Cory Gardner

Cory Gardner - Quick Facts

Profile Overview of Cory Gardner

Cory Scott Gardner (born August 22, 1974) is an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Colorado from 2015 to 2021. A Republican, he was the U.S. Representative for Colorado's 4th congressional district from 2011 to 2015 and a member of the Colorado House of Representatives from 2005 to 2011. As of 2026, he is the last Republican to serve Colorado in the U.S. Senate.

This profile of Cory Gardner covers Early Life and Family Background, Early Career and Breakthrough, Colorado House of Representatives (2005-2011) and Elections.

Gardner narrowly defeated Democratic incumbent Mark Udall in the 2014 Senate race. Gardner was chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee from 2017 to 2019. After the 2018 midterm elections, he and University of Colorado Regent Heidi Ganahl became the only Republicans to hold statewide elected office in Colorado. Gardner ran for re-election in 2020, but lost to former Governor John Hickenlooper.

He currently serves as president of NCTA - The Internet and Television Association, the trade group representing cable companies.

Early Life and Family Background of Cory Gardner

Gardner was born on August 22, 1974, in Yuma, Colorado, the son of Cindy L. (née Pagel) and John W. Gardner. He is of Irish, German, Austrian, and English descent. He graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1997 from Colorado State University, where he was a member of the FarmHouse fraternity.

In college, Gardner switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party and interned at the Colorado State Capitol. He went to law school at the University of Colorado to earn his Juris Doctor in 2001.

Early Career and Breakthrough of Cory Gardner

Prior to public office, Gardner worked at his family's implement business and served as spokesman for the National Corn Growers Association. Gardner later served as general counsel and legislative director for former U.S. Senator Wayne Allard of Colorado from 2002 to 2005.

Colorado House of Representatives (2005-2011)

Gardner was appointed to the Colorado House of Representatives in 2005 and elected to a full term in 2006. He represented District 63 in the Colorado House of Representatives from 2005 through 2011.

In 2006, Gardner proposed legislation to create a rainy-day fund to help protect the state from future economic downturns. His proposal relied on money made available by Referendum C—which allowed state revenue caps to be exceeded for five years—for future budget emergencies. He staunchly opposed any tax increases. He helped create the Colorado Clean Energy Development Authority which issued bonds to finance projects that involve the production, transportation and storage of clean energy until it was repealed in 2012.

Elections

Gardner won the Republican primary in the 4th Congressional District to challenge Democratic incumbent Betsy Markey. Also running were American Constitution Party nominee Doug Aden and Independent Ken "Wasko" Waszkiewicz. In an early September poll, Gardner was up 50% to 39% over Markey. Gardner was endorsed by former U.S. Congressman Tom Tancredo. On November 2, 2010, Gardner defeated Markey, 52%–41%.

Gardner ran unopposed in the Republican primary before defeating Democratic nominee Brandon Shaffer 59%–37% in the general election. He was helped by the 2010 redistricting, which cut Fort Collins and Larimer County out of the district. Fort Collins had long been the 4th's largest city. For years, Larimer and the district's second-largest county, Weld County, home to Greeley, accounted for 85 percent of the district's population even though they only took up 15 percent of its land.

Elections

Gardner was the Republican nominee for Senate, and narrowly defeated incumbent Senator Mark Udall in the general election receiving 965,974 (48%) votes to Udall's 916,245 (46%),. No Labels performed independent get-out-the-vote efforts on behalf of its Problem Solvers, including Gardner.

Gardner ran for reelection in 2020. During his tenure as a Senator, he notably did not hold many public town halls. At a February 2017 public town hall at Denver’s Byers Middle School, Gardner was represented instead by a cardboard cutout, dubbed "Cardboard Cory", created by Katie Farnan and friends. The concept developed staying power, and become an iconic four year protest campaign, showing up at protests and events around the state. Liberal groups including ProgressNow and Indivisible Colorado launched a 14-stop, statewide bus tour featuring Cardboard Cory and Coloradan constituents including Laura Packard during summer 2019. A short documentary film by Nick Rosen of Sender Films about Cardboard Cory's journey sponsored by Indivisible was released July 28, 2020. One of the Cardboard Cory cutouts was eventually given to Senator John Hickenlooper after his defeat of Gardner. According to The Colorado Sun, Gardner "decisively tied his reelection bid to President Donald Trump." He lost to the Democratic nominee, former governor John Hickenlooper by 301,622 votes.

Political Views and Public Life

In March 2019, Gardner was ranked the 5th most bipartisan senator of the 115th Congress by The Lugar Center and Georgetown's McCourt School of Public Policy, and was also ranked the 4th most bipartisan senator of the 116th Congress in May 2021. GovTrack noted that of the 157 bills Gardner cosponsored in 2017, 41% were introduced by legislators who were not Republican.

Abortion

Gardner identifies as pro-life and opposes legal abortions in most circumstances. He has also stated that he believes that abortion laws should be left up to the states. In 2006, Gardner opposed legislation that would allow pharmacists to prescribe emergency contraception and proposed an amendment to the Colorado state budget to prohibit the state Medicaid plan from purchasing Plan B emergency contraception. In 2007, he voted against a bill that would require hospitals to inform survivors of a sexual assault of the availability of emergency contraception.

In 2012, Gardner co-sponsored the controversial so-called "personhood" legislation titled the Life Begins at Conception Act. Gardner later said that he changed his mind on personhood after listening to voters. According to The Denver Post, "Gardner conceded that with his new position on personhood, he might be accused of flip-flopping simply to make himself more palatable to statewide voters." The nonpartisan Factcheck.org said "It would be clearer to say that Gardner supports efforts to ban abortion that could also ban some forms of birth control. As for his change of position, voters in Colorado should know Gardner still supports a federal bill that would prompt the same concerns over birth control as the state measure he says he rejects on the same grounds." In 2014, Gardner called for over-the-counter access to oral contraceptives and said the birth control pill would be safer and cheaper if it was available over the counter.

Source: adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cory_Gardner), text available under CC BY-SA 4.0.