This article is part of a Sierra series about the 2020 election.

In Cory Gardner’s political ads, skies are blue and rivers clear. The Republican US senator packs for hiking trips with his kids and strolls in front of aspen groves, explaining how it took strong bipartisan leadership to protect the environment Coloradans care so deeply about. “It took a new generation, one looking out for the next generation,” Gardner says.

Environmental groups and former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper, who is challenging Gardner for his Senate seat, say it’s all a mirage. While Gardner tries to rebrand himself as a champion for the American wilds, his voting record tells a different story. This year, the League of Conservation Voters gave Gardner a 36 percent rating for his stand on environmental issues. For Gardner, that’s better than usual. His lifetime score is 11 percent. 

As Election Day looms, Gardner is pushing his work on the Great American Outdoors Act—which his ads describe as “Gardner’s law”—to fend off Democratic challenger Hickenlooper. In a state that is home to legions of hunters, skiers, hikers, and mountain bikers, the environment is on many voters’ minds. A 2020 poll conducted by Colorado College found that 81 percent of Colorado voters said issues surrounding clean air, clean water, and public lands preservation would affect their votes. Nearly 70 percent consider themselves conservationists.  

“We’ve seen his greenwashing before. In 2014, he [Gardner] was standing in front of a wind turbine. This cycle, it was taking a hike on public land,” said LCV national campaigns director Emily Crerand. “He tries to say it [the environment] is something he's always been a champion for, but he hasn't between when he was elected and when he was up for reelection.”

Crerand says that while Gardner likes to talk about the Great American Outdoors Act, which will set aside money for overdue infrastructure improvements in national parks and fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund, his vote in favor of the broadly supported act is the exception rather than the rule. She says passing one conservation act in the months before the election doesn’t make up for his failing grade on environmental issues. 

Gardner likes to boast that “Coloradans know they can always count on me to prioritize Colorado’s public lands.” But Crerand says that trust is not deserved, and that it’s worth remembering that Gardner has taken $1.7 million in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry. While in office, he voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which saved the oil and gas industry $25 billion in taxes.

“I think environmental issues are probably proof point number one on how he says one thing in Colorado, then goes to DC and does the opposite,” said Conservation Colorado executive director Kelly Nordini. She says she can’t think of a single time Gardner has opposed a Trump nomination looking to sell off public lands or gut environmental regulations.

The League of Conservation Voters campaigns director points to other environmental measures the Republican senator has opposed. Gardner has not declared support for the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act, for example, which would protect 400,000 acres in Colorado and is supported by 68 percent of Coloradans. Gardner also cast a vote to repeal the Clean Power Plan, the Obama-era climate rule that capped emissions from power plants and encouraged a transition to renewable energy. Even though it was symbolic, that Senate vote defied the 63 percent of Coloradans who want action on climate change.  

In contrast, Hickenlooper wants to move the state to net-zero emissions by 2050. The climate plan on his campaign website begins, “Climate change is the defining challenge of our time, and our state is on the front lines of this crisis.” 

Colorado has changed since Gardner was elected in 2014, becoming more Democratic leaning. A majority of voters disapprove of Trump, which University of Colorado Boulder political scientist Carey Stapleton says has damaged the Republican Party’s standing in the state. 

“One of the headwinds Cory Gardner has is trying to distinguish himself from Donald Trump, because there's such a negative feeling towards Trump in Colorado,” Stapleton said. So far, voters appear to be unconvinced by the senator’s attempts to position himself as an environmental champion. “Gardner’s approval ratings track pretty closely with Trump’s. They’re very highly correlated. People who don’t like Trump don’t like Gardner as well.” 

Stapleton says the correlation between Gardner's and Trump’s approval ratings show that Coloradans see Gardner as toeing the Republican Party line. Since Trump was elected, support for Gardner has dropped. In May 2020, 46 percent of voters disliked the job Gardner was doing, while only 36 percent approved of it. To get reelected in a state that is souring on Trump’s Republican Party, Gardner has attempted to paint himself as a bipartisan senator. 

“One thing Gardner is doing well, at least on the airwaves, is pushing the Great American Outdoor law that he kind of championed,” Stapleton said. “He’s getting that message out. Whether that's going to resonate with enough squishy independents in the middle is unclear at this point.”  

But Stapleton says Gardner faces an uphill battle. For her part, Crerand hopes Coloradans won’t be swayed by a few advertisements about a single vote cast on the eve of the election season. She says if Gardner is reelected, the result will be predictable. “He’s going to follow what Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump say, and he's not going to stick his neck out more than he has to get by in an election year.” 

Paid for by the Sierra Club Voter Education Fund, which seeks to raise key environmental issues in the discussions around elections and encourage the public to find out more about candidates’ positions on key environmental issues.