affordable and accessible for every Coloradan, Hickenlooper is meeting this moment with urgency,” Lamorte said. “He is building a strong coalition to defeat MAGA and keep Colorado blue.”
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