John Hickenlooper vs Mark Baisley: The U.S. Senate Race, With Douglas County's Own State Senator on the Ballot

The Senate race is the top line on your ballot and, by every published measure, the least competitive statewide contest on it. Read it anyway, because the Republican on the line represents part of this county at the Capitol.

John Hickenlooper

The incumbent, seeking a second term in the seat he won in 2020. Former Denver mayor, former two-term governor, a brewpub founder before that. He beat state Sen. Julie Gonzales in the June primary 52.8 to 47.2, a closer result than a sitting senator usually sees, with Gonzales running to his left. CPR reports he is framing the general election as a counterweight to President Trump. Through June 30 he had raised $10.3 million over the six-year term and spent $9.8 million, most of it in 2025 and 2026, leaving $2.1 million on hand.

Mark Baisley

Baisley, 71, owns a home in Roxborough Park and, as Colorado Politics reported in 2022, is registered to vote at a rental in Woodland Park, in Teller County; CPR's 2026 profile describes him as the senator who represents Woodland Park. He has represented this county at the Capitol since 2019: House District 39 for two terms, then Senate District 4 since 2023. He runs an engineering software firm, Slipglass, and earlier worked for NASA at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and for Raytheon and Martin Marietta. He started 2026 running for governor, dropped out in January to run for Senate, and cleared the Republican field at the state assembly, so he never faced a primary. His campaign said in January it hoped to raise $25 million. Through June 30 it had raised $138,147, with $50,021 on hand.

The minor candidates

Four others are on the line. The one with money is Bob Chew of the Forward Party, a Boulder resident who CPR reports has put more than $1 million of his own into the race. In a Douglas County that is half unaffiliated, a funded centrist on the ballot could take a point or two from both major candidates; we will report his county number on election night.

What this race means in Douglas County

Statewide, nothing is in doubt, and we will not pretend otherwise. Colorado has not elected a Republican to the Senate since 2014, and Baisley is being outspent 74 to 1.

Locally, two things are worth watching. First, Baisley's own number. He has won Douglas County voters three times as their legislator. The Douglas County part of his Senate District 4 is the county's rural edge, the foothills along the Jefferson County line, the south around Larkspur and the rural east, about 19,889 residents per the redistricting commission; Castle Rock and Parker are in District 2 and Highlands Ranch, Roxborough Park, Castle Pines and Lone Tree are in District 30. The rest of the district runs west through Teller, Park, Chaffee, Fremont, Custer and Lake counties and part of Jefferson. If he runs behind Victor Marx or Lauren Boebert in his own district, the county's Republican brand has a problem that goes beyond one or two unpopular nominees. If he runs well ahead of them, the county's split-ticket voters are still distinguishing between Republicans, which is the more hopeful reading for the party.

Second, the seat he left. Senate District 4 is open because of this run, and the Collins-Kurth race to replace him is one of the county's quiet contests.

The case each way

For Hickenlooper: a known quantity with two terms as governor and one as senator, and in a Senate where Colorado's vote is one of the few checks on the administration, the incumbent's argument is that he is it.

For Baisley: thirty years in engineering and aerospace before politics, a legislative record voters in this county have already ratified three times, and a case that Colorado's delegation has no one who speaks for its rural and exurban half. The money says the party does not think he can win. His own district will say whether it still trusts him.

More: every race and measure on your ballot. We do not endorse candidates. Campaigns can send corrections to hello@discoverdougco.com.