DENVER (AP) — Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has won a second term, narrowly defeating former Republican congressman Bob Beauprez (boh-PRAY’).
Hickenlooper faced the toughest election fight of his career with a race that was too close to call until Wednesday morning.
His popularity sank after a controversial death-penalty decision, a package of gun-control bills and mishaps explaining his policies.
Hickenlooper was heavily criticized as being indecisive for granting an indefinite stay of execution last year to Nathan Dunlap, who was convicted of killing four people in 1993 at an Aurora Chuck E. Cheese restaurant.
Hickenlooper’s reprieve was not clemency, so he left the door open for a subsequent governor to execute Dunlap and his critics hammered him for that.
Beauprez was trying to become the first Republican to win the governor’s office since 2002.
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